Smith says Alberta separation referendum possible if enough citizens want it
Posted May 4, 2025 11:06 am.
Last Updated May 5, 2025 9:57 pm.
Premier Danielle Smith says her government has no intention of holding a referendum on Alberta separation, but did not rule out the possibility of a citizen-led petition ending up as a ballot question in 2026.
Smith addressed Albertans via livestream on Monday afternoon where she discussed a “path forward with the federal government” following Mark Carney and the Liberals win in last week’s federal election.
She says the province would only hold a referendum on separation if Albertans gathered enough signatures on a petition. The premier says she wants a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, but added the frustrated voices in the province following last week’s election are not fringe extremists and must be listened to.
“For Albertans, these attacks on our province from our own federal government have become unbearable,” she says.
Smith claims Ottawa’s policies over the last decade have cost the province $500 billion in investments.
“Canada has fallen to dead last in economic growth among industrialized nations,” she says. “The world looks to us like we’ve lost our minds.”
“We have the most abundant and accessible natural resources of any country on earth, and yet we landlock them, sell what we do produce to a single customer to the south of us, well enabling polluting dictatorships to eat our lunch.”
In the lead-up to the federal election, nearly one-third of Albertans (30 per cent) told a pollster they would want to separate from Canada if the Liberals were elected again. Meanwhile, an online petition in support of Alberta separation that started in 2019 has over 223,000 signatures as of Sunday.
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi responded to Smith’s address Monday saying the premier is insistent on picking fights with Ottawa instead of fixing the real problems Albertans face.
“She didn’t say I denounce separatism,” said Nenshi. “What she said was ‘I’m going to pick another fight, I’m going to have another endless panel with my endless cronies, spending endless money of taxpayers, on an endless fight that I will never win.”
Journalists were not able to ask questions during Monday’s address, but a news conference is scheduled at noon on Tuesday.
Plans for negotiating team to hammer out Alberta accord with feds
Smith said last week she had a positive first meeting with Carney on Friday and she reiterated that during her Monday address.
“We have a new prime minster, and I will say that in my first conversation with him since the election, he had promising things to say,” she said.
The premier says she will work with Carney in “good faith,” but until she sees evidence of any change, her government will work to ensure Alberta is protected from Ottawa.
Smith says she will appoint a negotiating team to represent Alberta in discussions with the federal government moving forward, and also made another list of demands she says her government needs to see from Ottawa.
Of those demands, Smith called for a guaranteed corridor to Canada’s three oceans for pipelines and said Ottawa must repeal Bill C-69, as well as its oil tanker ban, net-zero plan, and oil and gas emissions cap, and any other regulations impacting the country’s energy sector.
The premier also said the federal government must refrain from imposing export taxes on Alberta resources and provide the same per capita equalization and transfer payments for Quebec, Ontario and B.C.
Carney reposted her statement last week, thanking her while saying they are both focused on lowering the cost of living, increasing energy sector opportunities for Albertans, and breaking down interprovincial trade barriers to build a strong Canadian economy.
Nenshi acknowledge Monday that Alberta needs a better deal on equalization and corridors for energy, but added “we will never achieve those things at the expense of this nation.”
New Alberta bill allows easier path to separation referendum
The day after the federal election, Smith introduced Bill 54, which would cut the threshold for a citizen-led referendum by half to 10 per cent of people who voted in the last election, and give citizens 30 extra days for a total of 120 to gather signatures. Smith insists the bill was already in the works and would have been introduced even if the Conservatives won.
The bill has sparked new relevance to the conversation of Alberta’s separation, as rallies have been held at the legislature since the federal election, including on Saturday. It was met with counter-protestors from Indigenous communities saying Alberta functions on Treaty land.
But it hasn’t been without controversy, as First Nations chiefs also issued statements opposing separation talks, saying the premier is attempting to manufacture a national unity crisis. While Bill 54 has been introduced, there has not yet been any confirmation from Smith on whether a referendum would happen.
The Alberta NDP has also accused Smith of being a separatist, and a political scientist says her words have only stoked the flames of separation rather than calm them.
However, Smith rejected that assertion and insists she wants to see a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. On her radio show, Your Province, Your Premier, Saturday, she said she respects Treaty rights, saying the bill wouldn’t violate that or the First Nations’ relationship with the Crown.
With files from Sean Amato and Lauryn Heintz
