Premier Smith has ‘humiliated’ Albertans with her ‘phony deadline’ to PM Carney: Republicans

Opposition politicians are taking aim at Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, accusing her of embarrassing the province by failing to make good on a time-sensitive threat to leave Canada.

“I provided a specific list of demands the next prime minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis,” Smith posted to social media on Mar. 20.

Saturday marked six months since that threat was made, but the premier has not mentioned it, instead softening her language on Ottawa and even praising Mark Carney in recent weeks.

“The deadline has come and gone and this has weakened Alberta’s position further because if you have a government that puts deadlines in and moves the goal posts, how can anybody take you seriously?” Alberta Republican Leader Cameron Davies said in an interview with CityNews.

A statement from the Republicans said Smith has “humiliated” Albertans with her “phony deadline.”

Smith’s list included repealing Bill C-69, lifting the B.C. tanker ban and ending restrictions on single-use plastics.

None of these demands have been done, but Carney has put a pause on the Liberals zero-emission vehicle mandate. Smith, however, appears to have abandoned her separation threat.

The premier’s office did not answer CityNews’ questions on the matter Tuesday, and instead pointed to a previous statement from the premier saying, “Albertans are finally being heard by Carney.”

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, says Smith is now saving her tough talk for Alberta Next Panel events while playing nice with Carney in the hopes she can keep chipping away at liberal policies.

“It was an artificial deadline. Why 6 months? Because that’s a nice easy number to remember,” Bratt said.

“What the premier is doing is taking credit for all of this, that the only reason that Carney is moving off of (some policies) is because of the threats and action by the Alberta government. So, is she getting everything she wants? Absolutely not. Does she believe she is making progress? Absolutely.”

In a statement to CityNews, NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said the premier’s threat was only made to save herself from the wrath of angry separatists in the UCP, adding “as always, her temper tantrums accomplish nothing.”

Since Ottawa hasn’t given in to Smith’s demands, the Republicans say the premier should respond to Carney’s snub by calling a vote on Alberta independence.

“The premier should have, at the end of the 6 months deadline, said ‘OK, Ottawa has shown us exactly how they see our challenges in confederation and we’re going to be scheduling a binding referendum.’ Simple as that,” Davies said.

Carney’s energy minister recently said he is actively discussing another item on Smith’s list; that being the emissions cap on oil and gas.

At a news conference in Winnipeg on Sept. 12, Tim Hodgson said both the province and industry agree with the federal government that there needs to be a “fundamental change in the emissions intensity of the oilsands.”

Hodgson did not offer details, saying he will “not negotiate through the media.” He also didn’t say whether the federal government plans to cut the emissions cap.

The premier has imposed a new deadline, of sorts, saying she is hopeful Carney will approve a new oil pipeline by Grey Cup on Nov. 16.