Prime Minister Mark Carney is coming to next week’s Calgary Stampede, and plans to reiterate that quitting Canada will not be the magic wand separatists think it is.
Carney, taking questions from reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, said the fallout from the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union a decade ago should serve as a clear cautionary tale.
"I saw firsthand what gets sold in these referenda, that everything's gonna be easy, that you can keep your passport, the currency — you can stay in the country and leave it at the same time," he said.
Carney said Alberta's vote comes when Canada is trying to be seen as a stable, reliable international trading partner.
"At a minimum, it's years of uncertainty before the subsequent question comes, right at a time the world is fundamentally uncertain," he said.
Albertans are set to vote on Oct. 19 on whether to stay in Canada or trigger a binding referendum on separating from the country.
Carney reiterated it's not a "free option" with no consequences, but a "dangerous bluff."
"This is a real referendum. It's not a question about a question," he said.
Premier Danielle Smith has said she wants the province to stay in Canada, but she felt obliged to call the referendum given that hundreds of thousands of Albertans have weighed in on the issue in petition drives.
The prime minister said he spoke with Smith earlier this week, and pointed to the work they are doing to advance a bitumen pipeline project to the West Coast.
He noted it will require co-operation from Indigenous Peoples, neighbouring British Columbia, the federal government and foreign buyers.
"That is possible because of Canada," Carney said.
Also Thursday, Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa that Albertans need to be given hope that life can become better in the country.
He also expressed disappointment that their grievances have led to a referendum.
"The thing is happening, but we have to deal with it. At the end of the day, I wish it weren't happening, but it is," he said.
Poilievre, who represents the rural Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, added that he will be making the case for Confederation across the province this summer.
Meanwhile, billboards, flags and parade floats have drawn controversy in small towns across the province as separatist and federalist third-party advocates alike have fanned out to sway Albertans.
Smith has blamed past federal governments for fomenting separatism in Alberta by dragging down the fossil fuel industry the province relies on.
She is also facing pressure from separatist hardliners within her United Conservative Party, and has been accused by the Opposition NDP of putting Canada at risk simply to gain tactical advantages in internal matters.
Smith has said the province is making inroads with Ottawa, pointing to a memorandum of understanding with Carney's government that aims to advance a bitumen pipeline.
She is expected to make an announcement before her UCP government's deadline to submit a proposal to the federal major project's office on Canada Day.
"I'm really hopeful that I'll be able to convince the vast majority of Albertans to vote with me to remain in Canada," she said earlier this month.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
