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Premier Danielle Smith avoided the topic of provincial separation as she marked the anniversary of Alberta joining Confederation, but she noted in a short speech that Canada recognizes the province’s importance.
“We are Canada’s economic engine. More than ever, Canadians understand what Alberta brings to the country,” she said to a small group of onlookers in Calgary’s Heritage Park on Sunday.
“The world needs what Alberta has to offer.”
Alberta officially became a Canadian province on Sept. 1, 1905, and various festivities took place over the weekend ahead of the province’s birthday on Tuesday.
Smith has called a vote for Oct. 19 that will ask Albertans whether the province should remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.
On Sunday, where the festivities focused on the province joining the country, Smith steered around the topic.
“Despite our differences, we have far more in common than what divides us,” Smith said, reading from a sheet of paper.
“Alberta’s story is still being written. And I believe the best chapters are still ahead.”
Some people in the crowd held hand-sized Alberta and Canadian flags, which are handed out at the event every year.
Lindsey Galloway, Heritage Park President and CEO, said the event should not be political.
“As we’re thinking about our future, Alberta Day at Heritage Park reminds us that we have a shared past and, because of that, we belong to one place,” Galloway said.
“We are one people and whether that has implications for a referendum, I’m not sure.”
A tent near the Heritage Park Historical Village entrance advocated for Alberta independence. But attendees, many of them families holding children by the hand or chauffeuring carts with kids, largely avoided talking about the topic when asked to share opinions.
Myra McClelland, however, said she wants Alberta to be independent.
“I think it’s important that Alberta has a voice, and we don’t have a voice,” said McClelland, who spoke from inside the park on Sunday while carrying a large Alberta flag.
Campaigns rally ahead of referendum
On Saturday, Alberta separatists converged outside the legislature in Edmonton, with many saying Alberta would be better off without Canada after having joined Confederation 121 years ago.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi held a “Vote for Canada” rally in Calgary, also on Saturday. During that rally, he called for the fall referendum to be put off amid the escalating trade war with the United States.
Earlier this week, Thomas Lukaszuk, organizer of the pro-federalist Forever Canadian petition, made a similar call.
Lukaszuk said he was writing on behalf of the more than 400,000 Albertans who signed his petition.
“We submit that this is not the time for unnecessary domestic conflict; this is the time for Albertans to stand together with our fellow Canadians and collectively rally against this unprecedented economic threat,” Lukaszuk wrote.
Smith has said she’s voting for the province to stay, and that hundreds of thousands of Albertans signed petitions in support of either separation or staying in Confederation.
She said their voices deserve to be heard.
Supporters of Alberta independence and staying in Canada gathered at separate rallies in Alberta’s two largest cities on Saturday. As the CBC’s Nicole Healey explains, this weekend kicks off the official start of campaigning ahead of the Alberta referendum in Octobe
Smith was asked about the calls to postpone the referendum amid the trade tensions during a recent interview with CTV News, but didn’t say whether rescheduling the vote was on the table.
Instead, she compared the anger Canadians in Quebec and Ontario might be feeling toward Trump amid the trade war with the anger Albertans feel toward former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Smith has said separatists have a decade-long list of resentments with Trudeau over his energy and environmental policies.
“I would say that in the last 18 months, the new prime minister and I have done everything we can to reset the relationship,” she said during the interview.
“But when you cause that kind of damage, people get hurt. That’s what we’re seeing in Alberta right now. I don’t think that you solve problems by ignoring them. You solve problems by addressing it.”
She said she is working to explain to Albertans that Ottawa is working for them, and vice versa, and renewed her call for Albertans to vote to remain in Confederation.
