{"id":18713,"date":"2025-06-27T09:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18713\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T09:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:35:13","slug":"premier-danielle-smith-says-albertans-desire-to-leave-canada-has-never-been-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18713\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier Danielle Smith says Albertans\u2019 desire to leave Canada has never been higher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> says the public desire in her province to quit Canada has never been higher.<\/p>\n

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Speaking Thursday to reporters in Calgary, Smith said Albertans feel deeply frustrated and angry with Ottawa.<\/p>\n

She cited a separatist candidate who garnered almost 18 per cent of the vote in a byelection in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen such a high level of separatist sentiment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Smith said the byelection result was record-breaking in terms of separatist support, but a 1982 byelection in the same Alberta riding saw a separatist candidate win with more than 40 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n

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She said the fact that her United Conservative Party candidate won Monday\u2019s byelection means the public wants her to work with Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

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Asked what her government could do to quell separatist desire, Smith said it was Ottawa\u2019s responsibility \u2014 as it was following that 1982 byelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of years later, after (then-prime minister) Brian Mulroney got rid of the National Energy Program, the sentiment evaporated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really in Ottawa\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The present-day equivalent to that program \u2013 which introduced price controls and hiked the federal share of tax revenue from oil production \u2013 is several laws that Smith said stifle energy production and investment in Alberta.<\/p>\n

In recent months, she has called for Carney to abolish several federal policies and programs, including a proposed emissions cap, net-zero electricity grid regulations and the West Coast tanker ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Ottawa wants to work with me to cause that (separatist) sentiment to subside, then we need to materially address the nine bad laws that have created that negative investment climate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they make the changes that we\u2019re requesting, then I suspect they can take the air out of that movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking alongside Smith was federal Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland.<\/p>\n

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Asked what she thought of Smith\u2019s assessment, Freeland said she hopes Albertans will see recently passed legislation to speed up the approval process of major projects as a sign that Canada has reached a \u201cturning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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