By Don Newman
February 5, 2026
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing with fire.
Depending on what happens in the next few months, that fire could consume Smith, her Alberta United Conservative Party government, the province of Alberta, and Canada as we know it today.
As premier of Alberta, Smith is trying to play the dangerous game of appeasing the separatist movement in the province while saying she wants Alberta to remain in Canada. What she is really doing is pandering to a minority that commands at most 30% support within the province, but a higher percentage of the membership of her United Conservative Party.
This week, Smith was on the appeasement path again. She wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney telling him Alberta wants a greater say in appointing judges to the federal courts in the province. The appointment of federal judges in any province is the constitutional responsibility of the federal government.
In reality, Ottawa consults widely under a committee system that was created in the 1980s. Every province has its own judicial appointments committee comprised of seven members; Ottawa names three of the members, the provincial government names one, as does the provincial chief Justice. Two lawyers’ groups, one national and one provincial, each get one pick.
Premier Smith is proposing a change that would see the current system replaced at least in Alberta by a four-person committee, with two members chosen by Ottawa and two by the province. That quartet would then produce a list of names and the federal and provincial Justice ministers would work together to select new judges.
Not surprisingly, the federal government has opposed the proposal even though Smith added a threat with the request. She said she would withhold funding for three open positions on the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. Ottawa went ahead with appointments to fill two of the open positions. The next move would appear to be the Premier’s.
In explaining her actions, Smith said her proposal would boost national unity — implicitly, that would be a setback for separatists. But she has also said that she favours a “sovereign Alberta within a United Canada,” which would be a good trick to pull off if it made any sense.
Meanwhile, Smith has done what she can to facilitate a provincial referendum on separation. She reduced the number of petition signatures necessary to trigger a referendum, then she went around the province holding town hall meetings about the future of Alberta. The separatists could not have had a better platform for their litany of complaints if they had organized it themselves.
Depending on what happens in the next few months, that fire could consume Smith, her Alberta United Conservative Party government, the province of Alberta, and Canada as we know it today.
She has also issued previous demands of the federal government seemingly designed to be rejected in order to fuel resentment of Ottawa. Before the last federal election, she issued seven specific requests, most of them aligned with demands from the oil industry.
Since the election of Mark Carney, she has co-operated with Ottawa, even signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that includes — but does not guarantee — an oil pipeline to the northwest coast of British Columbia.
Ottawa won’t give in on Smith’s judges demand. But if it did, she would soon be back with another one dressed up as a bid for national unity. It makes you wonder whether Smith is trying to keep Alberta in Canada by appeasing the separatists, or acting as their ally in pre-emptively rationalizing a “yes” vote in a referendum.
For her sake, it had better be the latter. If a separation vote succeeds, unless Donald Trump invades the next morning and makes her governor of the 51st state, she is likely to be forgotten.
To avoid that fate, to avoid the disastrous outcome for Alberta of becoming swallowed and plundered by an autocratic United States, Smith has to pivot immediately.
She has to confront the separatists head on, tell them they are wrong, kick out the members of her party who signed the separation petition, and fight for the country without being just a lobbying arm of the oil industry.
Then, a referendum to leave Canada would almost certainly fail, Danielle Smth would be a Canadian hero. And, the fire would be out.
Policy Columnist Don Newman is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a lifetime member and a past president of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery.