Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to outline province’s relations with Ottawa in speech

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will outline how she envisions her province’s relationship with Ottawa in a speech Monday afternoon, as her government grapples with a noisy separatist movement after the federal Liberals won last month’s general election.

She will discuss the “province’s path forward with the federal government” and “announce the bold steps our government is taking to chart a new course for a strong and free Alberta,” the Premier said on social media Saturday.

Ms. Smith’s live address will be broadcast online at 3:00 P.M. local time. She will not take questions from reporters until noon on Tuesday, the government said in a statement Saturday.

Western discontent is a growing problem after Liberal election victory

The Premier and her United Conservative Party have long had a hostile relationship with the federal Liberals, and Ms. Smith in March threatened a national unity crisis unless the winner of the general election implemented nine policy demands related to the energy industry within six months of taking office. The day after Prime Minister Mark Carney led the Liberals to victory in last week’s election, Ms. Smith’s government introduced a bill that would make it easier for residents to force provincial referendums, clearing the way for a vote on independence.

The Premier held a “special caucus meeting” on Friday to discuss the results of the election. The Conservative Party of Canada won all but three of Alberta’s 37 ridings and 13 of 14 seats in Saskatchewan.

Despite the talk of separation in the West, polling conducted in Alberta by Nanos for The Globe and Mail after the election shows that the desire by some to leave Canada remains a minority opinion. Far more of those polled – 64 per cent – said Alberta would be better off as a part of Canada, more than double the number who said they believe the province would be stronger alone or as part of the U.S.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government won’t push for vote on separation

The Nanos poll, which surveyed 432 Albertans using a hybrid telephone and online random survey, is considered accurate to 4.8 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

Ms. Smith and Mr. Carney on Friday exchanged messages on social media indicating a thaw in the relationship between Alberta and Ottawa.

“We’re both focused on bringing down the cost of living and increasing opportunities in the energy sector for hard working Albertans,” Mr. Carney said, thanking Ms. Smith for the call the two shared. “I look forward to working together — to break down interprovincial trade barriers and to build one strong Canadian economy.”

Ms. Smith declared the meeting “positive” and said they discussed “specific proposals for projects and legislative reforms that will significantly increase market access for Alberta oil and gas, agricultural products and other goods.”

She added: “The Prime Minister made it clear he intended to rapidly advance these kinds of nation building projects in the coming weeks and months.”

Corey Hogan and Eleanor Olszewski, the only two Liberals elected in Alberta, in separate interviews told The Globe and Mail they expect Mr. Carney to respond to Alberta’s concerns by reducing the regulatory burden facing major infrastructure efforts.

“Albertans are very concerned about energy projects and Mark Carney is committed to reducing red tape and reducing project review time,” Ms. Olszewski said Sunday. “We need to get things done for Alberta and for the West.”

Mr. Hogan, in an interview Thursday, said he expects Mr. Carney to streamline approvals for projects, although he concedes executives asking for a six-month process might be disappointed, noting the courts will still demand due process and meaningful consultation with relevant groups like First Nations.

One in four people in Alberta identify as Albertans first, Canadians second, Nanos poll finds

Conflicts over policy might remain tense around issues such as the federal emissions cap, Mr. Hogan said. But he thinks there’s renewed opportunity to propose adjustments that ease industry concern while still achieving the intended result. Incentives, he said as an example, could help solve concerns over competitiveness.

“We still have a policy intent, as this government, to get to a cleaner future with less carbon,” he said. “That’s not going to change. But talk to us about how we might be able to still get to that goal in a different way, in a meaningful way.”

Ms. Smith blames the Liberals – specifically former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Steven Guilbeault, who served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change until Mr. Carney executed a cabinet shuffle after winning the Liberal leadership race in March – for damaging Alberta’s prosperity over the last decade. She has railed against Ottawa’s clean electricity regulations and frames the federal oil and gas greenhouse gas emissions cap as a cap on oil and gas production.

The western premier broke from her counterparts across the country and in Ottawa when U.S. President Donald Trump was musing about imposing tariffs on Canadian goods. She firmly opposed retaliatory levies, arguing they would make affordability more difficult for everyone, and said she would not tolerate the federal government using Alberta’s oil exports as a pawn in the trade war.

In January, she travelled to Mr. Trump’s resort in Florida to try to persuade him to back off his tariff plan. She also met with lawmakers and other influential figures to make the case against tariffs on energy from Alberta. She also urged Ottawa to respond to Mr. Trump’s demands, which rested on his dubious claim that loads of migrants and illegal fentanyl are entering the U.S. through the border it shares with Canada.