Kenney warns against letting 'small minority' of Alberta separatists dominate political agenda

OTTAWA —  Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney says when it comes to calls from within the province to separate from Canada, political leaders shouldn’t let the “small minority dominate the agenda.” “I don’t think any political leader should ever let the tail wag the dog, let the small minority dominate the agenda for the 10 or 15 per cent of Albertans who are hardcore separatists,” he told reporters Friday on the sidelines of the Canada Strong and Free Network conference, an annual gathering of Canada’s conservative movement. However, he warned about the dangers of exacerbating frustrations among Western Canadians if they feel there will never be a federal government that understands the importance of the West’s resources. As Alberta premier from 2019 to 2022, Kenney said he tried to channel those frustrations into reforms within the federation. He said the push for separation has been unsuccessful in Alberta’s political history. “That movement is a lot of bark and very little bite. I don’t think we should spend a lot of time obsessing over it.” Kenney stepped down as leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party in 2022 following dissatisfaction among party members over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and after only narrowly winning a leadership review. He now works in the private sector and also serves on the board of Postmedia, which owns National Post. A rise in Western separation was recently noted by polling firm Angus Reid Institute, which released a survey suggesting that around 30 per cent of those living in Alberta and Saskatchewan answered they would vote to leave the Canadian federation either to form their own country or join the United States, should the Liberals win this month’s election.

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Successive public opinion polls suggest the Conservatives to be tied or trailing the Liberals in the national election campaign that culminates on April 28. Concerns about western separation have also risen in light of U.S. President Donald Trump repeating that he wants Canada to become its”51st state,” which federal leaders have rejected. Before the federal election was called, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who succeeded Kenney, presented a list of demands she said the next prime minister must fulfill or risk an “unprecedented national unity crisis.” They included repealing Liberal policies including the Impact Assessment Act, known as Bill C-69, which critics say has created a intractable approval process for energy projects; the cap on oil and gas emissions; and the net-zero electricity grid and electricity vehicle mandates. Smith presented the list after meeting with Liberal Leader Mark Carney, shortly after he was sworn in as prime minister after winning the party’s leadership race in March. She also spoke at the conservative conference in Ottawa on Thursday. Smith told reporters after her speech that whether a re-elected Liberal government poses a threat to national unity depends on how Albertans react, adding that relations with Ottawa have soured and Carney has existing “damage” to repair. Kenney, who before becoming leader of the Alberta UCP served as a cabinet minister under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said on Friday he sees public opinion polls that show uptick in support for the idea of Alberta separating from Canada as a “proxy” for residents’ frustrations. “I’m an unconditional Canadian patriot, and I believe the vast majority of Albertans are,” he said. Those threatening to leave because they disagree with an election outcome is not only “counterproductive,” but also “unpatriotic,” he added. At the same time, Kenney said leaders in Central Canada should not outright dismiss those sentiments because the concerns people have about Ottawa’s attitudes towards Western Canada’s energy resources are “legitimate.” “Sadly, in Canada, we can never take national unity for granted,” he said, pointing also to Quebec, where polls suggest the separatist Parti Québécois were leading. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who also spoke at the conference, said on Friday that he will see where discussions around national unity go after the election. IHe said it’s fair to ask the Liberals, “What are you going to do differently so that, you know, a certain portion of people, significant portion of people, in a region in this country, don’t feel disenfranchised by the policies that have been enacted over the last number of years?” “The question can come to me in a post-April 28 environment, but for today, I think it’s a fair question for the leaders of the federal parties, as to what might you do differently to ensure that all Canadians feel that they’re being respected by not only their national government, but by all regions.” National Post staylor@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.