The controversy over a town billboard urging Alberta leave Canada has now mushroomed into three signs.
The man behind the campaign says town officials who demanded he remove the first sign appear to be backing down.
“They’ve gone to ground,” Cory Morgan said Wednesday in an interview. “They’re kind of just ducking down and hoping this passes over.”
Town officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, Morgan paid to have a three-metre-tall electronic sign put up in the community of 10,000 located southeast of Calgary.
The billboard is privately operated but located on municipal land. It shows the Alberta shield surrounded by the words “Send Ottawa a Message! Choose Alberta.”
Morgan said the three signs are tied to the Oct. 19 provincial referendum on whether Alberta should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on quitting the country.
The debate has divided Albertans and led to acrimony. A rodeo parade in Sundre this week was cancelled after a float carrying Alberta flags was rejected, leading to threats and harassment.
The first billboard in Taber also brought backlash, with some threatening to boycott the town’s signature corn crop.
On June 3, the town sent a warning letter to the sign’s operator demanding the sign be taken down in 10 days, describing it as a “nuisance” that violates the deal with the town.
The sign is still up. Morgan said he would have let it come down when the deal ended this week, but he has extended it until the end of the month because of the actions of the town.
“Billboard would have come and gone with very little notice, if they had not felt they had the authority to bring it down,” Morgan said.
The town has said in a social media post that the billboard’s message doesn’t represent or speak for the community.
Morgan said two more signs with the same message are also now up in Taber.
He said while Taber isn’t taking action, he wants to send a message about those who would interfere with free speech.
He said he met Friday with lawyers from The Democracy Fund, who intend to draft a demand letter.
The letter, he said, will say, “You guys have to formalize that you’re backing off on this thing, because it seems really a Charter violation.”
Morgan added, “The reason I’ve been so stubborn is I like to think this is going to serve as an example for other municipalities to just back off, stick to your municipal mandates and avoid turning this into an issue.”
Premier Danielle Smith, asked by reporters in Calgary about the Taber and Sundre debates, urged Albertans to remain civil.
“I’ve tried to keep it respectful,” she said. “The way I’ve approached the two sides in this is an indication of how I hope Albertans would approach those they might disagree with because this is an important discussion to have.”
