EDMONTON — Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi challenged Premier Danielle Smith to drop her balancing act and pick a side regarding Alberta independence on Tuesday, telling her that keeping Alberta in Canada is more important than her walking the line. "She uses this word salad, 'A sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.' What the hell does that mean?" said Nenshi in a virtual town hall. For months, Smith has been challenged to advocate for both sides of her UCP supporters when discussing Alberta independence.Many of Alberta's independence supporters are core members of Smith's UCP party, and conversely, a significant number of members also favour the province remaining in Canada. The internal party battle was evident at the UCP AGM, when calls for Alberta to remain in Canada were met with near-equal cheers and boos. "You know, I heard an older gentleman say to me recently, 'Is that like saying I am a single man in the confines of my marriage?', but she's obviously trying to play both sides, which is almost worse in my mind than if she really believed in one side or the other," Nenshi said. He believes that living in Canada gives Canadians an opportunity to live in communities that invest in them and offer the potential for a wonderful life, something he says does not happen everywhere else in the world.His concern is that what was once "carless talk by politicians" will end up destroying that opportunity for Albertans, and according to him, many Albertans feel the same way.Nenshi claims that Smith and the UCPs did not run on a "separatist" agenda during the 2023 election, and that is not what Albertans elected them to do, yet numerous amendments have opened the door for it to become a reality..Calls for Smith and the UCP caucus to pick a side on the independence debate amplified last week, after the NDP challenged every Alberta MLA to sign a pledge affirming their commitment to Canada.According to Nenshi, as of Tuesday, every NDP MLA has signed the pledge, while no UCP MLA has."It's a very simple pledge," said Rakhi Pancholi, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition of Alberta, on Tuesday. "And you know, I think that every Albertan should be able to look at their MLA and say, I know where you stand on separatism."In return, the UCP caucus has called the pledge and other NDP accusations about Alberta independence "performative politics"."Our caucus continues to support a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” said Chief Government Whip Justin Wright in a press release on Friday.“This is nothing more than a cheap political stunt designed to scare people and distract from the fact that Nenshi and the NDP have nothing serious to say to Albertans. ”Smith refused to denounce Alberta independence and its supporters on Thursday at the First Ministers' after reporters challenged her to follow the lead of many other provincial premiers who had already done so. “When you look at the polls, they suggest as many as 30% of Albertans have lost hope,” Smith said. “That’s about a million people, and I’m not going to demonize or marginalize a million of my fellow citizens when they’ve got legitimate grievances.”.Smith has argued that although she, personally, supports Alberta remaining in Canada, she also understands why many Albertans are frustrated after a decade of "abuse" by the federal government under Justin Trudeau, and that she intends to ensure those people feel heard.The NDP, however, argue that many Albertans' voices have already been made clear, and they want to remain in Canada, end of discussion."Let's keep in mind that half a million Albertans signed that Forever Canadian petition and made it clear that they do not want to entertain separatism, that they want to stay proudly part of Canada," Pancholi said. "And that's a pretty clear democratic statement as well."The issue, however, is that it is unclear how many of Alberta's 2.97 million eligible voters support Alberta independence.Polling data varies depending on the survey; however, with at least 6 months remaining until a potential referendum, independence support tends to be around 30%, and independence leaders argue the figure could be closer to 41%. By comparison, a poll conducted by Leger between Jan. 23-26, found that 37% of respondents would vote for the NDP if the province were to hold an election.
