{"id":56815,"date":"2026-05-22T22:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/56815\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:16:21","slug":"carney-says-hes-building-a-better-canada-after-alberta-plans-a-vote-on-whether-to-leave-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/56815\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney says he’s building a better Canada after Alberta plans a vote on whether to leave Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday he\u2019s determined to build a better Canada after the leader of the country\u2019s oil-rich province of Alberta announced a public vote on whether to move toward independence.<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday that a vote<\/a> would be held Oct. 19 on whether Alberta should stay in Canada<\/a> or take legal steps under the Constitution to hold a binding referendum on leaving. That fell short of the wishes of activists who have been seeking an immediate referendum on separating from Canada. <\/p>\n

Carney, in his first remarks since Smith\u2019s announcement, said Albertans have made huge contributions to Canada. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better and we are working on making it better. We\u2019re working with Alberta on making it better,\u201d Carney said while touring the Parliament buildings which are under renovation. <\/p>\n

Carney noted his government is working on getting a new oil pipeline built from Alberta to Canada\u2019s Pacific coast. Many Albertans have long complained that Ottawa hasn\u2019t done enough to get Alberta\u2019s vast oil reserves to market. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Supporters<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith reiterated Thursday that she supports Alberta remaining in Canada. Some have compared her stance to the one of Britain\u2019s then-Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of the Brexit referendum, which he embraced as a way to manage a vocal faction of his ruling party while not wanting the U.K. to leave the European Union.<\/p>\n

A \u201cyes\u201d vote in a referendum would not trigger independence. Negotiations with the federal government would have to take place.<\/p>\n

Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to ex-Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and now a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said Smith appears to be proceeding very carefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cA vote to see if people even want a vote. It\u2019s a good way to let the swing voters swing against separation,\u201d Brodie said.<\/p>\n

Jeff Rath, the lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, the group that collected signatures to try to force a separation referendum, called the move an insult to those seeking independence. Cam Davies, leader of the pro-independence Republican Party of Alberta, agreed and called Smith\u2019s referendum question \u201cspineless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel B\u00e9land, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Smith seems committed to appeasing supporters of her own party who want a referendum. B\u00e9land said a possible future referendum is likely to lose as support for separation is slightly less than 30%, but he said campaigns do matter. <\/p>\n

Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, criticized Smith\u2019s decision, saying businesses across Canada, including in Alberta, need predictability to invest, create jobs, attract talent, and build major projects. <\/p>\n

\u201cProlonged uncertainty around constitutional or political separation brings real risks for investor confidence, economic growth, and Canada\u2019s global competitiveness at exactly the wrong time,\u201d Laing said in a statement.<\/p>\n

James Moore, a former federal Conservative Cabinet minister, also took issue. <\/p>\n

\u201cA referendum that will divide your party and make the province look unstable for investment, all to ultimately affirm the constitutional status quo, is an odd choice,\u201d Moore posted on social media. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday he\u2019s determined to build a better Canada after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[164,24875,17,24876,1806,3178,10229,592,24607,1803,24873,24874,1802,111,113,14568,24608,24555,14569,218],"class_list":["post-56815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-alberta","tag-cam-davies","tag-canada","tag-candace-laing","tag-daniel-bland","tag-danielle-smith","tag-david-cameron","tag-general-news","tag-ian-brodie","tag-international-news","tag-james-moore","tag-jeff-rath","tag-legislation","tag-mark-carney","tag-politics","tag-referendums","tag-stephen-harper","tag-united-kingdom-government","tag-voting","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}