Mayor of Alberta town says there’s nothing he can do about ‘Let’s join the USA!’ billboard

The first time Robb Stuart heard about the billboard in his town calling for Alberta to join the United States was when he received an angry email about it last week. 

“It just said that they were disgusted, that they thought they’d never have to email anybody about having a sign that promotes joining the United States,” Stuart, mayor of Bowden, Alta., told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

“And a few other odds and ends in there. Most of it’s not for public hearing.”

A second email followed 20 minutes later, he says — and they haven’t stopped coming since.

But while Stuart is fielding calls and messages from residents upset about the sign, he says the town of Bowden didn’t approve it, and doesn’t have the authority to take it down.

“The billboard has absolutely nothing to do with the town of Bowden. We weren’t even aware of it until after the fact, ” Stuart said.  “The town of Bowden does not deserve the negative feedback that we’ve been subject to.”

Spot Ads, the company that owns the billboard space overlooking the highway that connects Edmonton and Calgary, says the advertisement does not violate its standards. 

The company behind the ad, a Western Canadian separatist organization called America Fund, says it plans to run more billboards across the province in the coming weeks. 

Ties to Wexit, soliciting donations 

The billboard at the centre of the firestorm features a picture of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith posing with U.S. President Donald Trump, along with the words: “Tell Danielle! Let’s join the USA!” 

It directs to a website for America Fund, which asks for donations and bills itself as “Canadians for a 51st state.” 

Trump has repeatedly said he wants Canada to become the 51st state and has threatened to use “economic force” to achieve his vision.  He is expected to enact 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports next week, and Canada has promised countermeasures. 

America Fund is run, in part, by Paul McGregor of the Alberta 51 Project, which promotes Alberta becoming a U.S. state; and Peter Downing, founder of Wexit, a political party that advocated for Western Canada to split off from the rest of the country. Wexit has since rebranded as the Maverick Party.

“We are Alberta-based and agreed to take on this project as a direct political countermeasure to Ottawa’s threats of imposing oil and gas export tariffs/embargos on the sale of our natural resources to the United States of America,” America Fund spokesperson Lincoln Burrows told CBC in an email. 

Burrows included AI-generated images in his email response to CBC’s questions, including one of an American flag waving over Toronto.

The advertising campaign, he says, is run by Pathfinder Consulting Group Ltd, a “guerilla marketing company based in Western Canada,” and funded by donations from supporters. 

CBC could not find contact information for Pathfinder, which Burrows says is “not publicly listed.”

Another of Downing’s organizations, Alberta Fights Back, has employed similar tactics in the past. In 2019, it purchased billboards calling for Alberta to “ditch Canada.” In 2020, it bought billboards with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s face and the words “Lock him up!” 

The goal of this campaign, Burrows says, is to find out whether Premier Smith supports Alberta becoming a 51st state, or “whether her loyalties are federal in nature.”

The group got its answer on Monday when Smith was asked about the billboard during a press conference.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of enthusiasm for what the billboard says or what the president has been talking about,” she said. “That’s why I say let’s continue to be the U.S.’s best trading partner, and let’s continue to be a sovereign nation.”

Bowden residents not pleased

Spot Ads, meanwhile, says it is “aware of the sensitivity of the messaging,” but that, ultimately, the billboard doesn’t violate its policy against “hate speech, promotion of violence, or obscenities.”

“Spot Ads believes in upholding the fundamental rights of Canadians as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and in particular; Freedoms of Speech,” a spokesperson told CBC in an emailed statement.

Canadians, and Bowden residents in particular, aren’t taking kindly to the billboard.

A post with a picture of the billboard on the Reddit page r/Alberta is filled with comments from people calling it “treason,” “an embarrassment” and a “disgrace.”

Burrows called the Reddit backlash “vile” and said America Fund has forwarded comments to police and the FBI that were “threatening personal violence and property damage against our staff, our advertising partner, and third-party landowners.”

But the criticism isn’t bound to Reddit. One Bowden resident, Cam Morrison, told Global News that people in Bowden find the billboard “completely outrageous.”

Another resident, Shirley Schultz, told CTV News: “Alberta is not going to separate, nor is Canada, so they can just forget about it.”

The vast majority of Canadians reject the idea of joining the United States, according to recent polls by Abacus Data and Angus Reid Institute.

Mayor Stuart says most people in Bowden are against the idea, too, though he says he’s heard of a few who feel otherwise. 

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to judge anybody,” he said, before adding: “If they want to join the U.S., nothing’s stopping them from moving.”