Juno News - Smith warns separatism surging as pipeline fight escalates

This week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warns that separatist sentiment in the province is higher than ever and that Ottawa would be wise not to test it. Smith says Alberta has reached a breaking point on key energy demands, including her proposed pipeline to Prince Rupert, and that failure to deliver will only fuel the province s growing independence movement. Meanwhile, Smith s approval rating has hit its highest point since taking office, even as several premiers across the country are seeing double digit drops. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released its annual report card, and Alberta is standing out with Finance Minister Nate Horner earning one of the highest grades in the country. Alberta is also lifting its U.S. liquor ban but American products will still face a hefty surtax, and as Canada prepares to host the G7, Alberta Energy is poised to take the spotlight. All that and more on this week s Alberta Roundup.

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 0.96

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

Juno News - June 15, 2025

Smith warns separatism surging as pipeline fight escalates

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript