Western Standard - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks out on independence

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 .

00:01:00.000 .

00:01:30.000 .

00:02:00.000 Good day, I'm Derek Fildebrand, publisher of the Western Standard.

00:02:09.360 In just a few minutes, any time now, we're going to be going live to an address from

00:02:14.480 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, where she will be making a statement following a meeting

00:02:21.280 of the Alberta United Conservative Party caucus discussing the place of Alberta within the

00:02:28.860 Canadian Federation. This comes after a huge outburst of activity and support in support of

00:02:37.660 Alberta independence. An announcement from Danielle Smith that she is tabling legislation

00:02:42.880 that will amend the Citizens Initiative referendum legislation that allows Albertans

00:02:49.660 to trigger referendums on their own. Widely expected now that this is setting the stage for

00:02:57.240 a referendum in Alberta on independence and the future of our sovereignty. The Uniconservative 1.00

00:03:04.060 Party Caucus, I think just finished meeting UCP MLA Jason Steffen told reporters at the Alberta

00:03:12.700 legislature today that he supports Alberta holding a referendum on independence. The cat is seemingly

00:03:19.080 out of the bag and uh we're into uncharted territory here so we're we're standing by

00:03:25.940 to uh hear what danielle smith has to say uh but we're just going to chit chat about what's leading

00:03:31.500 to this what's compelling uh her statement today and what we might expect so i've got joining me

00:03:36.980 here western standard opinion editor nigel hannaford again derek nigel uh you and i are both

00:03:42.940 very um vexed because uh the premier's office did not provide us with an embargoed copy of the

00:03:49.660 speech for those following at home uh you often get budgets or major speeches in advance so you

00:03:56.220 can you can write your story or write your opinion column and then it's released as soon as you know

00:04:01.840 the premier starts speaking that kind of thing we did not get that today so you and i are not

00:04:06.140 pretending to be abusing about what we're about to hear we just don't actually know no we don't

00:04:11.100 There's probably a reason for that, and that Mark Carney has, of course, just arrived in

00:04:17.340 Andrews Air Force Base to meet with Donald Trump. So it's an evolving situation, and it wouldn't

00:04:25.340 surprise me if the speech is still being written, to be honest with you. Generally speaking, these

00:04:30.460 remarks are prepared well in advance, and they do give them to us, and we read them and start

00:04:35.180 writing and that's why you get commentary almost as soon as the as soon as the um speech is made

00:04:41.820 that's not the case today so we're very much uh waiting to see what the premier has to say

00:04:47.820 yeah so okay let's let's kind of set the table about what's leading up to here so uh monday

00:04:53.900 last week the liberals were re-elected uh primarily on oh i think we are actually going

00:05:00.780 to daniel smith right now let's let's stop talking and listen to what the premier has to say

00:05:10.460 we have fought wars and died defending

00:05:16.140 opinions of our fellow canadians searching for opportunity many of whom stay and become alberton

00:05:21.900 and many who return home to their native province all have been welcomed with open arms

00:05:27.820 our province has contributed hundreds of billions of dollars more to the federal treasury for use

00:05:33.100 in other parts of the country than will ever receive back in benefits we have allowed this

00:05:38.220 to occur because quite frankly we know how blessed our province is with an endowment of natural

00:05:43.820 resources that no other country on earth possesses and we want all of our friends families and fellow

00:05:50.460 canadians across the country to benefit from it we don't ask for special treatment or handouts

00:05:57.180 We just want to be free, free to develop and export that incredible wealth of resources we have

00:06:02.620 for the benefit of our families and future generations. Free to pursue opportunities with

00:06:08.340 the ideals of entrepreneurship, hard work, and innovation that have become synonymous with the

00:06:14.260 name of our province. Freedom to choose how best to provide health care, education, and other needed

00:06:20.480 social services to our people, even if it's done differently than what Ottawa has in mind.

