OTTAWA — Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to listen to Albertans who want to separate from Canada, as he urged the rest of the country to do the same and cautioned against “name-calling” and “fearmongering.”
Poilievre spoke from Calgary to deliver what his office billed as a speech arguing for a “stronger Alberta within a united Canada,” kicking-off his efforts to campaign for the province to remain in Canada ahead of an October provincial referendum, which asks whether Albertans wish to stay, or begin the process of holding a binding vote on separating.
“Just as I speak to Bloc Quebecois members of Parliament every day on Parliament Hill, I will be speaking to Albertans on both sides of this referendum to hear their thoughts and to make the respectful case for Canada,” the federal Conservative leader told the crowd Monday.
“The goal should not be to beat one another in this referendum, it should be to unite us all when it is over, to show our fellow citizens, all of them, that they belong in Canada, that they are a treasured part of our national family.”
Poilievre’s speech comes after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced last month that the set of referendums she had previously scheduled her province to hold in October on different immigration and constitutional questions would include one on independence.
That came after an Alberta court quashed efforts for a citizen-led petition that organizers of the separatist movement said had garnered upwards of 300,000 signatures from getting onto an official ballot, citing how the province failed to consult with First Nations under Section 35 of the Constitution.
Smith called the ruling “anti-democratic” and pledged to appeal, but outlined how she was adding a question on independence to October’s referendums because of the time an appeal would take and the thousands of signatures gathered, including those tied to a pro-Canada petition.
Poilievre, who after losing his Ottawa-area seat in last year’s election successfully won a byelection in the rural Alberta riding of Battle-River Crowfoot, pledged that the federal Conservatives would spend the summer campaigning for the province to stay.
With 33 out of the province’s 37 MPs hailing from the Conservatives, the federal party with the deepest routes in Western Canada, some of Poilievre’s MPs have begun speaking out about the importance of Alberta remaining a part of the federation.
Monday’s speech was the first time the Conservative leader, who grew up in Calgary, outlined what his pitch would be on the question of keeping the country together. He delivered it by weaving in memories from his childhood spent watching the 1988 Winter Olympics, which the province hosted, and working as a kid collecting trash off tables during the Calgary Stampede.
He argued that frustrated Albertans have “legitimate grievances” that deserve to be addressed through policy changes by Ottawa, which he said ought to be met by banding together with other oil-producing provinces like Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, and pushing for change.
Poilievre also warned against dismissing those concerns as illegitimate.
“Those who caused the problems in Canada today will tell you to pretend those problems don’t exist, and they will denounce as unpatriotic anyone who speaks honestly about them.”
“Doing that in this referendum would only drive people further away. If you want frustrated Albertans to vote for Canada, the absolute worst thing we can do is dismiss their legitimate grievances and thus signal there’s no hope of fixing them at all.”
Later in his speech, he delivered a message directly to those participating in the debate, urging them to see Albertans wishing to separate not as “enemies” but as fellow citizens.
“Demonizing people who have lost hope in Canada is no way to restore it,” Poilievre said. “Name-calling, fear mongering, and ostracizing will only worsen and broaden the divide.”
Instead, the federal Conservative called for understanding and persuading Albertans to stay by tackling what he characterized as “the easily solvable problems they are asking us to fix.”
“We should not just tell Albertans how bad it would be to have separation. Let’s instead talk about how great it can be if our country is truly united and respectful of Alberta.”
Poilievre repeated his party’s longstanding calls for the federal government to repeal the Impact Assessment Act and oil tanker moratorium off British Columbia’s northwest coast.
Carney’s government has signalled it stands ready to amend the tanker ban, according to a memorandum-of-understand the prime minster signed with Smith last fall, which paves the way for the construction of a new oil pipeline to the West Coast, in exchange for Alberta increasing its industrial carbon tax.
The federal government is also eyeing more regulatory reforms to speed up the timelines it takes to approve major projects, after ushering in a separate process last year that gives cabinet the power to grant upfront approvals for projects deemed to be in the “national interest,” and that would undergo evaluations by a special projects office Carney established.
Last week, the federal government announced it would be extending the consultation period it had announced on the upcoming reforms that had been set to expire on Monday, pushing the date back until mid-July.
National Post
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