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GRANDE PRAIRIE — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is continuing to buck calls to postpone a fall referendum she scheduled about the province quitting Canada.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has said the vote projects an image of national weakness amid Canada’s tense trade war with the United States.
When asked Wednesday about the risks to Canadian unity, Smith said holding the vote is a “separate process,” and she pointed to the province’s citizen initiative law, last changed by her government this spring.
The Oct. 19 referendum will ask Albertans whether they want the province to stay in Canada or to start the legal process to hold a future binding vote on separation.
Smith has said she’ll vote to stay in Canada.
She mentioned the agreement her government made with Prime Minister Mark Carney last year to pave the way for a new pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen to the West Coast.
“This is an important time for us to be looking at the benefits that come from being a part of Canada,” she said in Grande Prairie, Alta.
“We still have some issues, of course, in resolving with our federal government on a range of fronts, but I can say that I feel like we have a real momentum in our country now working together.”
Last weekend, the United States levied import fees on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods, with Canada announcing counter-tariffs that are to kick in Sept. 8 on items ranging from American steel and aluminum products to video game consoles and fishing rods.
Nenshi said Tuesday that Smith needs to cancel the referendum or, at the very least, postpone it.
“The premier’s pandering to separatists just shows weakness; it shows that Canada is not united,” he told reporters in Calgary.
On her radio talk show last weekend, Smith said the referendum will continue, because hundreds of thousands of citizens have signed petitions demanding a resolution.
“Citizens signed one of two petitions saying they wanted to have this question now, and that’s what the vote is going to be on Oct. 19,” Smith said Saturday.
“I think we need to make sure that we are clear about what Albertans want us to do. That’s part of the reason why we’re having the vote.”
Nenshi’s criticism piggybacks on comments last week from Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
St-Pierre Plamondon said if his separatist party takes office in the Quebec general election in October, it would postpone a promised referendum on secession until the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidency.
The unpredictable nature of the Trump administration could harm Quebec’s referendum process and discussions about the province’s future, St-Pierre Plamondon said.
Trump is about midway through his four-year mandate.
The Alberta NDP has accused Smith of holding a separatist vote not to resolve a profound question preoccupying Albertans, but rather to placate hardline separatists in her United Conservative Party.
That contrasts with the long-standing separatism concerns of Quebecers, said Nenshi.
“If real separatists (in Quebec) understand the danger of doing this, how come a separatist of convenience, like Danielle Smith, doesn’t understand that danger?” he said.
The battle for hearts and minds of Albertans ahead of the referendum has seen groups on both sides organize advocacy campaigns.
That includes two former Alberta political foes.
Former NDP premier Rachel Notley and ex-UCP premier Jason Kenney announced Tuesday they are co-chairing a Canadian Chamber of Commerce campaign to encourage Alberta stay in Canada.
Both said that they have had their differences but agree on the value of Alberta staying in Confederation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2026.
— By Dayne Patterson in Calgary and Lisa Johnson in Edmonton
The Canadian Press