00:06:26.240 strong and free is more than just our provincial motto it represents who we are and how we want to

00:06:32.720 live as a people and that is why albertans are so frustrated with the direction of our country

00:06:40.080 for the last 10 years successive liberal governments in ottawa supported by their new

00:06:44.560 democrat allies have unleashed a tidal wave of laws policies and political attacks aimed

00:06:50.640 directly at alberta's free economy and in effect against the future and livelihoods of our people

00:06:57.040 they have blocked new pipelines with c69 cancelled multiple oil and gas projects and banned the very

00:07:04.160 tanker ships needed to carry those resources to new markets they have stacked an oil and gas

00:07:10.000 production cap on top of a crippling industrial carbon tax making new energy and agricultural

00:07:15.680 projects economically impossible to pursue without massive subsidies from governments which ottawa

00:07:21.840 has failed to provide and which our taxpayers cannot afford this onslaught of anti-energy

00:07:28.080 anti-agriculture and anti-resource development policies have scared away global investments to

00:07:33.280 the tune of a half a trillion dollars driving those investments and jobs out of alberta and canada

00:07:39.840 to much more attractive investment climates in the united states asia and the middle east having

00:07:45.760 traveled much of the world these past few years it is evident that canada is not viewed as an

00:07:50.960 attractive place to invest in resource development manufacturing or agriculture because of our high

00:07:56.800 carbon taxes endless red tape and the uncertainty and chaos brought about by these and other federal

00:08:03.680 government policies as a result canada has fallen to dead last in economic growth among

00:08:10.720 industrialized nations the world looks at us like we've lost our minds we have the most abundant and

00:08:17.200 accessible natural resources of any country on earth and yet we landlock them sell what we do

00:08:23.520 produce to a single customer to the south of us while enabling polluting dictatorships to eat our 0.57

00:08:28.800 lunch for albertans these attacks on our province by our own federal government have become

00:08:35.040 unbearable as i said these policies have cost albertans roughly a half a trillion dollars in

00:08:40.960 investment and that loss is growing daily it has and will continue to cost hundreds of thousands

00:08:47.120 of jobs robbing countless albertans and other canadians of their means of providing for their

00:08:52.160 families it has cost us a decade of opportunities and tens of billions in lost royalties that could

00:08:59.120 have been invested in the health education infrastructure and social services albertans

00:09:04.720 and canadians need and what's worse ottawa continues onward with more destructive policies

00:09:11.520 they have imposed net zero mandates on our natural gas-based power grid causing investment in

00:09:16.640 reliable generation from natural gas to flee, thereby endangering the future stability of our

00:09:22.240 power grid and risking future blackouts and spikes in electricity costs for Alberta families and

00:09:27.520 businesses. They have attacked our food producers with methane taxes, onerous regulations on

00:09:33.360 fertilizer, electric vehicle mandates and many other destructive policies that have hiked costs

00:09:39.200 on our farmers and ranchers and driven billions of dollars of investment in agriculture elsewhere.

00:09:44.960 they've interfered in provincial jurisdiction time and again from taking over the regulation

00:09:51.300 of plastics to mandating how we operate child care health care and dental care to harassing

00:09:57.280 law-abiding firearms owners to dozens of other examples of unconstitutional interference

00:10:03.100 and of course Alberta has fought back we always have and always will we passed the sovereignty

00:10:10.380 within a united canada act and have invoked it twice to protect albertans as best we can from

00:10:16.300 the effects of the net zero electricity regulations and the energy production cap we beat the feds in

00:10:22.220 court on both the no new pipelines law c69 and their attempt to regulate plastics though they

00:10:28.780 have ignored both court decisions to this point and we have just announced a court challenge on

00:10:33.740 the net zero electricity regulations and are further preparing to also challenge the energy

00:10:39.500 production cap we continue to do all in our power to counteract ottawa's chill on investment in

00:10:46.220 energy agriculture and our other job sectors through various tax cuts and incentive programs

00:10:52.060 which greatly strain the provincial budget we have fought these attacks from ottawa furiously

00:10:58.460 and have won some important battles but the lost opportunities jobs and futures of so many

00:11:04.380 Albertans are costly and demoralizing, as are the growing number of eastern politicians who choose

00:11:10.300 to openly demonize and target Alberta for political gain. That is why a large majority of Albertans

00:11:16.860 are so deeply frustrated with the results of last week's federal election. It's not that our preferred

00:11:22.860 candidate and party lost, that happens in a democracy, it's that the same Liberal government

00:11:28.140 with almost all the same ministers responsible for our nation's inflation, housing, crime and

00:11:33.660 budget crisis and that oversaw the attack on our provincial economy for the past 10 years

00:11:39.180 have been returned to power now as we all know one thing has changed we have a new prime minister

00:11:46.380 and i will say that in my first conversation with him since the election he had some promising

00:11:51.020 things to say about changing the direction of his government's anti-resource policies

00:11:55.900 however albertans are more of a actions speak louder than words kind of people so while i will

00:12:01.740 in good faith work with Prime Minister Mark Carney on unwinding the mountain of destructive

00:12:06.620 legislation and policies that have ravaged our provincial and national economies this past

00:12:11.900 decade, until I see tangible proof of real change, Alberta will be taking steps to better protect

00:12:18.220 ourselves from Ottawa. As a start, I will soon appoint a special negotiating team to represent

00:12:26.060 our province in negotiations with the federal government on the following reforms requested

00:12:31.420 by our province we hope this will result in a binding agreement that albertans can have confidence

00:12:36.620 in call it an alberta accord if you will first alberta requires guaranteed corridor and port

00:12:44.060 access to tide water off the pacific arctic and atlantic coasts for the international export of

00:12:49.660 alberta oil gas critical minerals and other resources in amounts supported by the free market

00:12:56.220 rather than by the dictates and whims of ottawa every province in the country other than alberta

00:13:02.140 and saskatchewan have coastal port access and no province needs it more given the size and value

00:13:08.140 of our resources this will benefit all canadians to the tune of trillions of dollars of economic

00:13:13.980 activity including billions for first nations partners second the federal government must end

00:13:21.980 all federal interference in the development of provincial resources by repealing the no new

00:13:27.100 pipelines law c69 the oil tanker ban the net zero electricity regulations the oil and gas emissions

00:13:34.700 cap the net zero vehicle mandate and any federal law regulation that purports to regulate industrial

00:13:40.780 carbon emissions plastics or the commercial free speech of energy companies these laws are

00:13:46.940 destroying investment confidence and costing canada and alberta hundreds of billions in

00:13:52.220 investments each year they need to go third the federal government must refrain from imposing

00:13:58.620 export taxes or restrictions on the export of alberta resources without the consent of

00:14:03.660 the government of alberta frankly all provinces should be given that same respect for their

00:14:08.780 resources and fourth the federal government must provide to alberta the same per capita federal

00:14:15.340 transfers and equalization as is received by the other three largest provinces quebec ontario and

00:14:23.020 british columbia we have no issue with alberta continuing to subsidize smaller provinces with

00:14:28.380 their needs but there is no excuse for such large and powerful economies like ontario quebec bc or

00:14:35.340 alberta to be subsidizing one another that was never the intent of equalization and it needs to

00:14:41.260 end if these points can be agreed to by the federal government i am convinced it will not

00:14:47.660 only make alberta and canada an infinitely stronger and more prosperous country but will

00:14:53.660 eliminate the doubts a growing number of albertans feel about the future of alberta in canada while

00:15:00.060 these negotiations with ottawa are ongoing our government will appoint and i will chair the

00:15:04.940 alberta next panel this panel will be composed of some of our best and brightest judicial academic

00:15:11.100 and economic minds to join with me in a series of in-person and online town halls to discuss

00:15:16.940 Alberta's future in Canada and specifically what next steps we can take as a province to better

00:15:22.780 protect Alberta from any current or future hostile policies of the federal government.

00:15:28.380 Details of the membership and scope of that panel will be released in the coming weeks.

00:15:34.220 After the work of the panel is finished, it is likely we will place some of the more popular

00:15:38.780 ideas discussed with the panel to a provincial referendum so that all albertans can vote on them

00:15:44.300 sometime in 2026. to be clear from the outset our government will not be putting a vote on

00:15:52.620 separation from canada on the referendum ballot however if there is a successful citizen-led

00:15:59.100 referendum petition that is able to gather the requisite number of signatures requesting such

00:16:04.300 or question to be put on a referendum our government will respect the democratic process

00:16:10.460 and include that question on the 2026 provincial referendum ballot as well

00:16:24.780 i also want to state unequivocally that as premier i'm entirely committed to protecting

00:16:29.740 upholding and honouring the inherent rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.

