Prime Minister Mark Carney said Alberta is essential to making Canada better, advocating on Friday morning for national unity amid resurrected separation fears.
“Canada is working in a spirit of co-operative federalism to make the country better,” he said the day after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced plans to move ahead with a vote this fall on whether to hold a binding separation referendum.
Carney trod lightly into the debate, using the backdrop of Parliament’s Centre Block, which is in the midst of massive decade-long renovation, to push a metaphor.
“We’re renovating the country as we go,” he said during a tour of the construction site. “And Alberta being at the centre of that is essential.”
The looming vote puts enormous pressure on Carney to keep the country together while not further inflaming regional rancor.
That job was made more difficult after Smith said Albertans will be able to vote in October on the question: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”
Her decision follows a court ruling last week that shut down a petition calling for a referendum on independence that was being circulated by the pro-separatist group Stay Free Alberta. That petition asked Albertans if they wanted Alberta to “cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state.”
Smith called that “a legal mistake by a single judge” and a “troubling court decision.”
“It’s time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject, and move on,” she said.
Carney points to recent energy deal
Separation sentiments in Alberta have been growing for years, largely attributed to frustrations with Ottawa’s approach to energy development and the province’s position in the federation.
Smith, who said she’ll vote for Alberta to stay in the Confederation, has praised Carney’s approach to energy projects compared to his predecessor but has continued to push for a vote to have Albertans’ voices heard.
Standing in the Library of Canada’s rotunda Friday morning, Carney attempted to abate dissension by rattling off some of Alberta’s contributions to Canada from art, literature, music, politics and sports.
“Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better. And we’re working on making it better. We’re working with Alberta on making it better,” he said, pointing to the energy deal he and Smith signed just last week.
That agreement that could see construction on an oil pipeline to the West Coast start as early as September 2027.
Carney said he will work alongside Smith, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, who now holds a rural Alberta seat, and Albertans of all stripes “to continue to make progress.”
Unity is ‘the job of the prime minister’: Poilievre
Poilievre has been critical of the Carney-Smith energy agreement, saying it doesn’t go far enough.
On Friday, he promised federal Conservatives will campaign over the coming months for a united Canada “through hope,” before blaming the rise of the separatist movements in both Alberta and Quebec on the Liberal government.
“I should just once again point out, though, how wonderful it was 11 years ago when there were no separatists whatsoever in Alberta, where the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois were wiped off the electoral map and we were a truly united country under the leadership of prime minister Harper,” Poilievre said during a news conference in Surrey, B.C.
(The PQ formed government from 2012-2014 before it was reduced to Official Opposition in Quebec’s National Assembly. The Bloc’s demise during that period has largely been attributed to the rise of Jack Layton’s NDP.)
Poilievre said Harper “understood that it’s the job of the prime minister to unite the country, and that if the country is not united, that too is the responsibility of the prime minister.”
“We really should look at the situation in both Quebec and Alberta and ask ourselves how the [current] prime minister is doing,” he said.
Asked Friday if she accepts any of the blame for driving division, Smith pointed to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, Liberal MPs who oppose the federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis and leadership in neighbouring British Columbia for being “obstructionists.”
“That’s what’s created this situation we find ourselves in today,” she said. “I’m trying to find the solutions.”
I’d never do it: Ford
Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested Smith wants to protect the part of her voting base that supports independence.
“It would be a disaster for Alberta to split away from our country,” he said during a news conference in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
“I’d never do it,” Ford said. “That’s up to Premier Smith to decide, but I would never ever put that poll to Ontarians.”
Smith’s plan for a referendum question has drawn criticism from both sides of the issue.
Jeff Rath, lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, the group that collected signatures to try to force a separation referendum, called the move an insult to those seeking independence, while another pro-independence voice called Smith “spineless.”
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Smith is only calling the vote to stay in power.
Speaking to supporters in Calgary, he said a strong turnout in Alberta’s referendum will be essential to send a resounding message to the provincial government that Albertans want to stay in Canada.
Pointing to the United Kingdom’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union, Nenshi said many British voters woke up the morning after the Brexit vote feeling regretful they hadn’t cast a ballot.
“We can’t take this for granted,” he said. “We cannot sleepwalk into this. We’ve got to vote, and we’ve got to vote in big, big, big numbers.”
With files from Michelle Bellefontaine