Alberta’s Smith says her United Conservative Party is not a separatist party

CALGARY – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her United Conservative Party isn’t a separatist party.

Last week’s historic energy deal between Alberta and Ottawa was met with skepticism, and at multiple points by boos, by members at the party’s annual convention over the weekend.

Leaders in the party’s separatist camp, meanwhile, received standing ovations and raucous applause. A number of pro-separation candidates were also elected to party board positions.

Asked Monday by reporters if she thinks her party is now a separatist party, Smith said, “No.”

She said most of the party’s board are still aligned with her and the belief that Alberta can exist within Confederation, but “there are some who are not persuaded yet, there’s no question.”

“I mean you saw the reaction on the weekend as well.”

The milestone deal signed last week sees Ottawa walk back some key emission policies to clear the way for a potential pipeline to the West Coast, while Alberta agreed to a higher industrial carbon pricing scheme.

Smith said the deal with Carney alone isn’t and won’t be enough to quell the separatist desire held by party members, noting that energy policy is just one of many issues Alberta has with Ottawa.

“We just have a lot more work to do on a lot more topics,” she said, listing immigration and the federal gun buyback program as two examples. She pointed out that members got up on their feet and cheered when she addressed those issues during a speech Saturday.

Smith also said her government plans to refuse to enforce or prosecute people under the federal buyback program. She said the province will lay out how it plans to do so on Tuesday by using her flagship Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act.

But Smith also said part of the responsibility for quelling the separatist sentiment lands on her shoulders as premier.

“I’ve always said my job is to tell people that Canada works and show them that it works, and to get more people to understand that we can have our own sovereign areas of jurisdiction within a united Canada,” Smith said. “I got a little more work to do.”

Asked Monday for an explanation on what her often-repeated phrase of “a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada” means, Smith said it’s about asserting the proper division of powers between the federal and provincial governments.

“The frustration that Alberta has is when politicians in Ottawa who know nothing about the areas of jurisdiction that we’re responsible for try to overlay federal laws that impair our ability to manage our jurisdiction,” she said.

“That’s how our country’s supposed to work. I don’t swear an oath to Prime Minister Mark Carney, I swear an oath to the King.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2025.

— By Jack Farrell in Edmonton.