{"id":687061,"date":"2026-05-22T20:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/687061\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:20:08","slug":"canadas-carney-says-alberta-is-essential-as-province-mulls-separation-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/687061\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Carney says Alberta is \u2018essential\u2019 as province mulls separation | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> says Alberta is \u201cat the centre\u201d of his plans for the country\u2019s economy, hours after the province announced that it will vote later this year on whether to hold a referendum on separating from Canada.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Carney highlighted cooperation between the federal government and various provinces and territories, repeatedly stressing the importance of Alberta.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

He did not mention the October referendum in the oil-rich province on whether to remain as part of Canada or hold a vote for separatism.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better. And we\u2019re working on making it better; we\u2019re working with Alberta on making it better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Canadian prime minister highlighted his recent visit to the province\u2019s largest city, Calgary, where he announced several agreements, including an effort to fast-track an oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re renovating the country as we go, and Alberta being at the centre of that is essential,\u201d Carney said on Friday.<\/p>\n

A referendum on a referendum<\/p>\n

Late on Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that the province would hold a referendum on whether to hold a separation vote.<\/p>\n

The decision came after a court blocked a petition to hold a vote on separation, citing lack of consultation with Indigenous groups that would be affected by the referendum.<\/p>\n

Smith emphasised that she opposes separation, but she rejected the judicial ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite my personal support for remaining in Canada, I am deeply troubled by an erroneous court decision that interferes with the democratic rights of hundreds of thousands of Albertans,\u201d she said in a video message.<\/p>\n

A group that calls itself Stay Free Alberta says it gathered more than 300,000 signatures to trigger a separation vote.<\/p>\n

A competing group called Forever Canada also says its petition to remain part of the country has garnered more than 400,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

Smith said her government would respect the results of the referendum, as well as other questions that will be put directly to voters on October 19.<\/p>\n

But it is unclear whether the province can go forward with a separation referendum amid the judicial block.<\/p>\n

The question on the ballot will be: \u201cShould 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

Several polls have shown that a majority of Albertans do not support independence for the province.<\/p>\n

While the vote will not immediately lead to Alberta\u2019s separation, it could deepen political polarisation in Canada, creating a major challenge for Carney.<\/p>\n

The conservative-dominated province of five million people has long viewed the Liberal federal governments of Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau with scepticism, namely over environmental regulations.<\/p>\n

Carney has appeared to be willing to ease environmental policies amid tensions with the administration of President Donald Trump<\/a> in the United States and a global energy crisis due to the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously his government has also touted a carbon capture project that aims to offset greenhouse gas emissions from the oil industry.<\/p>\n

Radio-Canada reported on Friday that 14 Liberal members of Parliament had penned a letter to Carney warning him against making major environmental concessions to Alberta, emphasising that \u201cclimate change remains the greatest threat of our time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018National crisis\u2019<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Smith, a member of the United Conservative Party, which is aligned with the federal Conservative Party, decried Trudeau\u2019s policies and stressed the importance of decentralised governance in Canada.<\/p>\n

But she credited Carney with doing away with some of his Liberal predecessor\u2019s policies, especially around energy production.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime Minister Mark Carney, adopted most of Alberta\u2019s positions on energy and resource development. In fact, the current prime minister has worked very constructively with our government to craft an Alberta-Ottawa energy agreement,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

She paid a nod people in the province who she said feel like the federal government has \u201ctaken advantage\u201d of Alberta, but she said the situation is a \u201cworld of difference\u201d better under Carney than Trudeau.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we in Alberta still have our differences with the federal Liberal government? Obviously, and make no mistake, we will relentlessly challenge them to respect our provincial rights and jurisdiction every time they step over the line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, who holds a parliament seat in Alberta, said he would push against separation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be campaigning across the province, encouraging Albertans to stay as part of the Canadian family,\u201d Poilievre told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

But some Liberals have blamed conservatives for stoking Alberta separatist sentiment for political gains.<\/p>\n

Corey Hogan, one of two Liberal MPs from Alberta, blasted Smith for going forward with the referendum, accusing her of appeasing separatists who \u201cthreatened to bring her down\u201d and turning her political problems into a \u201cnational crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis baffling, referendum-on-a-referendum question will do nothing to settle anything,\u201d Hogan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt adds another layer of confusion. It will divide. It will distract. It will damage. I hope her government will consider how to step back from this madness before the damage to our province\u2019s social fabric and economy is too great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Alberta is \u201cat the centre\u201d of his plans for the country\u2019s economy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,4717,44,714,1690],"class_list":["post-687061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-energy","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}