Prime Minister Mark Carney needs a \u201cteam\u201d approach that includes the opposition Conservatives to confront the Alberta separation referendum being held this October, which, if successful, could mark the beginning of the country\u2019s break-up, say political players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got to be a team approach,\u201d said Duane Bratt, who teaches Canadian public policy and international relations at Mount Royal University, in Calgary, Alta. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey should have the positive message, not [focus on] the dangers of leaving, but just [communicate] we\u2019re better together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alberta is the heartland of the Conservative Party base, with 33 of 37 MPs from the province being Conservatives. The Liberals have three MPs, and the NDP one.<\/p>\n
Bratt said that the \u201cremain\u201d campaign should include all current and former high-profile Conservative politicians and caucus members. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/568A7425.t6a173154.m1200.xbLcO949--1024x684.jpg\")
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, centre, surrounded by Conservative MPs at a press conference in the West Block. The federal government should use a \u2018team\u2019 approach that includes the opposition Conservatives to confront the Alberta separation referendum, says professor Duane Bratt. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade <\/p>\n
He said that until recently, both Carney (Nepean, Ont.) and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River-Crowfoot, Alta.) had largely stayed out of the conversation around Alberta separation because it was unclear whether a referendum would take place, and, if so, when.<\/p>\n
Now that the timing of the referendum and the wording of the question are known, both leaders have begun weighing in on the issue, joined by Conservative MPs and Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi which is the right thing to do, he said.<\/p>\n
So far, Bratt pointed out, there have been two separation referendums in Canada, and both were in Quebec. Both times, the incumbent Liberal prime ministers were Quebecers. During the 1980 referendum, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the prime minister, while Jean Chr\u00e9tien led the country during the 1995 referendum.<\/p>\n
Current Prime Minister Carney has a connection to Alberta, having spent his childhood in Edmonton, but he left in the mid-1980s for education and other professional pursuits. Carney now represents an Ottawa-area riding.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Clarity Act does not apply on the question in Alberta,\u2019 said PM Carney<\/p>\n
Separatist sentiment in Alberta resurfaced strongly after the 2025 general election. It\u2019s driven largely by the pro-separation group, the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP). In December 2024, Elections Alberta approved the APP\u2019s referendum question, which asks if the province should cease to be part of Canada and become an independent state. An official petition drive was launched on Jan. 2, 2026, and organizers had until May 2 to collect 177,732 signatures\u2014representing 10 per cent of eligible voters\u2014to mandate a referendum under the Citizen Initiative Act. By the May 2 deadline, the petition garnered 302,000 signatures, which was delivered to Elections Alberta on May 4.<\/p>\n
But some First Nations successfully launched a court challenge with the Court of King\u2019s Bench of Alberta, on the grounds that the government failed in its constitutional duty to consult First Nations. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s government has vowed to appeal this decision. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Smith announced that an already-scheduled October referendum on issues including immigration and constitutional reforms will also include a question about whether Albertans want a binding referendum on the province leaving Canada. This will be one of the 10 questions that will be asked.<\/p>\n
The Alberta government formalized the wording of its question in an order in council, Global News <\/a> reported<\/a> on May 28.<\/p>\n Voters can pick one of two options: \u201cAlberta should remain a province of Canada,\u201d or \u201cThe Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Carney said last week that the Clarity Act would not apply to the October vote because it\u2019s not a binding referendum.<\/p>\n \u201cI just heard from the council of experts on the applicability of the Clarity Act and it does not apply on the question in Alberta,\u201d Carney told the House of Commons.<\/p>\n Passed in the aftermath of the 1995 Quebec referendum, the Clarity Act sets the conditions under which the federal government would recognize a provincial referendum on separation from Canada. This law requires that, before Ottawa is obligated to take any action on separation, a provincial government would have to ask a clear question and achieve a clear result of the referendum.<\/p>\n No well-known politician championing Alberta\u2019s \u2018leave\u2019 side yet<\/p>\n Janet Brown, CEO of Janet Brown Opinion Research, said that the coming weeks will be critical as Albertans will grapple with the question of what it means for them to stay in Canada, and what the memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and their province about pipelines means for them.<\/p>\n She noted that the separation question is one of 10 referendum questions that also cover issues such as immigration and constitutional reform. The premier may be hoping, Brown said, Albertans vote \u201cyes\u201d on some of the other questions while rejecting separation, giving her a stronger mandate to negotiate with the federal government on immigration and constitutional matters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe separation question will get the most attention, for sure, but there are other questions being asked,\u201d said Brown. