Thousands of Albertans protest against UCP policies
Posted May 29, 2026 3:51 pm.
Last Updated May 29, 2026 3:54 pm.
Thousands of Albertans took to the streets across the province Friday denouncing Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party (UCP) government’s policies.
Protestors in Edmonton marched through Jasper Avenuw from the Centennial Plaza past the Edmonton Convention Centre. The march in Edmonton was part of 21 rallies across 16 communities, organized by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).
“We don’t have to support separatism, no we don’t support a referendum, no we don’t support privatizing healthcare, going after workers rights, thumbing our nose at the constitution and the courts,” said Gil McGowan, president of the AFL. “That’s what we’re getting from our government and their supporters, but these Albertans have a different vision.”
Larry Wright, who participated in the rally in Edmonton, said “I’m just really disappointed in the direction our government has taken on so many issues, so much of her policies seem to be a playbook from Trump.”
Another protester, Mable Chan-Simons, said, “We didn’t ask for the referendum. So is that democracy when they do something the people didn’t ask for?”
In a statement to CityNews, a spokesperson UCP attacked called the protest as a “political stunt” by McGowan, who unsuccessfully ran for the Alberta NDP leadership.
“Gil McGowan, first attempted to launch a general strike, and it was a failure. Then he moved on to plan B, launching recalls against our UCP MLAs to topple this government, he again failed miserably. Now, Gil is on plan C, a province-wide protest,” the UCP spokesperson said.
McGowan defended the province-wide rallies where thousands of Albertans came out to express their anger.
“To me, this does not look like a failure. This looks like Albertans rising up, pushing back and saying that Danielle Smith and the separatists do not speak for all of us,” he said.
Several NDP MLAs also took part in Friday’s protest saying that the UCP government had it priorities wrong.
“Governing is about choices and this is a UCP government that is choosing to go ahead with a referendum in the fall, spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Janis Irwin, Alberta NDP MLA. “That money could be invested in education, today.”
Premier Smith has defended her referendum saying it’s what 700,000 Albertans signed up for. Those numbers are disputed and nearly half of them have not been verified after a court order.
