Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew used the closing press conference of the Western Premiers’ Conference in Kananaskis, Alta. Tuesday to make a direct public appeal to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to delay her fall referendum on Alberta’s future in Canada.
“Now is the time to work together,” Kinew said. “Why don’t we hold off on this referendum talk for a year or two, so we can get these pipelines under construction? Because at the end of the day, we want Canada to succeed.”
Smith, who has scheduled the referendum for October 19, did not respond at the press conference. BC Premier David Eby, who gifted all attending premiers Team Canada soccer jerseys on the final morning of the two-day meeting, called the referendum a “huge mistake” and said the timing was profoundly wrong.
Read: Separatism Talks Hurt Alberta Pipeline Push
Prime Minister Mark Carney has separately warned the separation push could amount to a “dangerous bluff,” pointing to Brexit as a cautionary example.
The sharper exchange came over the May 13 court ruling that placed the referendum petition in legal limbo. Justice Shaina Leonard found that Alberta failed its duty to consult with First Nations — including the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Blood Tribe, Piikani Nation, and Siksika Nation — before allowing the citizen-initiated petition to proceed. Smith told reporters she believes the ruling oversteps, arguing the duty to consult should apply to major projects but not citizen-initiated petitions.
Kinew, a member of the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation, disputed that interpretation on the spot. “I think we know that that is not correct, a lot of what you just said there, Premier Smith,” he said. “It is not up to the petition gatherers to fulfill the duty to consult. It is up to you, as the Alberta government, to fulfill the duty to consult.”
He added that a new international border around Alberta would directly impede treaty rights to hunt and fish — rights that cannot be extinguished by a provincial referendum.
Smith said the exchange illustrated “the importance of Canada’s court system” and that she respected the “difference of opinion,” adding she would wait for the appeals process to conclude before drawing further conclusions.
The political costs of the referendum push are already visible inside her own cabinet, two pro-Canada ministers resigned last week ahead of a scheduled shuffle, in departures widely linked to their known opposition to the separation push.
All western and northern premiers signed a joint communique on Tuesday whose opening line called for “unity, certainty, and stability” and declared that “we are all stronger as members of a united Canada” — without mentioning the referendum. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, whose province has its own separatist fringe, said his party wants to remain in Canada.
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