Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Friday blamed Canada’s unity crisis – reignited this week after her decision to put a convoluted question about secession to a provincial referendum – on other political leaders.
The Premier, a year ago, threatened an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if Ottawa did not scrap laws she viewed as hostile toward Alberta’s energy industry. She and Prime Minister Mark Carney have made progress in rebuilding the relationship, with Ms. Smith championing a new energy deal, signed last week, related to a proposed bitumen pipeline to the West Coast.
Despite this thaw, the debate over national unity erupted Thursday after Ms. Smith said she would put a question about Alberta’s future in Canada on the province’s Oct. 19 referendum ballot.
“I am trying to find the solutions,” Ms. Smith told reporters Friday. “The people who are to blame are the 14 cowards who signed a letter to the Prime Minister trying to derail our MOU.”
A group of 14 Liberal MPs sent a letter to Mr. Carney in April expressing concern over the memorandum of understanding on energy, the CBC reported Friday.
Ms. Smith also pointed to “people like” Avi Lewis, the federal NDP’s new leader, accusing him of campaigning to keep fossil fuels in the ground, and unnamed people in B.C.
“I think it’s leadership in British Columbia, who continue to try to put barriers in the way of us getting our product to market,” she said. “That is the reason we are having this crisis right now.”
Ms. Smith’s secession question united her detractors on the left and right flanks of the political spectrum in anger. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and some First Nations joined them in linking Ms. Smith to political uncertainty.
The Prime Minister refrained from pointing fingers and instead made the case for co-operative federalism, lauding the contributions Albertans have made to the country.
“Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better,” Mr. Carney said on Friday inside the Library of Parliament, which is closed to the public for repairs. “We’re renovating the country as we go, and Alberta being at the centre of that is essential.”
Naheed Nenshi, the province’s New Democratic Party Leader, on Friday told supporters Alberta is months away from a separation vote because of the United Conservative Party’s internal politics.
“The Premier doesn’t care about being the Premier. She doesn’t care about governing,” Mr. Nenshi said. “She cares about returning favours to the people who got her into her job.”
But those UCP members who lobbied for a separation referendum also feel Ms. Smith betrayed them.
Separatist leader Jeffrey Rath said he is gauging interest from UCP constituency associations for a review of Ms. Smith’s leadership.
“She’s got to go,” Mr. Rath said in an interview.
Ms. Smith previously scheduled a referendum for Oct. 19, with the ballot’s nine questions largely centred on immigration. During a televised address Thursday evening, she pledged a 10th 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?”
The muddy wording means voters will choose a preferred option rather than vote yes or no. The second option – which would spur the provincial government to do the legal legwork necessary to hold a second, binding independence referendum – would not provide immediate relief for separatists itching for Alberta to leave the Canadian fold.
Mr. Rath, while frustrated with Ms. Smith and her question, said he will campaign in favour of the second option, which would get Alberta one step closer to secession.
Ms. Smith on Friday said Alberta could not skip straight to an independence vote because the courts would likely intervene and halt the process until constitutional hurdles were addressed. The awkward question, she said, was the only way to get the secession question on the ballot.
First Nations in Alberta expressed dismay. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation said they asked the provincial government to consult with them earlier this month, but never heard back.
“We will not stand down,” the pair of First Nations said in a letter dated May 21.
With independence activists feeling cheated by Ms. Smith’s secession question, federalists raging that separation is on the ballot at all and some First Nations chiefs calling for others to join their fight in defence of the rule of law, Albertans are in for months of raucous – and potentially destabilizing – politicking and legal wrangling.
But Alberta will not be isolated in instability. Sovereigntists in Quebec are eyeing their own potential referendum, British Columbia is complaining about Alberta’s new energy pact with Ottawa and the trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump is taking a bite out of the economy.
Alberta’s Premier has never campaigned on a platform of secession, but last year, as angst toward Ottawa from the right flank of her party grew, her government changed the rules to make it easier for citizens to use petitions to get questions on a referendum ballot.
Ms. Smith has long accused Ottawa of enacting policies that put a chill on investments. But on Friday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce suggested she may be the one hurting the economic climate.
“Alberta’s prosperity and Canada’s economic success both depend on reducing barriers to growth and investment, not introducing new uncertainty,” Candace Laing, the Chamber’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.
“You don’t add to economic success or effectively address issues by dividing.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, one of Ms. Smith’s political allies, said he would never take the same path as his western counterpart.
“I’d never do it. Premier Smith knows how I feel,” he said. Mr. Ford suggested Ms. Smith was motivated by the need to protect her political base.
“It’s not going to win,” he said. “It’d be a disaster for Alberta to split away from our country.”
With reports from Tim Kiladze