In just a few minutes, Alberta's premier, Danielle Smith, will be making a statement to the Alberta United Conservative Party caucus about the place of Alberta within the Canadian Federation. We're waiting to hear what she has to say.
00:16:48.940should any referendum question ever pass. This is non-negotiable. Now let's talk about the elephant
00:16:55.740in the room that being separation we are well aware that there is a large and growing number
00:17:02.540of albertans that have lost hope in alberta having a free and prosperous future as a part of canada
00:17:08.860many of these albertans are organizing petitions to trigger a citizen initiated referendum as i
00:17:13.980mentioned earlier the vast majority of these individuals are not fringe voices to be marginalized
00:17:20.140are vilified they are loyal albertans they are quite literally our friends and neighbors who've
00:17:26.220just had enough of having their livelihoods and prosperity attacked by a hostile federal
00:17:32.140government they're frustrated and they have every reason to be i want to talk directly to those
00:17:37.980albertans i know how frustrated so many of you have become with our country and the feeling of
00:17:43.260having politicians living thousands of miles away passing laws and rules that have cost you your
00:17:47.980loved ones jobs careers dreams and opportunities for a brighter future as most albertans know i
00:17:55.340have repeatedly stated i do not support alberta separating from canada i personally still have
00:18:01.260hope that there is a path forward for a strong and sovereign alberta within a united canada
00:18:07.340and let me explain a few reasons why first alberta already has and can continue to use the alberta
00:18:13.580sovereignty within a united canada act and other measures to fight through much of ottawa's
00:18:19.660damaging interference and prosper in spite of it we will also continue our successful
00:18:25.180battles against these unconstitutional and damaging policies in both the courts of law
00:18:30.140and public opinion and there is more to be hopeful for this past election demonstrated
00:18:35.980that attitudes across the country especially among young people are changing with respect
00:18:41.340to understanding the importance of free markets and the development of our natural resources.
00:18:46.860People are pushing back against government censorship and cancel culture. More and more
00:18:52.460Canadians understand that in order for Canada to play a role in ending conflict and poverty
00:18:57.340at home and abroad, our country must become strong again. And we can only do that by becoming an
00:19:04.300energy and economic superpower using the vast and unmatched energy, mineral resources, and fertile
00:19:10.380lands of our country. 85% of Canadians in this last election voted for the two leaders promising
00:19:16.680to turn Canada into an energy superpower and to build resource corridors, including for oil and
00:19:23.040gas, while only 13% voted for the fringe voices in the socialist NDP and block parties and their
00:19:29.340extremists leave-it-in-the-ground policies. Obviously, we have a lot of ways to go and it
00:19:34.620will take a lot of work to undo the damage caused by these last 10 years of liberal NDP rule.
00:19:40.380But that clear change in public opinion gives me hope.
00:19:44.880I think it should give all Albertans hope.
00:19:47.300Now, none of us knows what the future holds should Ottawa, for whatever reason, continue to attack our province, as they have done over the last decade.
00:19:56.680Ultimately, that will be for Albertans to decide, and I will accept their judgment.
00:20:01.260But I am going to do everything within my power to negotiate a fair deal for Alberta with the new Prime Minister.
00:20:07.600it. And while doing so, our government will work with Albertans on various initiatives to better
00:20:13.780protect Alberta's provincial sovereignty and economy from Ottawa should those negotiations
00:20:18.800fail and the economic attacks continue. Alberta didn't start this fight, but rest assured we will
00:20:25.580finish it and come out of it stronger and more prosperous than ever. In closing, I want Albertans
00:20:31.900know how important it will be in the coming months for our province to be steadfast unified and to
00:20:38.060refrain from heeding the voices of those seeking to divide albertans against one another there will
00:20:44.220be many outside and even inside this province who will try and sow fear and anger among us
00:20:50.940they will seek to divide us into different camps for the purposes of marginalizing and vilifying
00:20:56.380one another based on differing opinions effectively pitting neighbor against neighbor
00:21:01.020and Albertan against Albertan. This is not the Alberta way. It's not who we are and it's not who
00:21:07.500I am. There are thousands of Albertans who are so frustrated with the last 10 years of Ottawa's
00:21:13.260attacks on their friends and family's livelihoods that they feel Alberta would be stronger and more
00:21:18.540prosperous as an independent nation. That is an understandable and justifiable feeling to have
00:21:24.140even if we disagree on what to do about it. These Albertans are not traitors nor should
00:21:29.580they ever be treated as such they just love their province and family and want a better future than
00:21:35.020the one ottawa is offering them right now there are also thousands of albertans that are so
00:21:40.060attached and loyal to their identity as canadians that there is nothing ottawa has done to our
00:21:45.100province that would justify alberta leaving canada it's not that they think everything is perfect
00:21:51.020or that we've been treated fairly they just believe being part of canada despite those
00:21:55.740problems has much more value than leaving these individuals are also loyal albertans and should
00:22:01.500never be accused of being anything less and then there are hundreds of thousands of albertans that
00:22:06.300probably feel a lot a lot like i do that are deeply frustrated with the way our province
00:22:12.060has been mistreated and damaged by successful successive federal liberal governments and are
00:22:18.620not willing to tolerate the status quo any longer but these albertans still believe there's a viable
00:22:25.180path to a strong free and sovereign alberta empowered to succeed and prosper within a united
00:22:31.980canada a canada where the federal government actually honors the constitution upholds
00:22:37.660provincial rights and empowers provinces to pursue their unique potentials as their people so choose
00:22:44.700regardless of what each of us believes about this issue or what path we think is best we as albertans
00:22:50.860must be able to respectfully debate and discuss these issues with our friends family members
00:22:56.540and neighbors i know that if we do that in the end our province will find the best solution for
00:23:02.540this immense challenge we face and come out of it stronger and more free than ever i'll always put
00:23:09.500my faith in albertans to find the right path i trust you may our beautiful alberta always
00:23:15.820remain forever strong and free all right uh that was alberta premier daniel smith uh
00:23:37.180addressing the people of alberta uh in a very interesting and increasingly turbulent time
00:23:44.540Nigel. I mean, she had her four demands, guaranteed resource export corridors to port access on both0.91
00:23:56.980coasts, ending all anti-resource legislation imposed by the Liberal government that is in
00:24:08.540power now. And there's a long list of those bills, and we'll go through every single one.
00:24:12.460no export taxes without Alberta's consent, and that Alberta, this one's a bit oddly worded,
00:24:20.060but that Alberta gets essentially the same equalization treatment as Ontario, BC, and Quebec.
00:29:05.240they're amending the legislation to make it
00:29:08.280actually possible to use that legislation
00:29:09.920They're not going to make it easy, but they're taking it from impossible to difficult.
00:29:15.380And I think the momentum is clearly there to achieve that difficult threshold.
00:29:18.820Well, and I think it needs to be in that order of not impossible, but difficult, because this is not something that you want to play around with.
00:29:46.880In mark contrast to former Premier Jason Kenney, who's been increasingly vocal on the CBC and on X, Twitter, you know, he's just saying these are traitors.
00:29:58.840She said specifically Albertans who want independence are not traitors.
00:30:02.780The way they feel and why they want out to be their own independent country is understandable.
00:30:35.980I took the implication from that is that's where she wants to fight, but the implication was she was not a part of the second group, which is the unconditional Federalists for whom there is absolutely nothing that could ever move them towards independence.
00:30:48.920It was very carefully worded, but I think you're drawing the correct conclusion from that. The language is interesting. A sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, that is the old Harper language for Quebec's status within Confederation.
00:31:05.260It's not the Quebec language, of course, but I think a lot of people would say, well, you know, the problem that we have is not just the money, it's the values that animate the Liberal Party in particular, and therefore which characterize the law that comes out of Parliament, which is not just anti-Alberta, but it's not even in the spirit of Alberta.
00:31:33.200like we think differently to the way they do so let us be us if you want to let quebec be quebec1.00
00:31:39.280fine but let alberta be alberta so therefore a sovereign alberta within a united canada
00:31:45.760makes sense reasonable people and she is reasonable reasonable people can hold that view
00:31:51.840if you believe it can be achieved uh you know as our editorial put it uh the day after the election
00:31:56.400and the west wants out uh you know many of us have come to the point of independence because
00:32:02.480we do not believe substandard reform of the federation is possible i would note she can't
00:32:07.200say that though even if she thinks it which i don't know that she does but even if she thinks
00:32:11.200i really hope she doesn't think that because uh come right out and say well look that's it i'm now
00:32:16.640i'm now your independence premium yeah um but i would note in her four demands there were not
00:32:22.240there was nothing constitutional in there and a lot of the structural issues uh around fairness
00:32:28.320and equality for Alberta and Saskatchewan Confederation are constitutional. We have
00:32:33.840a vastly greater population than the Atlantic provinces, yet our vote counts for only 55%
00:32:38.320of a single Atlantic vote. In the Senate, it's something like each one of their bodies, I
00:32:43.600shouldn't say vote for the Senate, because there is no votes for the Senate, as Ottawa is the least
00:32:47.360concerned. But in terms of bodies per senator, it's something like 10 to 1. You know, Alberta's
00:32:52.880twice the population of all four Atlantic provinces, and we have just a hair over half the
00:32:57.360senators of just New Brunswick or just Nova Scotia, yet where many times the population
00:33:01.540of both combined. She didn't make any constitutional demands. I think a lot of people
00:33:06.080would recognize that as instantly impossible because then Quebec comes to the table with0.92
00:33:09.340all its litany of issues. But I, honest to God, do not think that there is a resolution to the
00:33:16.860Alberta question or the Western question without constitutional reform, and she did not put them
00:33:22.360on the table. If she wanted no deal, if she wanted to be able to say, hey, we tried and failed,
00:33:29.600she would put constitutional reform on the table. She did not put constitutional reform on the
00:33:34.320table. All of these demands are quite achievable with enough political will from the carny liberal
00:33:41.120government. Maybe. So far, as you were saying, there's no constitutional demands. If I had been
00:33:49.100advising her, I wouldn't have said, come up with a bunch of constitutional demands.
00:33:53.180The first one is to get the government of Canada to respect the constitution that we have.
00:33:58.620And as she pointed out, when some of their legislation, in particular, the No Pipelines
00:34:06.540Act, but also that, okay, you know, it's not a big deal, but the plastic straws,
00:34:11.100there's a certain mentality that went with that. Those things have been found to be unconstitutional,
00:34:17.100and the government of Canada has not acted on those.
00:34:21.440So, you know, let's start with getting action on the things
00:34:26.300that we can theoretically do under the Constitution
00:34:29.220and then perhaps work on the Constitution in the future.
00:34:33.860So this came right out of a caucus meeting of the United Conservative Party.
00:34:47.100uh or so one of the radio writings um you're south okay he uh he's come out and i think
00:34:55.660more or less declared himself for independence i would be shocked if there are not others uh many
00:35:00.860more behind closed doors but i think politically many are afraid to still speak out uh uh politicians
00:35:08.300with longevity are afraid to be the tip of the spear on this kind of thing oh mr stefan just
00:35:12.780said that he was in favor of a referendum i'm sure he just is actually vastly against separation and
00:35:18.060once the matter cleared all together yeah trying to thread the needle yeah that's jason if you're
00:35:23.420watching i mean would you say you're for a vote on it i mean you wouldn't be in favor of a vote
00:35:28.940on it unless you were for it uh i appreciate you stepping up uh it's more bold than others but you
00:35:36.380you may as well just come out for it and uh and then fight for that you know it's uh populism
00:35:43.180needs to be listening to the people but it is also showing leadership trying to show leadership
00:35:47.880and bring the people uh to where you believe in your heart they need to go and that's that's the
00:35:54.740balance of direct democracy and representative democracy and our representatives should show
00:35:59.060some leadership and the people have the right to reject that leadership every four years um
00:36:03.220I think a big, there was some political objectives in this. We're going to wrap it up soon. I know you have to part. But, you know, there's always been a constellation of independence or quasi-independence parties to the right flank of the Conservative Party in Alberta.
00:36:21.460um they've most of the time not been particularly successful as i know but uh it seems the time for
00:36:28.600the movement has come and i think what smith is trying to achieve is now that that movement is
00:36:33.820very much mainstreaming and becoming an issue on which conservative voters in alberta don't just
00:36:39.840say they support it but might actually potentially change their vote or party based upon it she's
00:36:45.180trying to make sure that movement stays within the ucp tent without declaring the ucp to be an
00:36:51.200explicitly independence supporting party so as to keep the federalists in the tent and the
00:36:57.120people who are perhaps for lack of a better term call them conditional federal people who might go
00:37:02.300at some point um i'm not sure how i know the caucus is divided on this issue how sharply it's
00:37:09.180divided we're gonna have to the coming days will tell uh how well a job do you think she did1.00
00:37:13.960both i guess there's three parts here in trying to thread the needle on this issue
00:37:19.740one with caucus, two with party members, and three with UCP voters as three somewhat distinct
00:39:42.080I think barring some startling chain of events like Smith being overthrown in an internal party coup or something, the Citizens Initiative legislation is going to be amended from an impossible bar to a high bar.
00:39:58.420The independence movement is going to meet that high bar.
00:40:01.600And in 2026, Albertans are going to have a referendum.
00:40:04.540Smith is in a perilous political position here trying to allow for that within the UCP's tent while not forcing an exodus on the other side of the unconditional Federalists or at least some of the conditional Federalists.
00:40:24.940She's got to win on that one because if there is a palace coup that brings her down, one side or the other.0.99
00:40:44.140We are entering – you know, I thought I lived through the most interesting time in Alberta politics with Smith.
00:40:50.980You know, when she had joined the Progressive Conservatives and the Wild Rose was blown up and then reborn and then the NDP came in, I thought I was through the most interesting time.
00:41:00.580I think I might end up being wrong about that.
00:41:03.680I think this, I think right now we're entering potentially the most interesting time in the history of Alberta and potentially Saskatchewan alongside us as we enter this.