Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre visits Cancoil, a manufacturer of commercial refrigeration products, to hold a press conference in Kingston, Ont., on April 3.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has distanced himself from comments made this week by Reform Party founder Preston Manning, who said an election victory for Mark Carney would fuel Western separatism and lead to a national-unity crisis.
Mr. Poilievre, who began his political activism as a Reform Party member in the 1990s, was responding to an April 2 opinion piece by Mr. Manning in The Globe and Mail.
Mr. Manning, who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons between 1997 and 2000, wrote that another Liberal federal election victory could fracture Canada. “Voters, particularly in central and Atlantic Canada, need to recognize that a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession – a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it.”
“If you couldn’t care less about the concerns or actions of Western Canada, then ignore this unsolicited advice. But understand that separation of the resources-based economic engine of Western Canada from what’s left of the rest of Canada will have dire economic and social consequences for the latter.”
Asked whether he agreed with Mr. Manning on that point and what his message would be to Canadians who do, Mr. Poilievre rejected the idea of secession.
“No, we need to unite the country,” he told reporters. “We need to bring all Canadians together in a spirit of common ground.”
Last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warned that Ottawa must comply with a list of nine policy demands she made “to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis.” The list included eliminating an oil and gas emissions cap.
This week the Premier said she would not lead a campaign to take Alberta out of Canada but noted that there is a process for citizens to initiate a referendum. And she has said she would strike a panel after the federal election to offer Albertans a chance to tell the government what issues might be put to a referendum.
“I got a mandate to try to make Canada work, and that’s what I’ve been working toward relentlessly over these last 2½ years,” Ms. Smith told reporters Tuesday.