EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith asserted confidence when addressing her standing within the UCP party on Friday, following her announced referendum for a referendum on Alberta independence, telling upset party members to focus on the referendum, not on toppling her. "I think the fact of the matter is that this is a question that has to go to all Albertans, and I have said that I will honour the outcome of this referendum, and there's two options," said Smith during a press conference. "Option one is to vote to remain in Canada. Option two is to start the legal process to leave Canada.""And I would say that those who want to go with option two should focus their efforts on that, and I will be focusing my efforts on remaining, and then we will see what happens on October 19. I will honour the outcome, and I would hope that they would honour the outcome as well."Smith's comments come as she faces fire from aggravated UCP party members who are furious with her for not calling a straightforward "yes" or "no" question on Alberta independence. Their frustrations have been compounded by her adamant insistence that she intends to actively campaign against independence."I've got a pretty busy travel schedule this summer," Smith said. "I'll be doing town halls and meetings, and talking to people about why it is I think they should vote to remain." .Many Alberta independence-supporting UCP members have been calling for Smith to be torn down as their leader following her announcement on Thursday, arguing that she is forgetting the will of the people who elected her. "Danielle Smith stabbed 708,000 Albertans who wanted a binary yes/no vote on independence in the back," wrote Jeffrey Rath, one of the most vocal Alberta independence advocates, in an X post on Friday. "Albertans will not tolerate you crossing the floor to the Carney Liberals. Either resign or spend the next six months being taught the same lesson that was taught to Jason Kenney.”Smith did not balk at such threats when asked about them on Friday, reminding individuals that she is both the UCP and Alberta's leader. "Well, I would say that I'm much more interested in what Albertans as a whole have to say," Smith said. "When you are a party leader, yes, that's one aspect, but you also have to govern for all the people, and this is an issue that, in my opinion, with 700,000 people signing onto it, 400,000 on one petition, 300,000 on the other. "This doesn't get decided on an AGM convention floor by a few 1000 delegates. This gets decided by Albertans, and it gets decided on October the 19th on which direction we want to go." A UCP party member will get their first chance to speak directly with Smith on Saturday, when she holds the first of many town halls ahead of the referendum. "I like to have public forums where we go back and forth, and I'll be talking about the nine questions that we are putting on," Smith said. "But no doubt this question will come up as well, and I'll be very clear about what the position is of my caucus and my government. Why does it think that Alberta should vote with us to remain? So, you'll see me quite a bit over the summer doing those kinds of town halls.".Reporters also asked Smith about accusations from Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas and other public figures that she started and fueled the Alberta independence movement. "I think, quite frankly, the people who are to blame are the 14 cowards who signed a letter to the Prime Minister trying to derail our MOU," Smith said. "They should man up and say who they are, and say why they don't want this deal to go ahead, and why they don't want us to work together to try to solve the legitimate issues that their party created.""I think it's people like Avi Lewis who continues to campaign to keep our fossil fuels in the ground. I think it's the leadership in British Columbia who continues to try to put barriers in the way of us getting our product to market."Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi argued to the contrary on Friday, claiming Alberta is in this situation because Smith does not care about being Premier. "She doesn't care about governing," said Nenshi to reporters. "She doesn't care about doing her job. She cares about returning favours to the people who got her into her job, and she doesn't care what happens to us, and she doesn't care what happens to the country.""And do not be fooled by her deathbed conversion last night, in which she said, 'I'm fighting for Canada,' because let's be clear, she will not lift one finger to help the remain side in this ridiculous referendum. She's put it on us; she's making us do the work.".Ex-UCP leader and Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and a group of other public figures have their own federalist campaign that acknowledges the real grievances Albertans have with the current state of Canada, but say the solution is not to leave Canada. "We understand why many Albertans are frustrated. For decades, people here have felt ignored, dismissed, and treated unfairly by governments and institutions that too often fail to recognize Alberta’s enormous contribution to this country," reads the campaign's bio on its website. "Those frustrations are real. They deserve to be heard, respected, and addressed.""But we believe Alberta’s future is stronger within a united Canada than outside of it."Many view Kenney as the voice of federalist conservatives in Alberta. His advocacy, including the words from his group mentioned above, stands strikingly close to the message conveyed by the woman who claimed the UCP throne after many of the same people who are fighting for Alberta independence revolted against him over his COVID-19 policies. "I categorically reject Ottawa’s attempts to do so, and call on all provincial leaders and MPs to undo the extensive damage that centralization of power in Ottawa has done to our country economically and with respect to national unity," Smith said during her address on Thursday. "I am fiercely loyal to both Alberta and Canada. But I truly believe our country is so much stronger and more prosperous when we respect the rights of provinces and empower them to govern themselves with minimal federal interference."
