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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith answers media questions after the provincial referendum vote in Calgary on Wednesday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is urging separatist factions within her United Conservative Party to accept the results of Monday’s referendum or leave the party if they’re unwilling to do so.
Ms. Smith, in a pre-taped video posted to social media, stressed the need for unity within the province’s conservative movement and warned that party infighting would deliver the October, 2027, election to the Alberta NDP.
But Ms. Smith was not clear about what measures she’s willing to take to smother separatist leanings inside her party. She said she expects all party nominees and members of her provincial board and constituency associations to be committed to “a strong Alberta within a united Canada.
“As a party, we cannot permit the next year to be one of internal division and endless debates about separation, when Albertans have spoken so clearly against it,” Ms. Smith said in the video posted Wednesday morning.
“That’s what the NDP want us to do.”
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Albertans roundly rejected the prospect of separation in Monday’s referendum. About 75 per cent of voters preferred to remain in Canada rather than hold a second, binding secession vote.
Ms. Smith pledged on Tuesday night to not hold another separation referendum while in office while pointing to her plan to carve out more autonomy from the federal government.
In the days since the referendum, leading separatists within the UCP have said they will commit their energy to electing allies to the party board and as party nominees for the next provincial election.
Mitch Sylvestre, chief executive of the Alberta Prosperity Project, said on Tuesday that he’s pivoting to that mission, while his separatist colleague Jeffrey Rath has continued his calls for the party membership to oust Ms. Smith.
On Wednesday, Ms. Smith said the party’s singular objective should be defeating the Alberta NDP next fall.
“The United Conservative Party is not an independence party, and for those few who cannot reconcile this fact and remain intent on dividing and turning our party into a vehicle for the independence movement, I would respectfully invite them to join a different party.”
More to come