Juno News - June 15, 2025


Smith warns separatism surging as pipeline fight escalates


Episode Stats

Length

11 minutes

Words per Minute

173.39784

Word Count

1,995

Sentence Count

94

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is warning that separatist sentiment in the province is higher
00:00:15.520 than ever and that Ottawa would be wise not to test it. Smith says Alberta has reached a breaking
00:00:21.360 point on key energy demands including her proposed pipeline to Prince Rupert and that failure to
00:00:26.960 deliver will only fuel the province's growing independence movement. Meanwhile Smith's approval
00:00:32.880 rating has hit its highest point since taking office even as several premiers across the country
00:00:38.080 are seeing double digit drops. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released its annual report
00:00:43.520 card and Alberta is standing out with Finance Minister Nate Horner earning one of the highest
00:00:48.640 grades in the country as most provincial finance ministers actually got a failing grade. Alberta is
00:00:54.640 also lifting its U.S. liquor ban but American products will still face a hefty surtax.
00:01:00.000 And as Canada prepares to host the G7, Alberta Energy is poised to take the spotlight.
00:01:05.440 All that and more on this week's Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Isaac Lamoureux. Let's dive into that
00:01:10.000 first story now. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says that separatist sentiment in the province has
00:01:15.040 reached historic highs and that Ottawa would be making a dangerous mistake by ignoring Alberta's
00:01:20.720 demands. After discussing her previously made demands and the risks the Liberals would face by not
00:01:25.760 working with Alberta on addressing each of them independently along with building a pipeline,
00:01:30.560 Smith had the following to say. Take a listen. We know there's huge frustration out there just because
00:01:36.160 the Liberals won. Yeah. Can you imagine what the frustration will be if when you have been pitching
00:01:40.640 almost daily, your demands plus the pipeline does not go through? What is the risk to not having that happen?
00:01:52.640 Well, I hope the Prime Minister doesn't want to test it because I take it seriously. I have never seen
00:01:58.480 separatist sentiment be as high as it is right now. We've done our own polling and we've seen numbers as
00:02:03.440 as high as 37 percent. You look historically, I don't know if it's ever been that high. But again,
00:02:09.120 I've also seen it dissipate when Ottawa addresses the legitimate concerns Alberta has. And I'm not
00:02:15.440 kidding that the nine demands are my shortlist. I know that there are other tensions that we have
00:02:19.680 with the federal government, but a lot can get resolved when you have the means because people have
00:02:25.120 good paying jobs and you also have the revenues to be able to address some of the social pressures. So
00:02:29.920 I think that for our sake and for the country's sake, I can't imagine that there will be another
00:02:36.320 project on the national list that will generate as much revenue, as much GDP, as many high paying jobs
00:02:43.360 as a bitumen pipeline to the coast. So that's that will be my pitch. And I hope that he
00:02:47.760 is willing to work with us on it. He seems to be giving us the indication that he is,
00:02:51.600 but we'll know for sure in a few more months. So that's even higher than the 30 to 32 percent
00:02:56.480 figures Smith referenced earlier this spring, which was also what a May Leger poll found.
00:03:01.840 If you remember, we've been tracking this number on Alberta Roundup all year,
00:03:05.840 and Smith herself has said that she wants separatist sentiment to go down, not up.
00:03:10.800 But as long as Ottawa keeps ignoring Alberta's demands, that number seems to be rising.
00:03:15.840 If the numbers do keep rising, Smith has pledged an Alberta separation referendum in 2026 if enough
00:03:22.320 signatures are gathered. Some are suggesting that the referendum could even take place
00:03:26.880 earlier at the October 2025 municipal elections, especially if the Alberta Prosperity Project
00:03:33.040 gains enough support for its petition by then. So many demands were previously made by Smith of the
00:03:38.160 federal government, and some of them included repealing Bill C-69, the net zero electricity
00:03:43.200 regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the net zero vehicle mandates, and much more.
