Rock and a hard place: Smith’s referendum on referendum blasted from both sides of separation

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Zoe Mason
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Groups on all sides of the separatist question are dissatisfied with the approach outlined by Premier Danielle Smith in her May 21 address.

At a news conference on May 22, Smith defended her unpopular approach, suggesting she had no other choice.

“To those Albertans wanting a binding separation referendum in October: this simply isn’t possible with the recent court ruling,” she said.

“For those Albertans who don’t want a referendum at all, it’s important to note that 700,000 Albertans signed one petition or another asking of a referendum on this issue. We cannot kick this can down the road.”

Separatist leaders took to social media on May 21 to denounce Smith’s question, which does not pose a yes-or-no inquiry about Alberta independence, but rather asks voters if the province should hold a second binding referendum on separation.

“Danielle Smith has betrayed her base. Time for a new leader,” wrote David Parker, leader of the separatist group the Centurion Project and Take Back Alberta founder, in a post on X.

Smith told reporters she isn’t troubled by the outcry from the separatist faction.

“I’m much more interested in what Albertans as a whole have to say,” she said.

“This doesn’t get decided on an AGM convention floor by a few thousand delegates. This gets decided by Albertans, and it gets decided on October the 19th.”

Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi called the question unclear and un-patriotic. He also extolled economic dangers of allowing a campaign on separation to proceed over the next five months.

“Referenda are inherently destabilizing.”

He argues commerce and industry in Quebec never recovered from the separation referenda of the 1980s and 1990s.

“Sixty years of economic decline in Quebec. Over 350 head offices leaving Quebec, many ending up right here in Calgary. That’s what we’re in for if we don’t stop this now.”

First Nations groups behind the court challenge that ruled out a binding referendum continue to cite a lack of communication with the province.

“First Nations won two court cases. And we still are not being included,” wrote Mikisew Cree First Nation chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro in a statement on May 21.

A short statement released by the Sturgeon Lake Cree First Nation called Smith’s choice to sidestep the ruling and go ahead with a separatist question undemocratic.

“First Nations have been sounding the alarm bell for months now. Danielle Smith continues to trample on Treaty, and continues to damage the economy and reputation of the province in order to stay in power.”

Calgary MP and vocal separation opponent Corey Hogan released a statement accusing the premier of indulging separatist sentiment to bolster her own leadership.

“She has pushed along a question because a group has threatened to bring down her and her party if she does not,” he wrote.

“Her internal political problems have become our national crisis.”

Smith did not respond to a question at the May 22 conference about whether a vote to proceed with legal separation would result in her resignation. She maintains it is her and her party’s position that Alberta should remain in Canada.

When asked whether she would resign if Albertans voted to proceed with legal separation, Smith simply said she would accept the results of the referendum.

“If option two wins, I’ll start the legal process to get it to a point of a binding referendum,” she said.

Just hours before the May 21 announcement, a legislative committee voted to recommend the Forever Canadian petition question advance to referendum.

Smith considers that recommendation to have been met by the wording of her question.

“The Forever Canada question is on the ballot. It’s the first option: Do you want to remain in Canada?”