Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, speaks as, B.C. Premier David Eby, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe listen during a closing news conference at a meeting of western premiers in Kananaskis, Alta. on Tuesday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew used a meeting of western premiers to publicly confront his Alberta counterpart, Danielle Smith, and urge her to put a stop to a referendum that will ask voters in her province whether it should remain in Canada.
Mr. Kinew said he met with First Nations leaders from the province before the premiers’ meeting in Kananaskis, Alta., and that he used his meeting with Ms. Smith to pass along their concerns. He noted that a challenge by First Nations derailed an attempt to use the province’s citizen initiative process to force a referendum before Ms. Smith called a vote on her own.
“Now is the time to work together,” Mr. Kinew said. “Why don’t we hold off on this referendum talk for a year or two and see if we get these pipelines under construction?”
“What I think is important for us to say when we hear the sorts of discussion happening here in Alberta is for us to say, ‘Okay, thank you First Nations in Alberta for hitting the pause button on this.’ Now the rest of Canada, let’s work together and show Alberta just how appreciated they are.”
The premiers’ meeting happened less than a week after Ms. Smith announced that a referendum in October will ask Alberta voters to choose between remaining in Canada or moving forward with a second, binding referendum on separation. The planned vote has prompted intense criticism from political leaders across the country, including from fellow premiers who criticized her during Tuesday’s news conference, and Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has described the referendum as undemocratic.
Ms. Smith’s announcement followed a court ruling that threw out a citizen-initiated petition for a separation referendum in part because the government did not consult with First Nations before Alberta’s elections agency approved the question. Ms. Smith has criticized the decision and said the government would appeal it, suggesting that the court ruling required petitioners to consult with First Nations.
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When Ms. Smith said during the news conference Tuesday that the duty to consult is unclear, Mr. Kinew quickly jumped in.
“I think we know that that is not correct, a lot of what you just said there, Premier Smith,” he said, adding he had earlier voiced his opinion to the Alberta Premier.
“It is up to you, as the Alberta government, to fulfill the duty to consult,” Mr. Kinew said, arguing that the creation of a new country would affect First Nations hunting and fishing rights.
Mr. Carney on Tuesday in Ottawa said that Ms. Smith’s referendum wouldn’t trigger the Clarity Act, a law that establishes the conditions under which the federal government would enter secession negotiations with a province. Even so, Mr. Carney and other provincial leaders have argued that Ms. Smith’s referendum question is a risky gambit that could break apart the country.
Ms. Smith said her differences with Mr. Kinew illustrate the importance of the courts: “This is why we have the courts, because you can have politicians disagree, and that’s why you take it through the court.”
B.C. Premier David Eby said while Ms. Smith’s decision has stoked political tension between the two, their relationship remains functional.
“I disagree profoundly with Premier Smith’s referendum. I think it is a huge mistake,” he said. “And Premier Smith disagrees with me profoundly about issues relating to a pipeline and to the north coast and the northwest tanker ban.
“That’s okay,” he continued. “We got to find a way to work these things out together at the table – and we have to be at the table to be able to do that. And we will.”
R.J. Simpson, the Premier of the Northwest Territories, said he and his counterparts discussed Alberta’s secession referendum but the topic neither dominated nor derailed the two-day summit.
“If anything, it encouraged us to work harder on those items that would encourage more national unity,” he told The Globe and Mail on the sidelines of the conference. “It highlighted those things that are not just good for Alberta but good for the country.”
Mr. Simpson said the western premiers are “passionate” about Alberta’s referendum, but the possibility of the province leaving Canada did not cloud their negotiations.
“No one said it was fine, but the fact is, until there’s a [binding] vote, we have to proceed,” he said. “We have to keep working.”
Will Danielle Smith’s secession referendum question get around an Alberta judge’s ruling?
The premiers, Mr. Simpson said, discussed how the relationship between the federal government and provincial and territorial governments has changed since former prime minister Justin Trudeau left office. The Northwest Territories, like Alberta, felt unheard during the Trudeau era, he said, pointing to a federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas development in the Arctic as an example.
Mr. Carney’s welcoming approach to development and major projects has fostered a sense of urgency among the western provincial and territorial leaders to co-operate on projects and convey Canada’s potential to the rest of the country, Mr. Simpson said.
The Clarity Act, passed after the last Quebec independence referendum, says that any referendum on separation must have a clear question and would require a “clear majority” to facilitate such a process.
Mr. Carney said Alberta’s question does not meet the bar to eventually trigger secession negotiations, as its referendum is not a direct query on leaving Canada.
“It’s explicit in the question that it’s not a binding referendum.”
With reports from Ian Bailey