Ontario Premier Ford urges unity as Alberta prepares Oct. 19 separation referendum
Doug Ford visited Calgary to campaign for Canadian unity before Alberta voters decide whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Confederation.
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford visited Calgary on Monday and appeared with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at an industry conference to discuss economy and energy policy. When asked about the consequences of separation, Ford said: "Folks, united we stand, divided we fall. We need to be a united country. We need to stand together. I love all Albertans. And we're always going to stick together."
Alberta's referendum is scheduled for Oct. 19. Voters will decide whether to stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. Smith has said she plans to vote to stay in Canada but called the referendum necessary because of what she describes as federal policies undercutting Alberta's oil and gas development over a decade. "This anger has been growing for over a decade," Smith told the conference audience. She said the federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney has been "more open and flexible" to help Alberta grow, and that residual enmity toward Ottawa, combined with hundreds of thousands of Albertans signing petitions for and against unity, mandated she call the vote.
Opposition NDP critics say Smith's goal is keeping the United Conservative Party intact by placating its separatist wing with the referendum. Separatist leaders counter that the question is merely a vote to hold another vote, not a binding decision, and have promised to keep fighting regardless of the referendum outcome. Recent polls suggest a broad majority of Albertans want to stay in Canada, and red and white lawn signs supporting Canada vastly outnumber separation blue signs across the province.
Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, also at a separate Calgary conference Monday, said the Alberta debate is not comparable to Brexit. "Brexit was about whether we wanted to stay in a trade association with an element of political union," Cameron said. "This is about the future of a country." Cameron, who led the UK for six years before the 2016 Brexit vote and was leader during Scotland's independence vote in September 2014, vied for the status quo in both referendums. He resigned after Brexit succeeded. "I was very nervous about it because if you have a referendum, you can't guarantee what the results are going to be," Cameron said of Scotland's vote, describing a fragmented United Kingdom as an "absolute tragedy."
