Alberta Premier Smith says meeting with PM Carney a ‘positive first step’

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she has had a “positive” meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The meeting is the first since Carney’s Liberals won Monday’s election and Smith warned the prime minister of any “hostile acts” his new government might take against her province. 

Smith, who frequently diminished Carney throughout the election campaign in favour of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, said on social media Friday that she and Carney had a lengthy conversation about policies and legislation that are holding back Alberta’s energy economy.

“We also discussed our ongoing trade dispute with the United States and how the federal government can work co-operatively with our province to advance both Canada’s and Alberta’s interests,” Smith said.

“Repairing the damage to Alberta’s economy caused by Ottawa’s last 10 years of anti-resource legislation and policies will take tremendous effort and co-operation, however, today’s conversation was a positive first step.”

Carney thanked Smith on social media for the call.

“We’re both focused on bringing down the cost of living and increasing opportunities in the energy sector for hard-working Albertans,” he wrote Friday. 

“I look forward to working together — to break down interprovincial trade barriers and to build one strong Canadian economy.”

The conversation comes after Smith called on Carney to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta. 

It also comes after her government tabled legislation this week that lowers the bar for citizens to initiate referendums, including referendums on Alberta separating from Canada.

Indigenous leaders from across the province and country have condemned the move, saying Smith is stoking separatism and violating treaty commitments in the process.

“Inviting individuals to vote on questions to take treaty land is absurd, and contrary to the nation-to-nation sacred covenants that we agreed to at the time of treaty making,” said Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine at a press conference Friday.

Smith has said the legislation makes it easier for Albertans to participate in democracy and that she didn’t want to presuppose which referendum questions might arise.

Leading up to the election, Smith had also issued a list of demands for the next prime minister and pledged to strike a panel to ask Albertans what they would want if the Liberals won a fourth consecutive term.

On Thursday, Smith’s government also initiated court action against Ottawa — just three days into Carney’s term and before he’s appointed a cabinet — referring a question of constitutionality of the federal government’s clean electricity grid regulations to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Smith has argued the regulations, which were finalized late last year, are an example of federal overreach and will do nothing but harm the affordability and reliability of Alberta’s electricity grid.

Abandoning the regulations was one of Smith’s nine demands, and she said Thursday that she had received no indication that Carney planned to take action on the file.

Another demand Smith had was for Ottawa to offer guarantees that pipelines could be built in every direction, and she said on social media Friday that Carney “made it clear he intended to rapidly advance these kinds of nation-building projects in the coming weeks and months.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2025.