PJ The Belt - May 19, 2025


Alberta STATEHOOD DEAL Backed By Trump？ - Separation From Canada ｜ Referendum in 2025

Topics
independence referendum
Mentioned
Danielle Smith Rupert Citizens Initiative Brexit Derek
Alberta Could Negotiate With Trump Admin - Separation From Canada Referendum in 2025？ ALBERTA INDEPENDENCE TOWN HALL - MAY 21 2025 MUNDARE AB - ALBERTA PROSPERITY PROJECT

Episode Stats


Length

9 minutes

Words per minute

172.85

Word count

1,593

Sentence count

81


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In a recent interview with the Western Standard, the Premier of Alberta provides an update on what s been going on with the Alberta separation movement. She references the legal path that the province has if it wants to leave the Canadian Confederation, based on a previous ruling by the Supreme Court. She also gives her perspective on the upcoming independence referendum, as well as her list of demands that she gave the government as an ultimatum in hopes to avoid a unity crisis which may lead to Alberta separating.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 My dad used to say, you know, the thing about Canada is, is Quebec always wants out, and Alberta always wants in.
00:00:09.320 I never thought I would see the day when Alberta would go from being passionately Canadian and wanting in to trying to find a way to get out.
00:00:30.000 In a recent interview with the Western Standard, the Premier of Alberta provides an update on what's been going on with the Alberta separation movement.
00:00:39.340 She references the legal path that the province has if it wants to leave the Canadian Confederation, based on a previous ruling by the Supreme Court.
00:00:48.140 She also gives her perspective on the upcoming independence referendum, as well as her list of demands that she gave the Government of Canada as an ultimatum,
00:00:57.060 in hopes to avoid a unity crisis which may lead to Alberta separating.
00:01:02.080 It now seems, on almost certainty, that in 2026, Albertans will go to the polls and vote on if it wishes to declare independence and become a nation in its own right.
00:01:14.060 To discuss more, we're joined by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
00:01:19.120 Premier Smith, thank you for joining us.
00:01:20.960 My pleasure, Derek. Good to talk to you again.
00:01:22.640 You have outlined some very clear demands of the new Kearney Liberal government and given them a six-month timeline in which we expect to see actions over words.
00:01:34.120 There is still more than five months left on your timeline, but what happens from you and your government if that time elapses and there's not been substantive progress?
00:01:44.820 What I would hope to see is that I've identified nine pieces of legislation that need to be repealed or substantially revised in order to send the message that there is a new restart in the relationship with Alberta
00:01:59.520 and also to pave the way for some of the economic corridors and the construction of pipelines.
00:02:04.020 And I'll just give you an example.
00:02:06.360 So you cannot establish an economic corridor to part of Prince Rupert if you're not prepared to amend C-69 to build the pipeline so that it's not a 10-year approval process.
00:02:18.580 If you get a bitumen pipeline going to Prince Rupert, you have to repeal the tanker ban because otherwise you're not able to load it onto a ship.
00:02:25.880 You cannot have a production cap, which is what an emissions cap is.
00:02:30.620 Otherwise, there's going to be no one with the incentive to invest to expand the production in order to fill those pipelines.
00:02:36.400 And you also can't continue to punish the industry who wants to develop by restricting the amount of low-cost power they're going to have because you've got unrealistic net power regulations.
00:02:47.700 So every single thing I've asked for is in aid of demonstrating that the federal government wants to help us get our product to market, help us find new markets.
00:02:57.240 And so I would look at that as a measure of good faith that they're willing to work with us.
00:03:01.280 Haven't seen it yet, but, you know, the week is still young.
00:03:04.260 I think it's highly probable that the independence issue is going to be on the floor of the next convention of your party.
00:03:11.620 I'm sure, I know you can't discuss internal caucus meetings, but I'm sure it's been an issue.
00:03:18.100 If this comes to the floor of your party's next convention, though, isn't it going to potentially force the party itself to take a side in the referendum as that's going on?
00:03:32.380 I think that that is just a foundational principle of what the United Conservatives are all about and why these kinds of issues really need to be put to the general electorate.
00:03:40.500 Because you can't have four or five hundred people coming to a party conference deciding on behalf of five million Albertans.
00:03:46.860 There are certain issues that are so important, they've got to be put to the general public.
00:03:50.480 That's the case I'm making to our members.
00:03:52.700 It's a case I'm making to our board.
00:03:54.280 And I think that is what the foundational principles of our party are.
00:03:58.280 And so that's why as leader, I'm taking that seriously.
00:04:01.100 It's why I believe it's my job to fight for a new deal for Alberta within Canada and to make sure that we take every measure possible to protect our constitutional sovereignty as defined under the Constitution.
