The last person to lecture Premier Danielle Smith on the merits of Canadian democracy should be Prime Minister Mark Carney.

But when did hypocrisy ever bother a Liberal prime minister? So, when Carney starts admonishing Smith about running roughshod over Albertans’ democratic rights, it’s hardly surprising he didn’t even blush.

Here’s his take on the 2023 provincial election in which Smith’s UCP rode to a majority government. Carney points out that the question about Alberta leaving Canada didn’t arise in that campaign.

“Is this the democratic will of Albertans? Did they vote for this in the last provincial election?” he asked this week.

“No, they didn’t. It wasn’t on the ballot, wasn’t in the mandates or the platforms of any of the governing party and the official Opposition.”

Let’s not forget this is the same fellow who became prime minister without a federal election. The Liberal party figured out Justin Trudeau had become a liability, so Carney was parachuted in to replace him as leader of the country.

Sure, a few months later, after he’d had time to unveil his Captain Canada persona by pretending to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney did allow us to vote.

But unlike Smith, he didn’t nab a majority. Instead, it required a series of backroom deals with weak-kneed Tories who subsequently jumped ship and allowed the Grits to get the required number of MPs.

Oh, well, Carney’s only passing through. As soon as his prime minister gig is finished, he’ll likely be off to Europe to grab a top job with the EU or IMF. He certainly won’t retire to Edmonton, despite a professed love for the city where he grew up.

Meanwhile, Smith’s future is much more uncertain. She’s fighting for her political life, as the separation whirlwind rages around her.

She’s annoyed virtually everyone, it seems — separatists, federalists, the Opposition, Indigenous leaders, constitutional lawyers, other premiers, Calgary’s mayor and the chamber of commerce.

Maybe that’s why Carney’s now piling on, sensing Smith is on the ropes and there are political points to be won across the rest of Canada.

It was always going to happen. Smith has tried walking the tightrope of using the threat of separatism as leverage over a federal government that spent more than a decade insulting this province.

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It was a risky strategy because, sooner or later, she had to declare where she stood, as the word salad of seeking a sovereign Alberta in a united Canada only bought a limited amount of time.

So, finally, she’s declared for Canada in no uncertain terms. Given the makeup of her party, such enthusiastic nationalism spells trouble ahead.

Meanwhile, other Albertans are still convinced Smith is a separatist at heart. And, of course, the courts are preventing a quick release from this quagmire.

We face a referendum on holding a referendum, and even that might get shot down by Ottawa.

But all those folk attacking the premier should ponder this. Were it not for Smith, would we be close to getting a new oil pipeline to the West Coast? And would that emissions cap have been lifted and those onerous electricity regulations axed?

Most of all, would Alberta’s agenda be so dominant across the Canadian political landscape?

Smith may not last as premier to see the promised land of a strong Alberta as part of the Canadian Confederation. But she has done her best to bring it about.

One day, she’ll be lauded for this. But that day is a long way off.

Chris Nelson is a weekly columnist.