Poilievre says all Conservatives will campaign for Alberta to stay part of Canada

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he and all Conservative MPs will press for Alberta to remain part of Canada in any separation referendum campaign in the province.

“I’m a strong Canadian federalist, a proud Albertan and a proud Canadian. I want a strong Alberta within a united Canada, and all Conservatives will be campaigning for Canadian unity in Alberta,” Poilievre said at a news conference in North Vancouver on Thursday.

He also said the Conservatives would do the same if the Parti Québécois forms a government in Quebec and launches another separation referendum campaign in that province.

“It is the job of the prime minister of Canada to unite the country, and as prime minister in waiting, I will begin that work myself,” Poilievre said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced later Thursday in a televised address that there will be a fall referendum about whether to hold a future binding separation referendum.

A question is to be added to an already scheduled Oct. 19 referendum asking: “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?”

Poilievre said Prime Minister Mark Carney should do more to quell separatist sentiment in Alberta by pushing resource development, eliminating red tape for small businesses and dropping the gun buyback program.

The Conservative leader took aim at the last decade of Liberal governance in Ottawa and claimed separatist movements were seen as a thing of the past when Stephen Harper was prime minister.

“There was absolutely no separation movement whatsoever in Alberta. And the PQ and the (Bloc Québécois), the two separatist parties in Quebec, they didn’t even exist anymore. They had been wiped off the electoral map,” Poilievre said.

“It’s worth asking how the current prime minister is doing in that regard, given the situation in both Quebec and in Alberta.”

Carney has been making overtures to Alberta since taking office, including firming up an agreement last week that adjusted federal climate polices, including industrial carbon pricing, and backed plans to advance a new oil pipeline to the Pacific Coast. The agreement set a target date for the pipeline’s completion in 2033 or 2034.

The prime minister also held a private meeting with B.C. Premier David Eby on Wednesday to talk about the pipeline deal and projects the provincial NDP government is looking to advance.

Eby has been highly critical of the agreement between Ottawa and Alberta, saying there is no private proponent for a pipeline and Alberta shouldn’t be rewarded for “behaving badly” — a reference to a potential separation referendum.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2026.

— With files from Wolfgang Depner in Victoria and Jack Farrell in Edmonton

David Baxter, The Canadian Press