PM says Alberta ‘essential’ to Canada as separatists push for independence | Canada
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said Alberta was “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the provincial leader brought the oil-rich region closer to an independence referendum.
Separatists in the western province have spent months collecting signatures to trigger a binding vote on seceding from the nation in October.
They submitted their petition to provincial officials on May 4, insisting they had collected enough names to force a vote under Alberta law.
But a judge in Alberta shut down the process, saying the citizens’ initiative was invalid because the separatists failed to consult with Indigenous groups whose rights could be threatened if the province secedes from Canada.
In a speech late Thursday, Alberta’s premier Danielle Smith called the judge’s ruling “erroneous” and accused it of “interfering with the democratic rights of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.”
Smith, a conservative whose political coalition includes separatists, said he supports “Alberta remaining in Canada.”
But he insisted he would not allow “a legal error by a single judge” to cancel an argument that needed to be made.
“It’s time to vote, understand the will of Albertans on this issue and move on,” he said.
He plans to ask Albertans in October if they want his government to “initiate the necessary legal process to hold a binding referendum” on independence.
Smith said he structured his question in a way that did not violate the judge’s order because it “did not directly trigger the separation.”
Carney, who spent much of his childhood in Alberta, responded in a taped video speech from Parliament Hill on Friday.
“Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better and we’re working to make it better. We’re working with Alberta to make it better,” he said.
He added that Alberta is “important” to Canada’s future.
Polls show nearly 30% of Alberta’s population of 5 million support independence, a record high.
The separatist camp accuses Ottawa of stifling Alberta’s oil industry with undue federal influence and blocking investment over what they see as unreasonable concerns about the environment.
Carney and Smith are working together to develop a new oil pipeline; This is something Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, opposed.
Smith expressed hope that increased federal support for the oil industry could help tame separatist anger.
