Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives for the Canada Day National noon ceremony at LeBreton Flats in Ottawa, on Wednesday.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The theme of national unity features prominently in Mark Carney’s Canada Day events Wednesday, as the Prime Minister prepares for the country’s first provincial referendum on independence in over 30 years.
The Prime Minister’s schedule included a morning stop in his Ottawa-area riding of Nepean, followed by the traditional midday speech on the main stage of the National Capital’s Canada Day events.
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After the midday speech, he is scheduled to fly to Edmonton, where he will speak at a local Canada Day community event. Further announcements are expected in the coming days related to agreements between Ottawa and Alberta on major projects, including updates on plans for a potential oil pipeline to the West Coast.
Mr. Carney’s midday speech spoke generally about the importance of Canadian unity and big national projects.
As part of the event, he spoke before introducing Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who flew around the moon earlier this year as a member of NASA’s Artemis II crew.
“Jeremy Hansen has observed that while individuals can feel powerless in the face of global challenges, humanity’s true strength lies in our ability to collaborate. That’s how the Artemis team accomplished what had never been done before. That’s what a united Canada makes possible,” Mr. Carney said.
Speaking to a large crowd gathered for speeches and performances at Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats, his speech praised the work of Canadian Forces members and acknowledged the five Canadian police officers killed this year in the line of duty.
Mr. Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney greet attendees.Keito Newman/The Canadian Press
He also highlighted the success of the Canadian men’s soccer team at the World Cup and said he was pleased to announce that Canada would be joining the next Eurovision song competition, which he described as “the most gloriously over-the-top celebration of music on Earth.”
A heat warning was in place for the city, with Environment Canada forecasting a high of 34 C and a humidex of 46 C.
Earlier in the day he released a Canada Day video that included a national unity theme.
“Canadians have never just imagined a stronger, more united country. We’ve picked up our tools and built one,” he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will also be in Alberta Wednesday for a series of local events in his riding of Battle River-Crowfoot.
The Prime Minister set the stage for the upcoming announcements with a separate 17-minute video released Tuesday, in which he outlined the history of tension between Alberta and Ottawa over energy policy.
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He referenced being a teenager in Edmonton at the time when Ottawa implemented the National Energy Program in 1980. The program involved greater federal intervention in the oil and gas sector to promote energy independence, but Albertans strongly criticized the plan as an attack on provincial revenue rights and damaging to investment in the province.
The heated debate over the National Energy Program took place the same year as Quebec’s first referendum on independence. Another Quebec referendum on sovereignty took place in 1995, with the “No” side defeating the “Yes” side by the narrowest of margins.
This October, Albertans will be asked in a referendum to pick one of two options, with one being to remain a province of Canada and the other for Alberta to commence a legal process to hold a binding referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.
Mr. Carney spoke of the lasting consequences of the National Energy Program in his Tuesday video.
“I remember how Ottawa made Albertans feel like our resources weren’t our own. And then, more recently, were made to feel that our energy contributions were running against the tides of history. What should have brought us together began to divide us, contributing to a half century of politics that have too often pulled us apart,” he said in the 17 minute YouTube video called “Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future.”
After his review of historical tensions between Ottawa and Alberta, he discussed the need for Canada to expand its production of clean and conventional energy.
He said this will mean Canada won’t meet the short-term emission targets approved under his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
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“We can’t afford to restrain the growth of an important part of our energy mix - oil and gas - to meet a short term goal,” he said in the video. “The changes we have made will mean that our emissions will be higher in the next few years than they were projected to be under the previous government’s plan. But in my judgment, that plan was not sustainable over the long term.”
He said the previous plan would have been too expensive for Canadian consumers, would have “let down” Canada’s trading partners and would have been “too divisive” for the country.
The Prime Minister’s announcement that Canada won’t meet its short term targets faced some immediate criticism.
Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, issued a statement Tuesday after the Prime Minister’s video was released.
“The Prime Minister’s decision to prioritize fossil fuels over the future of Canadian children and youth all over the world is alarming,” she said. “This announcement, on the heels of Europe’s record death toll from extreme heat, goes against all scientific advice and human rights protection. Climate change is the gravest human rights challenge of our time, yet it is a preventable crisis.”