00:16:36.060 Therefore, any citizen-initiated referendum question must not violate the constitutional

00:16:41.020 rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and must uphold and honour treaties 6, 7 and 8,

00:16:48.940 should any referendum question ever pass. This is non-negotiable. Now let's talk about the elephant

00:16:55.740 in the room that being separation we are well aware that there is a large and growing number

00:17:02.540 of albertans that have lost hope in alberta having a free and prosperous future as a part of canada

00:17:08.860 many of these albertans are organizing petitions to trigger a citizen initiated referendum as i

00:17:13.980 mentioned earlier the vast majority of these individuals are not fringe voices to be marginalized

00:17:20.140 are vilified they are loyal albertans they are quite literally our friends and neighbors who've

00:17:26.220 just had enough of having their livelihoods and prosperity attacked by a hostile federal

00:17:32.140 government they're frustrated and they have every reason to be i want to talk directly to those

00:17:37.980 albertans i know how frustrated so many of you have become with our country and the feeling of

00:17:43.260 having politicians living thousands of miles away passing laws and rules that have cost you your

00:17:47.980 loved ones jobs careers dreams and opportunities for a brighter future as most albertans know i

00:17:55.340 have repeatedly stated i do not support alberta separating from canada i personally still have

00:18:01.260 hope that there is a path forward for a strong and sovereign alberta within a united canada

00:18:07.340 and let me explain a few reasons why first alberta already has and can continue to use the alberta

00:18:13.580 sovereignty within a united canada act and other measures to fight through much of ottawa's

00:18:19.660 damaging interference and prosper in spite of it we will also continue our successful

00:18:25.180 battles against these unconstitutional and damaging policies in both the courts of law

00:18:30.140 and public opinion and there is more to be hopeful for this past election demonstrated

00:18:35.980 that attitudes across the country especially among young people are changing with respect

00:18:41.340 to understanding the importance of free markets and the development of our natural resources.

00:18:46.860 People are pushing back against government censorship and cancel culture. More and more

00:18:52.460 Canadians understand that in order for Canada to play a role in ending conflict and poverty

00:18:57.340 at home and abroad, our country must become strong again. And we can only do that by becoming an

00:19:04.300 energy and economic superpower using the vast and unmatched energy, mineral resources, and fertile

00:19:10.380 lands of our country. 85% of Canadians in this last election voted for the two leaders promising

00:19:16.680 to turn Canada into an energy superpower and to build resource corridors, including for oil and

00:19:23.040 gas, while only 13% voted for the fringe voices in the socialist NDP and block parties and their

00:19:29.340 extremists leave-it-in-the-ground policies. Obviously, we have a lot of ways to go and it

00:19:34.620 will take a lot of work to undo the damage caused by these last 10 years of liberal NDP rule.

00:19:40.380 But that clear change in public opinion gives me hope.

00:19:44.880 I think it should give all Albertans hope.

00:19:47.300 Now, 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.

00:19:56.680 Ultimately, that will be for Albertans to decide, and I will accept their judgment.

00:20:01.260 But I am going to do everything within my power to negotiate a fair deal for Alberta with the new Prime Minister.

00:20:07.600 it. And while doing so, our government will work with Albertans on various initiatives to better

00:20:13.780 protect Alberta's provincial sovereignty and economy from Ottawa should those negotiations

00:20:18.800 fail and the economic attacks continue. Alberta didn't start this fight, but rest assured we will

00:20:25.580 finish it and come out of it stronger and more prosperous than ever. In closing, I want Albertans

00:20:31.900 know how important it will be in the coming months for our province to be steadfast unified and to

00:20:38.060 refrain from heeding the voices of those seeking to divide albertans against one another there will

00:20:44.220 be many outside and even inside this province who will try and sow fear and anger among us

00:20:50.940 they will seek to divide us into different camps for the purposes of marginalizing and vilifying

00:20:56.380 one another based on differing opinions effectively pitting neighbor against neighbor

00:21:01.020 and Albertan against Albertan. This is not the Alberta way. It's not who we are and it's not who

00:21:07.500 I am. There are thousands of Albertans who are so frustrated with the last 10 years of Ottawa's

00:21:13.260 attacks on their friends and family's livelihoods that they feel Alberta would be stronger and more

00:21:18.540 prosperous as an independent nation. That is an understandable and justifiable feeling to have

00:21:24.140 even if we disagree on what to do about it. These Albertans are not traitors nor should

00:21:29.580 they ever be treated as such they just love their province and family and want a better future than

00:21:35.020 the one ottawa is offering them right now there are also thousands of albertans that are so

