Wexit booms! Hundreds rally at Edmonton separatism event

According to the CBC, roughly 700 people came to a separatist event hosted at Edmonton’s Boot Scootin’ Boogie Dancehall.

The event was originally planned for a smaller venue but was moved after interest passed room capacity.

The event attendees organized from a Vote Wexit Facebook group which has more than 262,000 members, and the Wexit Alberta Facebook page which currently has about 30,000 members,

According to Wexit leader Peter Downing, support for the group rapidly grew following the re-election of Justin Trudeau, forcing issues such as the carbon tax and equalization formulas to the front for many westerners.

“We will not allow ourselves to be divided. We’re going to make Alberta great again, and that is when we cut ourselves off from the leach that is eastern Canada,” said Downing.

While Alberta remains a largely Conservative province, Downing maintains that his group is neither a left-wing nor right-wing movement.

“It is for everybody except for eastern Canada,” he said.

The organization plans to register as a political party, and Wexit Alberta will start drafting the province’s first constitution in the near future, he said.

“Monday morning we are going to be filing our application with Elections Canada for the official registration of Wexit Canada,” Downing said to the enthusiastic crowd.

“We’re going to do for Western Canada and Alberta in particular what the Bloc Québécois does for Quebec but the only difference is we’re cutting the parasite of Eastern Canada off from our necks.”

Downing lastly released a letter directed at Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

“We are calling on you to legislate a referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada,” the letter reads. “You or any one of your 62 MLAs can draft a bill to formulate a referendum on a clear and unequivocal question as to whether the people of Alberta wish to remain a part of Canada.”