00:03:47.440 Another demand was for the federal government not to impose export taxes or restrictions on Alberta
00:03:52.800 resources and equalization reform. At the heart of Alberta's demand is Smith's proposal for a 1
00:03:58.800 million barrel per day bitumen pipeline to Prince Rupert, which she pitched to the Prime Minister as
00:04:03.840 part of a broader deal to support Canada's decarbonization efforts. Smith explained that pairing
00:04:09.360 decarbonization investment with a new pipeline is the only viable way to finance these large-scale
00:04:15.200 industrial projects. And we'll remember that there seemed to be a consensus among premiers regarding
00:04:20.480 pipelines following the recent First Minister's meeting until BC Premier David Eby, who was notably
00:04:26.320 absent from the meeting, threw a spanner in the works. Smith also called on Carney to stop increasing
00:04:32.320 the industrial carbon tax based on the many concerns raised by industry, which of course she has already
00:04:37.360 done in Alberta. Smith has also now tasked a negotiating team which consists of several ministers to begin
00:04:43.520 working with Ottawa over the summer. She said, quote, we're asking for the federal government to put
00:04:47.680 together an equal table and then we'll go through these one at a time and hopefully in the fall
00:04:51.680 session we'll be able to make some progress. So we'll see if Ottawa finally moves or if Alberta's
00:04:56.240 separatist movement continues to grow. So while separatist sentiment is rising, so too is Premier
00:05:01.680 Smith's personal popularity, despite most other premiers seeing a decline. According to an Angus Reid poll
00:05:07.760 released on Thursday, Smith posted the largest approval rating gain of any Canadian Premier this
00:05:12.880 quarter, rising five points to 51%, her highest mark since taking office in 2022. And this comes just
00:05:20.400 weeks after CBC polling showed that the UCP would cruise to an easy majority if an election were held
00:05:26.080 today, something we covered on a previous show that clearly shows how dominant Smith is in Alberta.
00:05:31.760 However, the Angus Reid survey also found that Alberta is Canada's most polarized province
00:05:36.720 politically, with 32% of Albertans strongly approving of Smith's performance and 37%
00:05:42.880 strongly disapproving. Only Manitoba Premier Wab Kanu posted higher overall approval of 68%,
00:05:50.080 which has been consistent throughout his leadership as he's constantly pulled above the other premiers.
00:05:54.880 Only Smith and Kanu have at least one-third of residents strongly approving of their performance,
00:05:59.360 and conversely, Smith and Legault are the lone premiers with more than one-third of residents
00:06:03.840 strongly disapproving of their performance. Legault recorded actually the sharpest decline of any
00:06:09.440 Premier, falling 13 points to just 25% approval rating, his lowest ever on record, which of course
00:06:16.960 followed Quebec's first credit rating decrease from S&P since 1995. Ontario Premier Doug Ford also saw a
00:06:24.640 10-point decline, dropping to 38% approval following backlash to Ontario's new Bill 5. EB's approval rating
00:06:31.280 also fell 7 points to 46% amid criticism over two controversial bills, Bill 14 and 15, which
00:06:38.480 opposition parties have argued grant the BC NDP sweeping powers at the expense of transparency,
00:06:43.840 environmental oversight, and Indigenous rights. But despite attacks from the legacy media for
00:06:48.880 her diplomatic approach with the United States and President Donald Trump after she traveled to
00:06:54.000 Mar-a-Lago and met with Ben Shapiro, Smith has clearly not suffered after reaching a record
00:06:59.520 high approval rating for herself. Now let's hop into the Canadian Taxpayer Federation's latest
00:07:04.800 Provincial Finance Minister report card. If you guessed that most provinces failed miserably,
00:07:10.160 you'd be right. Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner earned a solid B grade, which was actually the
00:07:15.200 second highest in the country. The majority of provincial finance ministers got a failing grade,
00:07:19.840 assuming like most schools, you consider a D to be a fail. The CTF praised Alberta for cutting the
00:07:25.520 lowest income tax rate from 10% to 8%, saving a typical two-person working family about $1,500 a
00:07:31.520 year, which earned Horner an A-plus in the tax relief section. But Alberta wasn't perfect. Horner's