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd from the premier\u2019s point of view, what she\u2019s hoping is that people will say \u2018yes\u2019 to remaining in Canada, but they\u2019ll also say \u2018yes\u2019 to some of the other questions about greater control over policy by Alberta.\u201d<\/p>\n Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, said that Poilievre and the 33-member Conservative caucus from that province could play a critical role in the upcoming referendum to make Canada\u2019s case to Albertans. He noted that Poilievre was born and raised in Alberta, and currently represents a rural riding in the province. Along with his 33 Alberta colleagues, the party leader could make a convincing case for the remain side.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing is to understand that this is about a desire for recognition and for change, and the need for federal institutions to find a way to get Canada\u2019s most economically important province and one of its fastest-growing on side with our national project,\u201d said Bricker. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, this referendum offers them an opportunity to raise awareness among the Alberta population about how federalism actually works for them, but that means that some things have to change. It\u2019s not that you just go in and say, \u2018Everything is great, why don\u2019t you just vote for us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Bricker said it remains to be seen who is leading the sovereignty side. In the 1980 referendum, prominent Quebec politicians like Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque led the separatist side, and Lucien Bouchard led it in the 1995 referendum. So far, there\u2019s no well-known politician championing the \u201cleave\u201d side from Alberta.<\/p>\n Frank Graves, president of Ekos Research, said one of the main drivers of separatist sentiment is misinformation spread through social media and AI-generated \u201cslopaganda\u201d originating from outside the country, particularly from the United States. He said this content promotes misleading information that an independent Alberta would eliminate taxes, that Canada is \u201clooting\u201d Alberta, or that Albertans would automatically benefit from a currency exchange and their dollar will be at par with the U.S. greenback.<\/p>\n He argued that the federal government should take urgent measures to counter such disinformation and prevent its spread. Graves said that the number of people influenced by misinformation in Alberta is nearly double that of the rest of the country. He argued the government should not allow foreign actors to spread misleading information designed to tempt Albertans to leave the federation<\/p>\n \u201cIf you could have a successful program which confronted that\u2014and we know there is elasticity in the moderately disinformed, not the extremely disinformed\u2014you could probably move enough pieces that you would really reduce the spectre of this problem,\u201d said Graves.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t see much going on on that front, and it\u2019s a big exposed flank, not just for Alberta, by the way, I think in general in Canada that we don\u2019t have a very good plan for dealing with foreign interference or online harm,\u201d said Graves.<\/p>\n He said that based on his polling, 90 per cent of Canadians do not want generative AI used in political campaigns. <\/p>\n Graves said Canadians want more oversight and stronger safeguards, and do not want AI-driven political messaging circulating in a \u201cWild West\u201d environment. He argued that AI-generated misinformation is distorting the public debate by giving Albertans a false impression of what would happen if the province were to become an independent country.<\/p>\n Much of this content, he said, is being disseminated through social media platforms, YouTube, and other online sources. <\/p>\n On messaging, Graves said, the focus should remain positive. While he believes the chance that Alberta separates from Canada is extremely low, he warned that separation referendums can have corrosive effects on social cohesion and national unity that may persist long after the vote is over.<\/p>\n arana@hilltimes.com<\/p>\n The Hill Times <\/p>\n \u00a0
\n <\/p>\n Abbas Rana is the assistant deputy editor at The Hill Times. He reports on parliamentary caucuses, nomination contests, party leadership campaigns, Prime Minister\u2019s Office, and cabinet. Rana loves to chat with sources on the record or on a not-for-attribution basis, especially when they have verifiable story tips that could be followed as news stories. Born and raised in Pakistan, Rana speaks Punjabi, Urdu, and Hindi. See all stories BY ABBAS RANA<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mark Carney needs a \u201cteam\u201d approach that includes the opposition Conservatives to confront the Alberta separation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[164,26826,111],"class_list":["post-69283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-alberta","tag-alberta-referendum","tag-mark-carney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69283","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=69283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image_4.t63d14cc5.m1200.xIejxj094-1024x683.jpeg\")
Frank Graves, president of Ekos Research, centre, says AI \u2018slopaganda\u2019 and misinformation is fuelling separatism sentiment in Alberta, and must be reined in. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n
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