00:21:40.060 attached and loyal to their identity as canadians that there is nothing ottawa has done to our

00:21:45.100 province that would justify alberta leaving canada it's not that they think everything is perfect

00:21:51.020 or that we've been treated fairly they just believe being part of canada despite those

00:21:55.740 problems has much more value than leaving these individuals are also loyal albertans and should

00:22:01.500 never be accused of being anything less and then there are hundreds of thousands of albertans that

00:22:06.300 probably feel a lot a lot like i do that are deeply frustrated with the way our province

00:22:12.060 has been mistreated and damaged by successful successive federal liberal governments and are

00:22:18.620 not willing to tolerate the status quo any longer but these albertans still believe there's a viable

00:22:25.180 path to a strong free and sovereign alberta empowered to succeed and prosper within a united

00:22:31.980 canada a canada where the federal government actually honors the constitution upholds

00:22:37.660 provincial rights and empowers provinces to pursue their unique potentials as their people so choose

00:22:44.700 regardless of what each of us believes about this issue or what path we think is best we as albertans

00:22:50.860 must be able to respectfully debate and discuss these issues with our friends family members

00:22:56.540 and neighbors i know that if we do that in the end our province will find the best solution for

00:23:02.540 this immense challenge we face and come out of it stronger and more free than ever i'll always put

00:23:09.500 my faith in albertans to find the right path i trust you may our beautiful alberta always

00:23:15.820 remain forever strong and free all right uh that was alberta premier daniel smith uh

00:23:37.180 addressing the people of alberta uh in a very interesting and increasingly turbulent time

00:23:44.540 Nigel. I mean, she had her four demands, guaranteed resource export corridors to port access on both 0.91

00:23:56.980 coasts, ending all anti-resource legislation imposed by the Liberal government that is in

00:24:08.540 power now. And there's a long list of those bills, and we'll go through every single one.

00:24:12.460 no export taxes without Alberta's consent, and that Alberta, this one's a bit oddly worded,

00:24:20.060 but that Alberta gets essentially the same equalization treatment as Ontario, BC, and Quebec.

00:24:24.380 Yeah, that's the new one.

00:24:25.660 Yeah, you know, it's not getting rid of equalization, but it's essentially saying,

00:24:28.380 okay, fine, equalization only for the small maritime provinces and Manitoba,

00:24:32.700 but essentially no more Quebec. If Quebec gets something, we get something.

00:24:35.340 Well, that first three of those is actually a condensation of the original nine demands that

00:24:39.740 she presented to Mr. Carnegie, I think, before he was even elected as prime minister.

00:24:46.380 He had been elected prime minister, but hadn't gone through. He'd been selected by the party,

00:24:50.780 but not yet elected quite. At any rate, she's already put that to him, and I think just for

00:24:57.660 rhetorical purposes. She's going to appoint a team of negotiators 1.00

00:25:03.980 to deal with Ottawa and commission the Alberta Next panel chaired by herself.

00:25:08.380 that's i mean we'll see how different or not that is from jason kenny's fair deal panel

00:25:12.700 which was not chaired by himself but uh i think this will be a bit more of an involved process

00:25:16.780 with the premier well you know i think the difference between those two panels is i i

00:25:21.580 i mean maybe i'm just just a little too pro danielle but i have a sense that she is more

00:25:26.860 committed to that panel to do what it set out to do uh rather than just be a staller while you know

00:25:35.100 hope somehow something turns up so i think she actually does mean to make that work yeah i i

00:25:41.340 was there when jason kenney announced uh his fair deal panel was a canada strong and free uh regional

00:25:46.220 alberta conference where he announced it and i had written at that time that this was uh this was a

00:25:50.940 this was a relief valve because the independence movement was picking up steam then yeah uh quite

00:25:55.180 a bit maybe not as seriously and as well organized and led as it is right now but i saw it as a

00:26:01.180 relief valve and that's exactly what it was not very much came from it a few things moving the

00:26:05.500 right directions but kind of just let off the steam um so maybe we'll talk about those things

00:26:11.980 before we get to the stuff directly on the independence front which she spent i i'm going to

00:26:17.100 approximate more than half her address talking about yeah um i don't know uh does she think 0.50

00:26:24.540 there's actually she she said she's encouraged by her opening her first meeting with mark carney

00:26:29.980 but she wants actions, not words. I don't know. Is she saying this to be polite, give the guy

00:26:37.580 a chance, or do you think she honestly thinks he's not going to deliver and she just has to be

00:26:43.500 diplomatic up front here? Well, I don't think that you, as the Premier of Alberta, can go out

00:26:49.740 there a week after the election and say, I just don't trust this guy and we're going to go and

00:26:53.820 do whatever we want to do. He has made some moves, rhetorically speaking, in her direction.