00:04:14.400 I've been doing that since the minute I got elected and I'm going to keep on doing that.
00:04:17.900 So in 2026, through Citizens Initiative, Albertans are very likely to vote in a referendum to decide if they will declare independence.
00:04:25.240 I know the first thing you learn in politics is don't answer a hypothetical, but I don't think it's a particularly hypothetical to consider a potential yes vote.
00:04:34.600 Right now the polls show if there's a vote today, no would win.
00:04:39.000 But campaigns have a way of changing things.
00:04:41.820 The Charlottetown Accord was supposed to be a sure thing.
00:04:43.840 The entire establishment of Canada and all of the major parties in the House of Commons all supported the yes side.
00:04:49.400 Yet there was a no rebellion that ended up winning in the Charlottetown Accord.
00:04:54.860 Brexit, it was the same thing, just flipped onto the yes side.
00:04:58.500 In the event of a yes vote, would you lead Alberta through the process of an independence?
00:05:06.920 So the interviewer asked her the elephant in the room question about what she would do if Albertans choose to vote for independence in a referendum.
00:05:14.620 Taking into account that as of the time this video was published, support isn't over the 50% mark quite yet, but there are several examples in which unlikely outcomes ended up happening.
00:05:27.140 A Canadian example was what was called the Charlottetown Accord, which went to a referendum where almost all politicians, the media, the business sector, all supported voting yes on it and were telling the people to do just that.
00:05:42.040 But the people ended up voting no, overwhelmingly.
00:05:46.860 Another much more recent example is the unlikely Brexit vote, where every European leader, British politician, the media, celebrities and every public figure was against it.
00:05:59.560 But we all know how that referendum went.
00:06:01.760 Premier Smith has stated multiple times that her goal is for Alberta to be respected and treated fairly within Canada, but that she would respect the will of Albertans, whether they choose to stay or separate.
00:06:14.360 The question I would have for Albertans is what are the issues that we need to make progress on to make them feel comfortable that Canada finally respects Alberta and is on Team Alberta.
00:06:27.380 That's part of the reason why I'm going to be doing a consultation over the next six months.
00:06:30.760 I want to find out what the real pressure points are.
00:06:33.300 I suspect I know a lot of them, but I don't know that I know all of them.
00:06:36.700 You said that any independence vote would have to respect First Nations treaty rights.
00:06:44.500 And I think that's a given on both sides, that that would have to be the case.
00:06:48.440 But I want to clarify what you meant by that.
00:06:52.040 Clarity Act doesn't just apply to Quebec.
00:06:54.020 I know that the media likes to think that the movement that we're seeing among grassroots Albertans is somehow offside, but the Supreme Court has already determined that a province does have a right to self-determination.
00:07:13.180 But I think they've also recognized that you can't ignore treaty rights.
00:07:16.800 So I would leave it to legal scholars to give you an answer to that question.
00:07:20.420 All I know is that we don't see the Quebec separatist movement packing up.
00:07:25.380 In fact, the Parti Québécois is polling at the top.
00:07:27.980 We don't see the Bloc Québécois saying, oh, gee, you know, this is not possible.
00:07:31.860 Therefore, we're not going to do it.
00:07:33.220 They just elected another 23 members to the House of Commons.
00:07:36.100 And so I would just put it back on the legal community to maybe have that debate and discussion, because it seems to me that the Supreme Court has said something quite clear in the Clarity Act.
00:07:45.620 And that applies to any province who chooses to go down that path.
00:07:50.420 The irony of this whole thing is the amount of hostility thrown at Albertans for wanting to choose their own destiny.
00:07:57.800 Yet Quebec has been pampered and spoiled every time they chose to pursue their independence.
00:08:03.940 To add insult to injury, a lot of that pampering and spoiling is done using Alberta dollars.
00:08:10.360 Let that sink in.
00:08:11.400 Liberal politicians, the media, and many on the left will have you believe that Albertans' right to self-determination somehow undermines or violates indigenous treaty rights.
00:08:23.420 This is just another tactic they're using to attack the movement and smear anyone who supports it.
00:08:28.720 The Supreme Court has already ruled on this through a law called the Clarity Act, which establishes that the treaties would be protected and would remain the same in the new country unless indigenous leadership decides to enter into voluntary negotiations with the new authorities.
00:08:45.320 It also ensures that native Albertans get a seat at the table during all negotiations.
00:08:49.820 So clearly, the media is yet again trying to create a false narrative.
00:08:55.020 The question is, what's motivating those on the left to use the indigenous issue as a point against the Alberta independence movement?
00:09:02.640 Let me know what you think in the comments.
00:09:05.300 If you enjoyed this video, please do me a solid and hit that subscribe button so I can continue bringing you this video updates.
00:09:11.560 Thanks for watching.