Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that the best place for Alberta is undoubtedly in Canada, and his government is working to patch up relations with the province after years of bad blood over stalled energy development.
The comments came at a press conference where Carney announced new policies to turbocharge the development of Canada’s electricity grid, including deploying more natural gas-powered turbines to generate the fuel the country needs.
The reworked policy breaks from the last Liberal government’s climate agenda, which prioritized decarbonizing the grid to drive down emissions despite fierce opposition from the Western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan where fossil fuels are abundant.
He is also expected to announce with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Friday that the two governments have settled on an industrial carbon price regime for the province, which could pave the way for a new oil pipeline to the Pacific.
Carney framed these policies as a way to keep the country together and tamp down regional resentment as a possible separatism referendum in Alberta looms.
“My role and the role of the federal government is to practise co-operative federalism, to work with the provinces, the territories and Indigenous Canadians to get things done on behalf of all Canadians. That’s what we’re doing with the province of Alberta,” he said.
“As someone who was raised in Alberta, I’m a proud Albertan. My view is very much that the best place for Alberta is in Canada, a Canada that works, which is what we’re pursuing. We’re making progress on behalf of all Albertans, we’re making all of Canada stronger.”
On separation question, Carney says ‘the best place for Alberta is in Canada’
Carney’s appeal to national unity comes a day after a judge in Alberta threw out a petition calling for that separation referendum.
The judge ruled that the petition shouldn’t have been issued under provincial law, and Smith’s government neglected its constitutional duty to consult First Nations.
While stressing her belief that Alberta should stay a part of Canada, Smith called the judge’s decision “anti-democratic” and said her government will appeal to get the question on a ballot.
Carney said Alberta can stage a referendum on breaking off, as long as it respects federal law enacted after the 1995 Quebec vote on independence that imposes stringent requirements on these sorts of ballot questions.
“We’re a democracy. We have standards,” Carney said. “A referendum on separation in any province has to be consistent with the Clarity Act, which, as I’m sure you know, ultimately gives Parliament a role in making the judgment about the question.”
Under that law, the House of Commons decides whether a provincial referendum question is clear before it can be put to voters.
If such a vote proceeds, MPs must also decide if a “clear majority” of people want to leave Canada based on the final vote tally. It’s a provision added after voters in Quebec voters very narrowly opted to stay in Canada in that last referendum, which prompted Ottawa to impose a standard higher than the bare minimum of 50 per cent of people voting to go.
