Danielle Smith Hopes There Won’t Be An Independence Referendum
The Premier sees her job as one where she "can convince Albertans that they don't need to have that vote."
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she hopes to avoid an independence referendum, even though her government has made it easier for Albertans to trigger one.
In an exclusive interview Saturday, I asked Smith whether she thought a referendum could give Alberta leverage in dealing with Ottawa, given that Quebec has held two independence referendums and now often seems to get what it wants from Ottawa.
You can watch the interview below:
“What I would hope is that we have such a constructive and positive reset on our relationship with Canada that we don't need to have a vote of that nature,” she said in response to my question.
“That's what I've been working towards,” she added.
Smith pointed to the narrow results of past referendums, such as Quebec’s 1995 independence vote and the successful Brexit referendum in Britain, as a reason for caution.
“Emotions can get very high and surprises can happen. The 1995 Quebec referendum almost ended up going the other way… In Britain, the ‘No’ side ended up having it [in the Brexit referendum],” she said.
“I always think it's very unpredictable when those kinds of questions are put to the people,” she added.
Smith hopes to persuade Albertans that a referendum isn’t necessary by showing them that Canada, under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, can address the province’s concerns by scrapping laws that target its industries and run counter to the direction Albertans want to take.
She cited Carney’s repeal of Justin Trudeau’s consumer carbon tax and capital gains tax changes, along with his plans to strengthen Canada’s economy, as good first steps.
Nevertheless, Smith said she supports her province’s citizen-initiated referendum process and warned Carney not to take Alberta for granted.
“I hope that Prime Minister Carney is watching that as well. I told him to take it seriously. I said, ‘Your predecessor created this movement,’ but he's the one who can take the air out of it. All he has to do is take our concerns seriously, start exiting provincial jurisdiction, stop trying to direct things from the centre, and allow us to develop our economy,” she said.
“I think that you'll see very quickly that Albertans will just get down to work,” she added.
An Alberta independence referendum could happen as early as next year under a recently updated provincial law that now allows citizens to trigger a vote if they gather signatures from 10 percent of eligible voters from the previous general election within 120 days.
Polling suggests there is considerable but not majority support for Alberta independence. A May 2025 poll by reputed pollster Janet Brown found that if an Alberta independence referendum were held, 37 percent would vote “Yes” and 63 percent would vote “No.”
Even so, there is strong discontent with how Alberta has been treated by the rest of Canada. An Angus Reid Institute poll conducted earlier this year found 76 percent of Albertans felt they have not been respected by the rest of Canada, while 64 percent said they have not been treated fairly by the federal government.
At the same time, another recent poll suggests Prime Minister Mark Carney has earned positive impressions among some Albertans.
You can watch my full interview with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith by clicking HERE.
In addition to discussing separatism, we talked about Carney’s overall performance, why left-wing activists oppose her move to pull inappropriate sexualized books from schools, and her Alberta Next panels.
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