Alberta premier hints at separation referendum if enough signatures call for one
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she would hold a referendum on provincial separation next year if enough signatures were gathered on a citizen petition.
Smith made the comments during an address on the province’s “path forward” with Ottawa following a meeting with the Alberta government caucus.
A new panel, called the Alberta next panel, will be composed of some of the province’s “best and brightest judicial, academic and economic minds” who will join Premier Smith in a series of in-person and online town halls to discuss Alberta’s future in Canada and what next steps could be done to “better protect Alberta from any current or future hostile policies of the federal government.”
Details of the membership and scope of the panel will be released in the coming weeks, and Smith added that it is likely the provincial government will place some of the more popular ideas discussed with the panel to a provincial referendum so that all Albertans can vote on them, sometime in 2026.
“These attacks on our province by our own federal government have become unbearable, it has cost us a decade of opportunities and tens of billions in lost royalties that could have been invested in the health, education, infrastructure and social services Albertans and Canadians need. Until I see tangible proof of real change, Alberta will be taking steps to better protect ourselves from Ottawa,” Smith said.
Will Alberta separation from Canada be on the referendum ballot?
She also stressed that her government will not be putting a vote on separation from Canada on the referendum ballot; however, if there is a successful citizen-led referendum petition that can gather the requisite number of signatures required, requesting such a question to be put on a referendum, her government will respect the democratic process, and include that question on the 2026 provincial referendum ballot as well.
Later in her address, she spoke directly to Albertans wishing to separate from Canada, saying that a vast majority of these individuals are not fringe voices to be marginalized or vilified.
“They are loyal Albertans. They are quite literally, our friends and neighbours who’ve just had enough of having their livelihoods and prosperity attacked by a hostile federal government,” Smith stated, adding that she does not support Alberta separating from Canada.
In addition to the new panel, Smith will soon appoint a special negotiating team to represent Alberta in negotiations with the federal government on four reforms requested by the province.
Alberta’s first request
The province says it requires guaranteed corridor and port access to Tidewater off the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coast for the international export of Alberta, oil, gas, critical minerals and other resources in amounts supported by the free market.
Smith pointed to that every province in the country, other than Alberta and Saskatchewan have coastal port access, and given the size and value of its resources, this will benefit all Canadians to the tune of trillions of dollars of economic activity, including billions for First Nations partners.
Alberta’s second request
Smith wants the federal government to end all federal interference in the development of provincial resources by repealing the no new pipelines law C-69, the oil tanker ban, the net zero electricity regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the net zero vehicle mandate, and any federal law regulation that purports to regulate industrial carbon emissions, plastics or the commercial free speech of energy companies.
Alberta’s third request
Keeping it resource focused, Smith said the third reform requested will be that the federal government will refrain from imposing export taxes or restrictions on the export of Alberta resources without the consent of the Government of Alberta.
Alberta’s fourth request
Last but not least, Alberta will be asking the federal government to provide to Alberta the same per capita federal transfers and equalization as is received by the other three largest provinces, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
“We have no issue with Alberta continuing to subsidize smaller provinces with their needs, but there is no excuse for such large and powerful economies like Ontario, Quebec, B.C. or Alberta to be subsidizing one another,” Smith stated.
“That was never the intent of equalization, and it needs to end.”