{"id":927270,"date":"2026-10-10T03:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927270\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T03:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:06:13","slug":"not-as-long-as-im-premier-danielle-smith-rules-out-2nd-separation-referendum-if-albertans-vote-to-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927270\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not as long as I\u2019m premier\u2019: Danielle Smith rules out 2nd separation referendum if Albertans vote to remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was definitive Friday when asked whether she\u2019d commit to not holding another referendum on Alberta separation should a majority of Albertans vote to remain in Canada on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot as long as I\u2019m premier,\u201d Smith told CBC News\u2019 chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault during a one-on-one interview in Calgary.<\/p>\n

The premier\u2019s line in the sand comes a little more than a week before Albertans will vote on 10 questions, including whether Alberta should stay in Canada, or whether it should begin the process to hold a second, binding referendum on separating from the country.<\/p>\n

And it conflicts with the positioning<\/a> of Alberta separatist leaders, many of whom say that they won\u2019t give up the fight even if the vote goes against them.<\/p>\n

There will also be five questions tied to immigration and four tied to Canada\u2019s Constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Smith wasn\u2019t clear<\/a> on what she considers a strong mandate or threshold for the other nine questions. She has previously said 50 per cent plus one was what she considered a threshold<\/a> for the separatism question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took questions from CBC News\u2019 chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault on Friday, with the Alberta referendum a little more than one week away. (Jared Thomas\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Asked again by Arsenault on Friday about the percentage for the other nine questions, Smith said \u201cmajority rule\u201d seems to be the way most decisions are made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re rejected, then you know what? I guess we\u2019ll have to pursue other things,\u201d Smith said. \u201cFind out other things that Albertans are concerned about.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Alberta Premier Danielle Smith rules out 2nd referendum if Albertans vote to remain:\"\"<\/p>\n

Smith rules out 2nd Alberta referendum: ‘Not as long as I’m premier’<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would not hold another referendum on separation should a majority of Albertans vote to remain in Canada on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

Pollsters have said<\/a> that numbers on the separatism question have largely been baked-in for years. A recent poll done for CBC News suggested 23 per cent of respondents said they\u2019d vote to start the legal process to hold a binding referendum, while 72 per cent said they\u2019d vote to remain in Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But polls attempting to sort out support for the nine other questions have been decidedly more uncertain.<\/p>\n

‘Public enemy number one’<\/p>\n

While a significant majority of Albertans polled have said they\u2019re in favour of remaining in Canada, the same is not true of members of Smith\u2019s United Conservative Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Polling has suggested that among those who said they\u2019d vote for the UCP, 53 per cent said they\u2019d vote for the separation option, while 40 per cent said they\u2019d vote to stay in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith has also recently seen one of her caucus members, Red Deer-South UCP MLA Jason Stephan, say that he voted<\/a> in favour of the separation option on the ballot. A UCP riding association in southern Alberta also formally urged a party vote<\/a> to review the premier\u2019s leadership.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jason Stephan, a member of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s UCP caucus, said he voted in favour of proceeding with a legally binding referendum on whether Alberta should leave Canada during a recent town hall. (Lina Elsaadi\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Smith said that over the past months, she has been working hard to convince more people to vote to remain in Canada.<\/p>\n

She said that, given constructive co-operation with Prime Minister Mark Carney, \u201cCanada is working better than it ever has,\u201d highlighting the West Coast pipeline<\/a>, officially known as Pacific Link, as well as the repeal of various federal laws.<\/p>\n

While she said she speaks to those who disagree with her, Smith said that doesn\u2019t include some separatist leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you’ve probably seen, I’m kind of public enemy number one for that group,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey don’t like the fact that I’ve taken such a strong position on remain. So no, I’m not in contact with any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s ‘public enemy No. 1’ to some separatists:\"\"<\/p>\n

Smith says she’s \u2018public enemy No. 1\u2019 to some separatists<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she is not in contact with separatist leaders, some of whom, she says may view her as \u201cpublic enemy No. 1\u201d because of her position to keep the province in Canada.<\/p>\n

One of those independence advocates, Jeffrey Rath, told the fifth estate<\/a> that to get the referendum they want, UCP separatists must get rid of Smith \u201csooner rather than later,\u201d and proceed to \u201chave a special general meeting of the party to vote on her leadership the same way we did with [former Alberta premier] Jason Kenney.” <\/p>\n

A citizen-led petition on separation, led by Stay Free Alberta, was quashed<\/a> by a judge earlier this year. Justice Shaina Leonard ruled that Alberta’s chief electoral officer made errors in approving the petition and that separation would violate First Nations treaty rights.<\/p>\n

The government, as well as separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre, are appealing<\/a> that decision.<\/p>\n

With the appeals still pending, the Alberta government added its own separation question to the referendum ballot in May.<\/p>\n

You can see more of Arsenault’s interview with Smith tonight on The National. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-927270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927270","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=927270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}