00:27:03.740 Not that it's a provincial thing particularly, but he has also suggested that he'll move up the

00:27:09.100 by-election date to accommodate Mr. Poliarev. That will be taken as a conciliatory move by

00:27:17.020 most of the country. And therefore, if she had come out with guns blazing and say, 0.71

00:27:21.420 this is it we're a liberal government we're all doomed so we're gonna we're gonna man this build

00:27:26.860 a stockade and man it that would not have gone over well in alberta or the rest of the country

00:27:32.860 mr carney has made certain i won't call them promises but suggestions as to how he might

00:27:40.380 move his position on things that are important to us she's going to give him a chance to do it

00:27:46.300 i don't know whether she's going to give him six months or a year we're talking about uh events in

00:27:52.140 2026 and to be fair to mr carney which i personally find very hard but nevertheless

00:27:58.780 to be fair to mr carney you're in government it's going to take a while to do things the canadian

00:28:04.300 way you can't be like president trump making executive orders doing this this don't know uh

00:28:09.980 mark carney created the executive order remember he signed a piece of paper getting rid of the

00:28:13.340 carbon tax that's uh that's easy just sign into sign into uh uh sign just make a paper commitment

00:28:23.180 sign a piece of paper saying we're going to build pipelines and watch the court cases stand if so

00:28:28.060 so now he's going to need time to give some evidence that he is in that he's in working

00:28:33.820 in good faith if he's not well then things happen people will buy that so she's going to chair this

00:28:40.060 so-called Alberta Next panel

00:28:42.160 she says some of the more popular ideas

00:28:44.720 from it are going to be put in a referendum

00:28:46.620 by the government in 2026

00:28:48.440 that seems to be

00:28:50.820 held, she acknowledged, in likely

00:28:52.780 conjunction with an independence

00:28:54.640 referendum. That referendum will not be

00:28:56.680 called by the Alberta government

00:28:58.720 it will instead be

00:28:59.940 in all probability be triggered by

00:29:02.580 a citizens initiative

00:29:03.660 referendum

00:29:05.240 they're amending the legislation to make it

00:29:08.280 actually possible to use that legislation

00:29:09.920 They're not going to make it easy, but they're taking it from impossible to difficult.

00:29:15.380 And I think the momentum is clearly there to achieve that difficult threshold.

00:29:18.820 Well, 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.

00:29:26.060 No.

00:29:26.380 I mean, sovereignty, independence, separation, whatever you want to call it, you know, you don't play with that.

00:29:32.800 That would be like going to sea for no other reason than to make yourself sick.

00:29:36.140 Well, referendums in general, I don't think we should just have really, really.

00:29:38.480 You know, there should be a fairly high bar to achieve them.

00:29:40.820 They just shouldn't be effectively impossible as they are.

00:29:44.560 And she had some words.

00:29:46.880 In 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.

00:29:58.840 She said specifically Albertans who want independence are not traitors.

00:30:02.780 The way they feel and why they want out to be their own independent country is understandable.

00:30:06.780 they are not fringe voices

00:30:09.180 she said on the

00:30:11.080 other hand

00:30:11.500 some Albertans are so wedded to

00:30:15.060 Ottawa and their Canadian 1.00

00:30:17.180 identity that there is nothing

00:30:19.020 Ottawa could ever potentially do that would move them off

00:30:21.060 of that and that those people are

00:30:23.000 also equally Albertan so we're trying

00:30:25.000 to be a bit of a King Solomon

00:30:27.140 balancing act here I did

00:30:28.980 notice though that she said that hundreds of thousands

00:30:30.820 of Albertans are like me

00:30:32.240 in the middle who want a sovereign

00:30:34.940 Alberta within Canada

00:30:35.980 I 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.

00:30:48.920 It 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.

00:31:05.260 It'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.

