Carney: Alberta's vote on separation may become a 'dangerous Bluff'

Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, said on Monday that Alberta's vote on a potential breakaway from Canada could be "a dangerous bluff", and that asking questions like this was "not helpful." The oil-rich region announced last week that it will hold a nonbinding referendum on October to determine whether or not its residents wish to remain in Canada.

"I witnessed first-hand what happened in Britain... "They're still trying 10 years after the fact to undo what people thought they were voting for but what they actually got," Carney said in reference to the 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Albertans are asked if they want to remain part of Canada, or if the government should start the constitutionally mandated legal process in order to have a binding independence referendum at a future date.

"Is it useful to ask these fundamental questions?" Carney told reporters that it was not helpful. "Is this the democratic will of Albertans?" Did they vote for this at the last provincial elections? They didn't." The United Conservative Party of Alberta, a right-of center party, did not mention the referendum as it was preparing for its victory in 2023.

A Monday Angus Reid survey found that 67% of Albertans were against a binding referendum and 60% would vote for it.

The separatists say that they are not happy with the environmental policies of Justin Trudeau's predecessor Carney, who they claim have hurt the oil and gas industries in the province. Carney has reversed several of Trudeau’s green policies since taking office in March 2025.

Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England at the time of Brexit, warned those who would argue that a nonbinding referendum could strengthen the hand of the province in future negotiations with Ottawa.

This is a fact based on experience. It's common to hear in these separation cases that if you vote for something, then it is a "free option". If you vote for it, we will be able to negotiate better. "That is a very risky bluff," said he.

In Canadian history, this would be the first time a province other than Quebec has asked the public to vote on the issue of separation.

Carney's attempt to unite Canada in the coming months to deal with U.S. Tariffs and the renegotiation the U.S. Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement is expected to cause divisions not only in Alberta, but also more widely in Canada. (Reporting and editing by Maria Cheng, Edmund Klamann, and David Ljunggren)

(source: Reuters)