Carney and Smith Share Stage at Red Deer Unity Rally Two Days Before Alberta Referendum

RED DEER, Alberta — Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stood side by side at a federalist rally in Red Deer on Friday, making a rare joint appeal for Albertans to vote to remain in Canada in Monday’s referendum.

“As you know, we don’t always agree on everything. We often disagree quite publicly on several things,” Smith told the crowd of pro-Canada supporters dressed in red and white, according to Canadian Press reporting. “But today we can all agree that on Question 10, that we are voting for Option 1 to remain in Canada.”

Question 10 on Monday’s ballot asks whether Alberta should remain a Canadian province or instruct the provincial government to begin the legal steps that could lead to a future binding vote on separation. The appearance at Red Hart Brewing in Red Deer County capped two days of campaigning by Carney in the province. He told the audience that working with Smith had involved “tough collaboration” on difficult files and pointed to canola and beef export figures and the proposed Pacific Link pipeline as joint achievements, the Palliser Post reported. Carney said the pipeline project would yield more than 140,000 jobs.

Split over the nine immigration questions

The show of unity came a day after a public split between the two leaders. On Thursday, Carney urged Albertans to vote “no to the nine,” referring to Smith’s nine proposals on immigration and constitutional changes that also appear on Monday’s ballot.

Smith stood her ground on Friday. “I have bad news for you, Prime Minister: All of the premiers are interested in talking about immigration and how we might be able to reform it,” she told Carney in Red Deer, handing him provincial literature advertising her proposals. The nine questions would restrict some newcomers’ access to social services and charge some non-permanent residents for access to health and education. Former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach, who co-authored an op-ed this week calling for voters to reject the immigration questions, stood next to Smith at the rally.

Later Friday evening, Smith posted on X that if Albertans give her government a strong mandate on the nine questions, it would “get right to work on these needed reforms,” while repeating her call to vote for Option 1 on Question 10.

Final push before Monday

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also campaigned against separation on Friday, telling a conservative gathering in Calgary that the referendum was not the right vehicle for protesting federal policies. “Canada is more than a government. It is a people, a flag, a land, a history, a promise,” he said.

Advance voting continued through Saturday, the final day of early voting. Roughly one million Albertans had already cast ballots as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, about a third of all electors in the province, Elections Alberta said in an email. Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, who heads the party’s pro-Canada door-knocking campaign, told The Globe and Mail that support for separation runs higher in rural areas while major cities show overwhelmingly pro-Canada sentiment, and that high turnout would bode well for the federalist camp.

Carney began his week in Calgary on Thursday, warning a rally there that outsiders were working to break Canada — a speech covered earlier this week. On Friday evening he addressed roughly 5,500 supporters at a Forever Canadian rally in Edmonton, urging them to “vote like Canada depends on it” and declaring, “Now is the time to build, not break. Now it’s our turn to stand up for Canada.”

Reporting based on coverage by The Canadian Press and the Palliser Post.