An Alberta separatist has doubled down in his battle against a southern town over three meters high and billboard six meters wide asking the province to leave Canada.
Cory Morgan says the sign he paid for is still standing Taber contrary to a letter he says the city sent earlier this month to the billboard’s private owner demanding that the message be removed by Saturday.
The electronic billboard, located on city land, shows the shield of Alberta surrounded by the words: “Send Ottawa a message! Choose Alberta.” Morgan says he paid roughly $1,100 to last until the end of this month.
Morgan says he won’t let Taber push him and has paid for two more smaller signs in the city since receiving the letter, with a third going up Sunday.
“I have nothing against Taber himself,” Morgan said in a phone interview Sunday.
“There are fantastic people (there). It’s a neat area... It’s just their city administration that I have a bit of a beef with right now.”
He said his fight against the city of 10,000 is about the principle that a third-party political advertiser should not be silenced by the government.
“This is a troubling precedent,” he said.
“(Taber) has to stand in the pits, pick up trash and catch dogs. It’s not their job to tell people what they’re allowed to see or not allowed to see on a legal billboard.”
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The city of Taber, located 265 kilometers southeast of Calgary, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday, but previously said it had heard numerous concerns about the messages of the first billboard.
She said in a June 3 social media post that her message does not represent or speak for the city or the wider community.
That same day, in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, city chief administrative officer Derrin Thibault sent a letter to the billboard’s operator demanding that the sign come down this weekend.
“The city has received numerous concerns regarding the political content currently displayed on the digital sign,” Thibault wrote.
“The continued display of the subject’s advertisement constitutes a nuisance and is inconsistent with the permitted use of the licensed area.”
Morgan said the signs are tied to the Oct. 19 referendum vote on whether Alberta should remain in Canada or begin the process to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.
He said he chose Taber simply because there was billboard space available in the right price range.
Morgan said he didn’t expect the sign to receive so much negative and positive attention.
He said he has heard from many supporters of Alberta’s independence movement and has raised more money to put up more signs ahead of the referendum.
But he said he’s also heard from federalists hurt by the move and had trouble finding places elsewhere in Alberta to put up the signs.
“I understand that people are upset probably on both sides,” he said.
But he hopes other cities don’t have as hard a time as Taber.
“It’s only going to make things worse,” he said.
” So maybe stay in your municipal mandates and we will continue with this four month campaign.”
The debate over the separation of Alberta is expected to last through the summer. Smith has been criticized for holding the vote at all. But she says she was compelled to keep it because hundreds of thousands of Albertans have participated in the debate in petition campaigns and deserve to have their say.
Critics, including the opposition Democratic Party, say Smith is playing a double game: enabling the referendum to appease separatist extremists in her party, while campaigning to stay in Canada in order to stand with centrist voters.
Polls suggest a large majority of Albertans oppose the split.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
