The Wild Claims of Jeff Rath, Separatist Firebrand
The free-swinging Alberta Prosperity Project leader is caught on video spouting conspiracy theories and profanities.
?[url]https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/01/26/Wild-Claims-Jeff-Rath-Separatist-Firebrand/[/url]
Recent polling shows the support for separation among Albertans is about 19 per cent, with 75 per cent saying they would vote against independence.?
But a few weeks earlier on Nov. 27, Rath definitely was not in a secure facility. It was the eve of the United Conservative Party annual general meeting in Edmonton and Rath was perched on a stool at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald’s horseshoe-shaped bar in downtown Edmonton, profanely disparaging Alberta Premier Danielle Smith while spouting wild, unproven allegations and opinions to some strangers.
“I have this from a pretty impeccable source,” Rath said. “Jason Kenney, Marshall Smith and the other three or four senior high-powered gay deputy ministers within the Alberta government all flew down to Puerto Vallarta together in advance of the last election.”
Rath alleged they “conspired” there “to plot what they were going to do and how they were going to position themselves when Rachel Notley won the election.”
Jason Kenney is the former Alberta premier. Marshall Smith is Danielle Smith’s now former chief of staff. And Rachel Notley is the former leader of the Alberta NDP, which did not, as many expected, win the 2023 election.
Rath spun out a conspiracy in which, after the upset UCP election win, there was an agreement not to split the party. The deal required the installation of Marshall Smith as the premier’s chief of staff, Rath said, with the sole authority to hire deputy and assistant deputy ministers.
Rath made derogatory statements about Marshall Smith’s past history, before delivering the punchline “What could possibly go wrong? I ask you” and erupting in raucous laughter.
In an emailed response after publication, Kenney said he has never been to Puerto Vallarta, has never been to Mexico on a personal trip and has never travelled anywhere with any of the people Rath mentioned. He said he went to Mexico City in 2019 as premier and to Guadalajara on behalf of the federal government in 2008.
“Apart from making a single donation to a friend’s constituency association, I have been completely uninvolved in Alberta partisan politics since leaving office in the fall of 2022,” Kenney said.*
Marshall Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
Unbeknownst to Rath, one of his newly met bar-stool buddies was David Wallace, the political fixer who is alleged ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ahs-harassment-allegations-david-wallace-bryan-ward/[/url]) to have harassed a potential key witness in the wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against the UCP government by a former Alberta Health Services CEO.
In an email, Wallace told The Tyee he had no idea who Rath was until he was informed by private investigator Tyler Argue, who had joined Wallace at the bar for supper as he conversed with Rath.
In an interview in an Edmonton coffee shop, Argue told The Tyee he recognized Rath because Argue had been active in the UCP, once serving on the Highwood UCP constituency association board.
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The free-swinging Alberta Prosperity Project leader is caught on video spouting conspiracy theories and profanities.
?[url]https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/01/26/Wild-Claims-Jeff-Rath-Separatist-Firebrand/[/url]
Recent polling shows the support for separation among Albertans is about 19 per cent, with 75 per cent saying they would vote against independence.?
But a few weeks earlier on Nov. 27, Rath definitely was not in a secure facility. It was the eve of the United Conservative Party annual general meeting in Edmonton and Rath was perched on a stool at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald’s horseshoe-shaped bar in downtown Edmonton, profanely disparaging Alberta Premier Danielle Smith while spouting wild, unproven allegations and opinions to some strangers.
“I have this from a pretty impeccable source,” Rath said. “Jason Kenney, Marshall Smith and the other three or four senior high-powered gay deputy ministers within the Alberta government all flew down to Puerto Vallarta together in advance of the last election.”
Rath alleged they “conspired” there “to plot what they were going to do and how they were going to position themselves when Rachel Notley won the election.”
Jason Kenney is the former Alberta premier. Marshall Smith is Danielle Smith’s now former chief of staff. And Rachel Notley is the former leader of the Alberta NDP, which did not, as many expected, win the 2023 election.
Rath spun out a conspiracy in which, after the upset UCP election win, there was an agreement not to split the party. The deal required the installation of Marshall Smith as the premier’s chief of staff, Rath said, with the sole authority to hire deputy and assistant deputy ministers.
Rath made derogatory statements about Marshall Smith’s past history, before delivering the punchline “What could possibly go wrong? I ask you” and erupting in raucous laughter.
In an emailed response after publication, Kenney said he has never been to Puerto Vallarta, has never been to Mexico on a personal trip and has never travelled anywhere with any of the people Rath mentioned. He said he went to Mexico City in 2019 as premier and to Guadalajara on behalf of the federal government in 2008.
“Apart from making a single donation to a friend’s constituency association, I have been completely uninvolved in Alberta partisan politics since leaving office in the fall of 2022,” Kenney said.*
Marshall Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
Unbeknownst to Rath, one of his newly met bar-stool buddies was David Wallace, the political fixer who is alleged ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ahs-harassment-allegations-david-wallace-bryan-ward/[/url]) to have harassed a potential key witness in the wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against the UCP government by a former Alberta Health Services CEO.
In an email, Wallace told The Tyee he had no idea who Rath was until he was informed by private investigator Tyler Argue, who had joined Wallace at the bar for supper as he conversed with Rath.
In an interview in an Edmonton coffee shop, Argue told The Tyee he recognized Rath because Argue had been active in the UCP, once serving on the Highwood UCP constituency association board.
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