00:31:33.200 like we think differently to the way they do so let us be us if you want to let quebec be quebec 1.00

00:31:39.280 fine but let alberta be alberta so therefore a sovereign alberta within a united canada

00:31:45.760 makes sense reasonable people and she is reasonable reasonable people can hold that view

00:31:51.840 if you believe it can be achieved uh you know as our editorial put it uh the day after the election

00:31:56.400 and the west wants out uh you know many of us have come to the point of independence because

00:32:02.480 we do not believe substandard reform of the federation is possible i would note she can't

00:32:07.200 say that though even if she thinks it which i don't know that she does but even if she thinks

00:32:11.200 i really hope she doesn't think that because uh come right out and say well look that's it i'm now

00:32:16.640 i'm now your independence premium yeah um but i would note in her four demands there were not

00:32:22.240 there was nothing constitutional in there and a lot of the structural issues uh around fairness

00:32:28.320 and equality for Alberta and Saskatchewan Confederation are constitutional. We have

00:32:33.840 a vastly greater population than the Atlantic provinces, yet our vote counts for only 55%

00:32:38.320 of a single Atlantic vote. In the Senate, it's something like each one of their bodies, I

00:32:43.600 shouldn't say vote for the Senate, because there is no votes for the Senate, as Ottawa is the least

00:32:47.360 concerned. But in terms of bodies per senator, it's something like 10 to 1. You know, Alberta's

00:32:52.880 twice the population of all four Atlantic provinces, and we have just a hair over half the

00:32:57.360 senators of just New Brunswick or just Nova Scotia, yet where many times the population

00:33:01.540 of both combined. She didn't make any constitutional demands. I think a lot of people

00:33:06.080 would recognize that as instantly impossible because then Quebec comes to the table with 0.92

00:33:09.340 all its litany of issues. But I, honest to God, do not think that there is a resolution to the

00:33:16.860 Alberta question or the Western question without constitutional reform, and she did not put them

00:33:22.360 on the table. If she wanted no deal, if she wanted to be able to say, hey, we tried and failed,

00:33:29.600 she would put constitutional reform on the table. She did not put constitutional reform on the

00:33:34.320 table. All of these demands are quite achievable with enough political will from the carny liberal

00:33:41.120 government. Maybe. So far, as you were saying, there's no constitutional demands. If I had been

00:33:49.100 advising her, I wouldn't have said, come up with a bunch of constitutional demands.

00:33:53.180 The first one is to get the government of Canada to respect the constitution that we have.

00:33:58.620 And as she pointed out, when some of their legislation, in particular, the No Pipelines

00:34:06.540 Act, but also that, okay, you know, it's not a big deal, but the plastic straws,

00:34:11.100 there's a certain mentality that went with that. Those things have been found to be unconstitutional,

00:34:17.100 and the government of Canada has not acted on those.

00:34:21.440 So, you know, let's start with getting action on the things

00:34:26.300 that we can theoretically do under the Constitution

00:34:29.220 and then perhaps work on the Constitution in the future.

00:34:33.860 So this came right out of a caucus meeting of the United Conservative Party.

00:34:39.620 We've been watching this.

00:34:40.840 I haven't seen what's come since, but at least one MLA, Jason Steffen,

00:34:44.960 MLA for Red Deer North, I believe,

00:34:47.100 uh or so one of the radio writings um you're south okay he uh he's come out and i think

00:34:55.660 more or less declared himself for independence i would be shocked if there are not others uh many

00:35:00.860 more behind closed doors but i think politically many are afraid to still speak out uh uh politicians

00:35:08.300 with longevity are afraid to be the tip of the spear on this kind of thing oh mr stefan just

00:35:12.780 said that he was in favor of a referendum i'm sure he just is actually vastly against separation and

00:35:18.060 once the matter cleared all together yeah trying to thread the needle yeah that's jason if you're

00:35:23.420 watching i mean would you say you're for a vote on it i mean you wouldn't be in favor of a vote

00:35:28.940 on it unless you were for it uh i appreciate you stepping up uh it's more bold than others but you

00:35:36.380 you may as well just come out for it and uh and then fight for that you know it's uh populism

00:35:43.180 needs to be listening to the people but it is also showing leadership trying to show leadership

00:35:47.880 and bring the people uh to where you believe in your heart they need to go and that's that's the

00:35:54.740 balance of direct democracy and representative democracy and our representatives should show

00:35:59.060 some leadership and the people have the right to reject that leadership every four years um

00:36:03.220 I 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.

