Senior analyst, Media Ecosystem Observatory | Calgarian in Montreal | not a doomer
Joined January 2021
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Alberta has a consequential referendum coming up in October. We hope to contribute to the public conversation by mapping the social media landscape before the vote. With no party or elected politician campaigning on separation, who are the voices driving the online conversation?
Chris Ross retweeted
Canada's economy remains deeply tied to America's—most provinces trade more with the US than with other parts of Canada or other countries—but Canada's trade reliance on the US has fallen dramatically during Trump's 2nd term, hitting the lowest levels in 30 years.
I have seen lots of people refer to the referndum as having 'historic turnout'. I think it is pretty in line with recent elections. Sure, large compared to the equalization referendum in 2021 but small compared to Quebec's '95 referendum which had 93.5%
For example - on the @petermansbridge podcast with @bruceanderson and @ChantalHbert, it was presented initially as 85% (but then corrected in followup)
Timestamped link:
youtu.be/ylRgTCJthag?t=435&s…
Or the recent article by @dkennedyglans saying 'historic turnout', retweeted by @ikwilson
Where to from here Alberta? Here is my weekend column, an interview with pro-independence advocate @ikwilson He says- the people of Alberta have spoken. But he wants more clarity from @ABDanielleSmith on whether or not those with separatist sentiment remain welcome in the conservative political camp. Not as MLAs or candidates, or board members, but in the UCP fold.
Chris Ross retweeted
Saying this in a non-partisan way, as I have no horse in the race, but the conservatives winning in B.C. has got to be hands-down the funniest option, right?
Fun fact i saw shared earlier is that more votes were counted in these 10 referendum questions than were counted in the last federal election
20,428,662 vs 19,597,674
I know the labour behind managing the count of 10 separate questions is massive but it has been over 48 hours and EA still hasnt finished the unofficial results, contrary to their rules. With 97% of results... looks like we are on track for 5/9 passing the 50% of votes threshold
Chris Ross retweeted
1/ After Ukraine struck Yandex data centres, a chart of Russian “bot” traffic collapsing went viral as proof that Alberta separatism, the AfD and Reform UK had lost their Kremlin amplification. Our team @MediaEcosystem @MediaTechDem checked. It was wrong, and the corrections got a fifth of its views.
Pleased to release our new report, “Alberta’s Referendum, Online: Election Fraud Claims Ahead of the October 19 Vote”
We looked at the online conversation about Alberta's upcoming referendum and filtered to content specifically about the integrity of the process.
And the general public in Alberta also expects US political figures to weigh in. (e.g. Musk yesterday)
63% of Albertans expect US political figures to weigh in on the referendum to influence the outcome and 78% consider it inappropriate.
So brace yourself for a noisy media ecosystem over the next two weeks and check your sources.
Big thanks to my whole team at @MediaTechDem for the push to get this timely research out when it matters. You can read the whole report here: mediatechdemocracy.com/en/pu…