Quebec sovereigntist party cheers on possible referendum in Alberta
The leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois is throwing his support behind a possible referendum in Alberta, applauding Premier Danielle Smith for standing up for her province.
Speaking to reporters in Quebec City on Tuesday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said Smith has used the spectre of a referendum to gain leverage as she makes demands of the federal government, including on resource development.
“This is a premier who has decided to address the government of Canada directly by saying, ‘If you do not respect our democracy, you do not respect our financial choices and our priorities, I will respond to your abuse of power with concrete actions,'” he said.
St-Pierre Plamondon said provinces have the right to consult their population on the question of independence if they feel the federal government is not respecting them. He said he’s in “total agreement” with provinces that take a stand to defend their own interests.
The PQ has launched two referendums on Quebec sovereignty – in 1980 and 1995 – and lost both. St-Pierre Plamondon promises to hold a third by 2030 if his party forms government in next year’s provincial election.
On Tuesday, the PQ leader lambasted Quebec Premier François Legault, who promised not to hold a referendum on sovereignty before he was first elected in 2018. “What a striking gesture to see Danielle Smith do more in terms of autonomy and defence of her own province … than François Legault has done over his entire mandate,” he said.
Smith said Monday during a livestream address that she will hold a referendum on separation in Alberta next year if citizens gather enough signatures on a petition, though she said she does not support Alberta exiting Canada.
“I personally still have hope that there is a path forward for a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” she said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Still, her government introduced a bill last week to lower the bar petitioners need to meet to trigger a provincial referendum. On Tuesday, Smith said the barriers are currently too high, and the change will make a petition campaign “achievable.”
She said there’s “a lot of anger” in Alberta toward the federal government and what she called its “destructive, anti-resource agenda.”
Smith has promised to appoint a new negotiation team to demand guaranteed access to tidewater for Alberta’s resource exports, including oil and gas. She is also calling on Ottawa to scrap several environmental policies.
The Liberal government “can’t continue pursuing extremist policies” supported by the NDP or the Bloc Québécois, Smith said Tuesday.
St-Pierre Plamondon said the discussion of separation in Alberta belies the idea that Canada has pulled together in recent months to confront threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“In reality, other Canadian provinces … are still seeing enough abuse of power on the part of the federal government to go so far as to consider a referendum on their own independence,” he said.
The Liberals surged in Quebec during last week’s federal election, which saw them win 43 of the province’s 78 seats, up from 33 at the dissolution of Parliament. Their gains came at the expense of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois, which was reduced to 23 seats from 33.
A widely publicized Léger poll in February showed support for Quebec independence had dipped to 29 per cent, its lowest level in years.
But St-Pierre Plamondon pointed out that an April survey by the same firm showed support for sovereignty had bounced back to 36 per cent. The same poll found that support for independence in all other provinces averaged about 18 per cent, and rose to 29 per cent in Alberta.
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