The board of the Alberta Prosperity Project says it fired CEO Mitch Sylvestre and legal counsel Jeffrey Rath five weeks before Albertans voted about three to one to stay in Canada, then waited until the vote ended to say so. Both men reject the claim and say the board has no standing.
The board’s “Notice of Board Decisions,” posted Thursday by member Tanya Clemens, says it terminated Rath and Sylvestre “for cause” on September 14 and removed both as directors on September 24. It bars them from acting for or representing the group, which it also calls the Alberta Prosperity Society, and says earlier efforts to settle the matter privately failed. They have not given a definite reason for the firings. Clemens said the board held the news until the vote ended to keep supporters focused on winning.
For those five weeks, Rath and Sylvestre kept speaking for the group in public. Both gave media interviews for the group at its Edmonton watch party on referendum night.
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When about 75% of voters chose to stay, well short of the 30% Rath had said would thrill him, he said separatists will not stop until Alberta is independent and predicted they would push for a leadership review of Premier Danielle Smith. Sylvestre questioned the count, saying its integrity “is gone,” and said the group will dispute the outcome where it can. Two days later, the board said neither man had authority to speak for it.
Read: Alberta Separatists Target Smith’s UCP Leadership After Referendum Loss
Sylvestre told supporters on an online call that Clemens and Chris Scott, who also claims a board seat, were never board members and lacked authority to issue the notice. He dismissed the notice as false.
Rath answered with his own notice, signed as general counsel of the society, saying neither Clemens nor Scott is lawfully registered as a director and calling the board meetings “imaginary.” Scott wrote back that Rath cannot issue notices for the society, and that registry filings lag because Rath, as longtime general counsel, never kept them in order.
Related: Rath Alleges Smith Used Wexit List in 2022 UCP Leadership Bid
Sylvestre remains president of the United Conservative Party’s Bonnyville–Cold Lake–St. Paul constituency association, and the party holds its annual general meeting November 27 to 29 in Calgary, where the separatist question may surface. Smith has said she will not hold another referendum on the question.
