EDMONTON– Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith intends to allow the Alberta independence petition to play out before her government considers intervening, she announced during her radio show on Saturday. "'I'll make my views very clear, but I'm going to let citizen-initiated processes play out," said Smith on her, Your Province. Your Premier. radio call-in show. "They've got 120 days to see if they can get the number of signatures to put it to a vote, and then we'll decide as a legislature what to do with those once those, once that process is complete."Smith's comment came after a caller asked the premier whether she and her government will vote in the legislature and confirm the province's commitment to Canada, as requested by over 400,000 Albertans in the Alberta Forever Canada petition. .Prior to this, the caller referred to actions by Alberta Prosperity Project leaders who claimed they interacted with US officials."You and our elected representatives are the ones that speak for Alberta, and I'm wondering what you are doing as Premier, and what will you do to make that clearly understood that you represent the people, and not certain individuals that are promoting a certain way of thinking," said the caller.APP leaders allege they have met with US representatives multiple times and claim the US has offered support for the province should it become independent, as well as a potential Pacific pipeline running through the US.The caller then suggested that the threat of independence hanging over the province would scare off potential investors from Alberta's economy.Smith informed the caller that she already had a meeting scheduled with the US Ambassador at the First Ministers' meeting. But she pushed back on the argument that the independence movement was scaring away investors."You talk about scaring away investment. $500 billion or more in investment scared away because of terrible laws at the federal level promoting everything from emissions caps to net-zero power regs to actively trying to shut down our energy industry," Smith said..At the start of the show, host Wayne Nelson asked Smith to comment on ongoing concerns and legal cases seeking to stop the petition, arguing that Alberta's independence would violate First Nations' treaty rights."Well, I think it's prejudging an outcome. You need to have a pressure release valve on issues that people care about," Smith said. "And this is something that clearly a motivated group of people care about. They want to go out and get signatures. They have, I think, 120 days to do it. And so I'll wait and see if they're successful in getting that bar."The calls to nullify the Alberta independence petition are not new. Mitch Sylvestre, who is leading the Stay Free Alberta petition, previously applied for an independence petition, but it was thrown out in court in December after a judge ruled that Alberta independence could violate treaty rights.The group was able to reapply for an independence petition under Bill 14, which allows for the province to hold a referendum, regardless of the question's constitutionality. However, the Government of Alberta would not be bound to apply the referendum results if it believes they are unconstitutional. The provincial government has not commented on whether it would apply the results of a potential pro-Alberta independence vote.Support for Alberta independence has drawn increased public attention in January, after Stay Free Alberta was officially issued a petition by Elections Alberta, allowing the group to begin collecting signatures for a referendum. Alberta independence is expected to be a hot topic on Monday and Tuesday, as independence supporters prepare for a rally at Calgary's Big Four Building on Monday. Individuals will be able to sign the independence petition at the event, which begins at 11 a.m., and speakers will begin presenting at 7 p.m.
