TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday (May 22) that Alberta was “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the province’s leader moved the oil-rich region closer toward a referendum on independence.
Separatists in the western province spent months collecting signatures seeking to trigger a binding October vote on seceding from the nation.
On May 4, they delivered their petition to provincial officials, insisting they had collected more than enough names to force a vote under Alberta law.
But an Alberta judge shut down the process, saying the citizens’ initiative was invalid because the separatists had failed to consult with Indigenous groups whose rights could be threatened if the province separated from Canada.
In an address late Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called the judge’s decision “erroneous” and said she would go ahead with a referendum, structuring the question so that it does not violate the ruling.
In October, she plans to ask Albertans if they want her government “to commence the legal process necessary to hold a binding referendum” on independence.
“It’s time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject and move on,” said Smith, a conservative whose political coalition includes separatists.
Carney, who spent most of his childhood in Alberta, responded on Friday in a taped video address from Parliament Hill.
“Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better,” he said. “We’re working with Alberta on making it better.”
Alberta “is essential” to Canada’s future, the prime minister added.