Have the tremors of Alberta idependence returned on the cusp of a federal election that could see Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney hold power?
Some say yes.
Speaking in Brooks on Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith said Canada is not working for Alberta.
“At some point, Canada has to start working for Alberta, and it’s not right now,” she said in a media Q-and-A.“We’ve had a number of policies come in over the last 10 years (from Ottawa) that have damaged Alberta’s prosperity.”
On Saturday, Smith said she will form a panel after the federal election on April 28 to hear from Albertans about issues they might want addressed through a referendum, though she dismissed independence talk as “nonsense.”
This follows her earlier threats of a “national unity crisis” if Ottawa ignores her energy-related demands, suggesting the panel could explore next steps based on public sentiment.
Those demands include guaranteed unfettered oil and gas corridors, repealing Bill C-69 — the “no more pipelines act” — lifting the B.C. tanker ban, eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap, scrapping clean electricity regulations, and ensuring no export tax or restrictions on oil and gas to the U.S.
Smith called out Carney on X on Tuesday for flip-flopping on Bill C-69.
“Less than two weeks ago Mark Carney told me in person that C-69 was a barrier to large national energy projects and needed to be dealt with,” wrote Smith. “Now he says he has no intention to do anything with it. Make no mistake, if this law stays, there will be few if any large scale energy infrastructure projects built in this country and Alberta and Saskatchewan will be cut off from international markets.”
Smith added, “This means Canada will become more vulnerable to and overly dependent on the United States. Albertans will not tolerate this and neither will I. Hopefully this election results in a new prime minister that can be trusted to get rid of these terrible policies.”