{"id":60626,"date":"2026-05-25T23:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/60626\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T23:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:52:07","slug":"carney-warns-alberta-independence-vote-from-canada-could-echo-brexit-as-a-dangerous-bluff-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/60626\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney warns Alberta independence vote from Canada could echo Brexit as a \u2018dangerous bluff\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Prime Minister Mark Carney talks to reporters as he takes part in an event at a new housing development in Orleans, Ont., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick \/The Canadian Press via AP) <\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday compared Alberta\u2019s vote on whether to move toward independence to Brexit, calling it a potential \u201cdangerous bluff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Smith, the premier of Canada\u2019s oil-rich province of Alberta, said last week a vote would be held Oct. 19 on whether Alberta should stay in Canada or take legal steps under the Constitution to hold a binding referendum on leaving.<\/p>\n

Carney drew on his experience with Brexit in his comments. Carney was the governor of the Bank of England in 2016 when Britain voted to leave the European Union, and he helped navigate the central bank through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw firsthand what happened in the United Kingdom when the view was, \u2018Vote for this, it\u2019ll be soft and then we\u2019ll negotiate, etc.,\u2019 Carney said. \u201cThey\u2019re still 10 years later trying to undo what people didn\u2019t think they were voting for, but what they ended up having.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s party didn\u2019t run on or mention a referendum in the last provincial election campaign.<\/p>\n

Carney said the vote is not helpful when he\u2019s trying to attract investment to Canada. He suggested it is undemocratic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it the democratic will of Albertans? Did they vote for this in the last provincial election? No, they didn\u2019t. It wasn\u2019t on the ballot paper,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

\"\"FILE – Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, meets with Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith at his office in Ottawa on Friday, May 8, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press via AP, File) <\/p>\n

Smith has said 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

Carney 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 Asian markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be very careful about this. There\u2019s a very strong positive case for Canada, a strong Alberta in a united Canada,\u201d Carney said. \u201cI look forward to making that case with many, many other Albertans and Canadians over the course of the next 150 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to Carney\u2019s comments Monday, Smith said separation is an issue for Albertans alone to decide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbertans\u2019 frustrations have been fueled by the last 10 years of disastrous policies from Ottawa under \u2026 Justin Trudeau,\u201d Smith said in a statement from her office, referencing the previous prime minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also remind all Canadians that we should not dismiss the legitimate grievances of Albertans. Instead, we should focus on addressing these issues, restoring hope in Canada, and demonstrating that our country can work and is working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Prime Minister Mark Carney talks to construction workers as he leaves an event at a new housing development in Orleans, Ont., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick \/The Canadian Press via AP) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney talks to reporters as he takes part in an event at a new housing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[26242,3695,26243,26244,26245,17,351,26246,2823,8232,26247,26248,8560,26249,229,26250,2836,15085,111,26251,2519,1077,26252,113,26253,4429,26254],"class_list":["post-60626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-abortion","tag-accountability","tag-assemble","tag-assembly","tag-birth","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-christ","tag-church","tag-death","tag-diplomatic","tag-elected","tag-euthanasia","tag-gather","tag-government","tag-leader","tag-leadership","tag-life","tag-mark-carney","tag-mp","tag-mps","tag-parliament","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-pro-life","tag-religion","tag-representative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60626","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=60626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}