Carney says U.S. is trying to ‘break’ Canada as Alberta votes Monday on separation path

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Thursday that the United States is trying to break Canada so it can “own us,” delivering his most direct message yet to voters in oil-rich Alberta ahead of Monday’s referendum on whether the province should begin the legal process toward separation.

“This referendum comes at the worst possible time,” Carney told a large pro-Canada rally in Calgary, according to the Associated Press. “The world has become more dangerous and divided. Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.”

Carney did not name the United States or President Donald Trump directly in that passage, the AP reported, though he has done so in similar past speeches. The warning came as Trump wages a trade war against Canada and after his repeated suggestions that the country should become the 51st American state. Carney has argued that Canada must become more economically resilient and less dependent on its southern neighbor.

Monday’s vote is not a direct referendum on independence. Alberta, which holds the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, will decide whether to remain a Canadian province or instruct the provincial government to begin the legal steps that could lead to a future binding vote on separation.

Carney courts Alberta, Smith votes to stay

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, spent Thursday campaigning in Calgary before addressing the Forever Canadian rally at the BMO Centre. His office estimated about 5,000 people attended, with some waiting more than two hours to get through security, the AP said. A second rally with Carney was planned in Edmonton on Friday.

At the rally, Carney acknowledged that many Albertans feel Ottawa has long worked against them. “The frustrations that many Albertans have felt are real,” he said, adding that when he was growing up, Albertans were made to feel “like our resources weren’t our own” and that more recently the province was made to feel its energy contributions were “against the tides of history.”

He pointed to his government’s fast-tracking of the proposed Pacific Link pipeline as evidence of a changed relationship, saying the project would create more than 140,000 jobs and generate revenue for social programs. His biggest cheer, the AP reported, came when he said the pipeline would reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States.

Premier Danielle Smith, who called the vote after a grassroots group gathered about 300,000 signatures on a petition, cast her ballot Wednesday and said she voted for Alberta to remain in Canada. “Canada can still work,” Smith said. “We just need to make some changes.” She has said support for separation remains too high for her liking.

Turnout to decide a tight race

Polls suggest most Albertans favor staying in Canada, but Carney told the crowd that turnout would decide the outcome. Advance voting runs through Saturday, with the final vote on Monday.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University, called Carney’s popularity in Alberta “highly unusual” for a Liberal prime minister, the AP reported, and said Trump’s trade war and 51st-state threats have rallied Canadians around their leader — even in Alberta.

Leaders of the pro-independence group Let Alberta Decide dismissed Carney’s warning about timing. “The worst timing for this, why? I don’t understand what’s the logic,” Keith Wilson said. Wilson predicted Carney would eventually tax oil exports in retaliation against the United States, despite Carney’s statement that he sees no value in using Canadian energy exports as leverage.

Reporting based on coverage by the Associated Press and QNC News.