Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the thorny issue of Alberta’s separatist movement on Friday with a metaphorical plea for unity, saying it's time to build up the country together.
He likened the federation to the Parliament buildings: currently under renovation.
Carney, while on a construction site tour of Parliament, didn't directly mention the plan announced by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to hold a vote in the fall about whether to have a binding referendum on separation.
But the prime minister insisted the country can be improved by working closely with the province on his economic agenda.
"We're renovating the country as we go," Carney said in the Library of Parliament, gesturing up toward construction work in the Centre Block. "Alberta being at the centre of that is essential.”
Carney talked up the landmark energy agreement he recently made with Smith to promote the development of a pipeline and carbon capture and storage. He also pointed to his efforts with other premiers to build up critical infrastructure.
“Canada is working," Carney said. "We’re working in the spirit of co-operative federalism to make the country better."
Smith announced in a televised address Thursday there will be a separation question on an Oct. 19 referendum.
Albertans won't directly vote on whether Alberta should leave Canada but will be asked if the province should hold a future binding referendum to separate.
The referendum question is to read: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”
Smith was set to hold a news conference later Friday.
Separatist leaders have dismissed the referendum question as cowardly.
Jeff Rath, the lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, the group that collected signatures to try to force a separation referendum, said it's an insult to those seeking independence.
Cam Davies, leader of the pro-independence Republican Party of Alberta, agreed and called Smith's referendum question “spineless."
Smith said her plan is the best way for Albertans, particularly those unhappy with the federal government, to make their voices heard.
She also said she'll be voting for Alberta to stay in Confederation.
The question becomes the 10th on the Oct. 19 referendum. The other questions, announced in February, ask about immigration reform and constitutional concerns.
Separatists in Alberta had been pinning their hopes on Smith putting a separation question straight on the ballot since last week, when a judge halted their independence petition drive because First Nations had not been duly consulted.
Smith promised to appeal the judge's ruling all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.
"But this process will take many months and possibly years before being addressed by those higher courts," she said in her TV address.
"In the meantime, under our legal system, this troubling court decision is binding law in Alberta until it is successfully appealed."
"This means that it is unlikely the courts will permit Elections Alberta to hold a binding provincial referendum on separation until this incorrect ruling is overturned or clarified."
Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the referendum question won't satisfy angry hardliners in Smith's United Conservative Party.
“This was meant to be a release valve, something that would settle the matter," said Williams. "We're seeing quite the opposite."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