00:36:21.460 um they've most of the time not been particularly successful as i know but uh it seems the time for

00:36:28.600 the movement has come and i think what smith is trying to achieve is now that that movement is

00:36:33.820 very much mainstreaming and becoming an issue on which conservative voters in alberta don't just

00:36:39.840 say they support it but might actually potentially change their vote or party based upon it she's

00:36:45.180 trying to make sure that movement stays within the ucp tent without declaring the ucp to be an

00:36:51.200 explicitly independence supporting party so as to keep the federalists in the tent and the

00:36:57.120 people who are perhaps for lack of a better term call them conditional federal people who might go

00:37:02.300 at some point um i'm not sure how i know the caucus is divided on this issue how sharply it's

00:37:09.180 divided we're gonna have to the coming days will tell uh how well a job do you think she did 1.00

00:37:13.960 both i guess there's three parts here in trying to thread the needle on this issue

00:37:19.740 one with caucus, two with party members, and three with UCP voters as three somewhat distinct

00:37:28.280 but overlapping blocs.

00:37:30.120 Well, look, I wouldn't have counseled her to say anything different to what she said.

00:37:35.300 How well it works is another matter.

00:37:38.000 But what I took from her remarks was that, first of all, she's saying, look, we've told

00:37:44.280 the federal government, we've told Mark Carney what Alberta needs and wants.

00:37:49.740 We'll give them a chance to deliver on that.

00:37:53.600 Secondly, all the little, the Burke's little platoons,

00:38:03.000 all the people that you've just been talking about are out there thinking,

00:38:06.560 well, this is the moment.

00:38:07.380 Now we've got to get organized, and there are lots of them,

00:38:09.980 and they are not united and left alone.

00:38:12.460 They will just collapse, and nothing will happen.

00:38:16.900 She has told them to just cool their jets.

00:38:19.740 uh that there is going to be a process it'll take a there will be a panel there will be

00:38:27.920 discussions with the government we will see how the things go and then there might be a referendum

00:38:34.500 and if they wait a year for a referendum however long it takes i'm saying there will be a referendum

00:38:41.360 on the assumption on which i know you share that if the government doesn't do it somebody will

00:38:47.200 bring it forward and we'll meet they will get the what is it 300 000 signatures that are needed

00:38:52.880 okay so at that point everybody's had a chance to think the leaders have had a chance to emerge and

00:39:01.520 what will happen will happen but at least it will won't be a total stromash with everything

00:39:07.840 with people running in different directions and claiming to be the new leader it could

00:39:12.640 be extremely damaging you think that carney's policies and trudeau's policies are bad for

00:39:18.160 investment you know try a bunch of of people making wild statements and promising and taking

00:39:25.520 up arms oh god it just goes on and on and on not good all right well uh the one certainty i think

00:39:34.240 we do have right now uh in all of this is albertans are gonna have a vote on independence in

00:39:40.160 In 2026, it is happening.

00:39:42.080 I 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.

00:39:58.420 The independence movement is going to meet that high bar.

00:40:01.600 And in 2026, Albertans are going to have a referendum.

00:40:04.540 Smith 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.

00:40:24.940 She'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

00:40:34.280 We'll leave the party.

00:40:35.280 And then you don't have – then you're back to the NDP.

00:40:39.540 So she has to win on this one.

00:40:41.440 Yeah.

00:40:42.220 It's very sensitive.

00:40:44.140 We are entering – you know, I thought I lived through the most interesting time in Alberta politics with Smith.

00:40:50.980 You 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.

00:41:00.580 I think I might end up being wrong about that.

00:41:03.680 I 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.

00:41:13.760 I think you're right.

00:41:14.800 All right.

00:41:15.320 Well, we're going to wrap it there.

00:41:17.060 I'm sure you're all sick of us.

00:41:18.260 Thank you very much for joining us today.

00:41:19.520 Remember, go to westernstandard.news, click on subscribe.

00:41:23.340 Membership of the Western Standard and access past the paywall is only $10 a month or $100 a year.

00:41:29.260 Thank you very much for joining us today.

00:41:31.820 God bless the West.

Western Standard - May 05, 2025

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks out on independence

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