00:07:37.360 spending growth earned an F with spending up 8.4% this year, which is the second highest increase in the
00:07:43.360 country. And perhaps most notably, every single province increased its spending this year. Horner got
00:07:49.120 a B in the debt interest payments category, despite having actually the lowest debt interest payments in the
00:07:54.240 country at $598 per person, and a C in debt by borrowing at least $5.2 billion this year, meaning
00:08:02.960 each Albertan owes about $16,684, which again is the second lowest in the country. Nationwide, the only
00:08:11.040 province to do better than Alberta was Saskatchewan, which earned a B-plus. Nova Scotia and PEI got a C-plus
00:08:17.360 and C-minus respectively. Four provinces had D or D-minuses, while Newfoundland and Labrador and
00:08:23.600 Manitoba were both stuck with Fs. Notice that, how Manitoba was in last place in this taxpayer
00:08:29.600 report card but has the most popular premier? It's kind of interesting, isn't it?
00:08:34.000 Next up, Alberta is lifting its US liquor ban, but with a catch. Albertans can once again buy US-made
00:08:40.880 liquor after the province ended its three-month ban on American alcohol imports. The Alberta Gaming,
00:08:46.320 Liquor and Cannabis Commission confirmed that US liquor products are now allowed back in,
00:08:50.560 but a 25% surtax remains on any American liquor shipped after March 4th.
00:08:55.920 US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra welcomed the news. He said, quote,
00:09:01.120 "...very glad to see that Albertans can once again enjoy a cold US beer or glass of wine.
00:09:06.320 Thanks to Premier Daniel Smith for your leadership in removing this barrier to fair and reciprocal trade."
00:09:12.080 Smith first imposed the ban in March, as part of Alberta's response to US tariffs on Canadian goods.
00:09:17.680 At the time, she said, quote, "...until further notice, we just have to drink a bit more BC wine
00:09:23.360 and Alberta craft beer and spirits, and that's just fine with us." But Smith also warned that Alberta
00:09:28.160 would not expand pipeline access to the US while current tariffs remained in place, and that focus
00:09:32.960 hasn't changed. Even with the liquor surtax softened, Alberta's broader strategy remains aimed at
00:09:38.400 building global export capacity, not deeper US reliance. A theme that ties directly back to this
00:09:44.560 week's top story on the proposed pipeline to Prince Rupert. So we'll have to wait and see if this softer
00:09:49.920 tone on liquor signals any broader thaw, or if the province keeps doubling down on new markets overseas.
00:09:56.720 For our last story today, as Canada prepares to host the G7 summit this week in Alberta, which the
00:10:02.240 president is expected to attend, by the way, a new Ipsos poll shows Canada is the most preferred oil
00:10:07.920 supplier among G7 nations. Canada topped the list with 68% of G7 respondents ranking it in their top
00:10:14.400 three preferred suppliers ahead of Norway and the US. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called it a vote of
00:10:20.160 confidence in Alberta's energy industry, saying, quote, "...Alberta's government has been relentless in our
00:10:25.680 efforts to promote how our province can provide reliable and sustainably produced energy to our G7
00:10:30.960 partners and beyond, and I am thrilled to see this message is being heard." Ipsos also found that
00:10:36.560 Canada's favorability as an energy supply arose, while the US saw a sharp drop, further reinforcing
00:10:42.480 Alberta's strategic push to market its energy globally. As Smith put it this week, the opportunity
00:10:47.840 is massive, but only if Ottawa gets out of the way. She said, quote, "...now is the time for us to work
00:10:52.960 together to unleash the full potential of Alberta's energy sector and create jobs and prosperity for a
00:10:58.320 generation of people in Alberta and Canada. The federal government should act now to remove
00:11:03.200 production caps and join us in supporting an oil pipeline to the West Coast, increasing access to
00:11:08.320 tidewater and ensuring we can continue to provide Alberta-made energy for our valued partners around
00:11:13.760 the world." With G7 leaders watching from right here in Alberta, that message may carry more weight than
00:11:19.040 ever. That's it for this week's Alberta Roundup. My name's Isaac Lamoureux. Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend and God bless.
00:11:28.320 you