Carney's credibility on the line with wealth fund: analyst | Alberta Primetime for April 28, 2026

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:02]Alberta Prime Time with Michael Higgins.

[00:00:05]Welcome to Alberta Prime Time. Ahead tonight, our politics panel on reaction to the Smith government's referendum website. But first, getting a read on the secession debate. One of the leading demographics of of pro-searatism is is young men my age. And so I think it's important to be here and to show that young men do support Canada and that we're here to to support our country and to support just being together.

[00:00:32]>> As Albertans begin to organize and take sides ahead of an anticipated vote on separation in the October referendum, a new book, The Republic of Alberta, an idea that won't go away, is now set to hit store shelves. And the author, Tyler Dawson, joins us now. also a journalist with the Globe and Mail. Tyler, good to see you.

[00:00:53]>> Good to see you.

[00:00:54]>> And and in a manner of speaking, welcome back to Alberta Prime Time. It's it's been a it's been a few months.

[00:00:59]Congratulations on the book.

[00:01:01]>> Um and and want to point out we're we're we're speaking just days away from the separatist petition uh meeting its deadline, hitting its deadline for collecting signatures. How how important was it to to to land the book at this juncture?

[00:01:15]>> Yeah, I mean the timing couldn't have worked out better. I think it was a little bit of a not entirely intentional that it arrived at this time, but certainly worked out that way. Um, and we had planned on sort of a spring release and it and it just so happened that it was coming out, you know, right around the time of the May 2nd deadline. And of course, it's a little bit of an open question, what happens after that deadline point? Um, so I'm I'm hopeful that the book uh remains relevant for for a few more months after that leading up to the October referendum if indeed that is what happens. Well, now in in reading it, a good chunk of the book is uh it's it's a deep dive in into the roots of a secession undercurrent in Al Alberta.

[00:01:56]And it and it's it's actually extending beyond the momentum that we see now and and and even the uproar over the national energy program for those of us who are old enough remember from the 1980s.

[00:02:07]>> Yeah. I mean, it was something that kind of struck me and I I'd covered this idea of sort of Alberta being upset at Ottawa and angry at Ottawa for, you know, sort of the eight years I was at the National Post. Um, so I was quite familiar with, you know, what has happened in the last decade and really started going back and I mean, I'm not quite old enough to remember the National Energy Program, but certainly, you know, my parents are, grandparents are, that sort of thing.

[00:02:29]Um, and I was really struck the more I looked into it just how old these roots are. I mean, you can go back to the 1880s before Alberta was even a province to and you see people expressing, you know, very similar sentiments to what you see people expressing in 2026.

[00:02:45]there's this remarkable kind of continuity over the decades I think that that inform there's this robust history and sort of intellectual underpinning if you want to put it that way um that does exist for this movement and the grievances that that separatists and even those who aren't separatists but still you know feel quite strongly about Alberta's place within confederation and its relationship with Ottawa they're all sort of part and parcel of the same ideas that have existed for a really long time >> well and and you write that separatism has come closer than ever to mainstream.

[00:03:16]So, what what makes this current drive different?

[00:03:20]>> Yeah, it's it's a really good question and the answer is unfortunately a horrible cliche. Um, and I think it has to do a lot with social media. Um, in in the 1980s when you had the Western Canada concept, the Westfed Association, I mean, organizing people looked very, very different. How did you reach these people? You know, if you were going to write an op-ed, maybe you'd try and get it published in the Edmonton Journal or the Calgary Herald or the Red Dear Advocate. Maybe you'd write a letter to the editor in one of those papers. Maybe that editor would say, "No, this is crazy nonsense and we're not having it in our paper." Um, things were gatekept very differently. If you phoned into a talk show on radio, a call-in show, you know, you might not get through to get on air if you were expressing your views on on the state of um, Confederation or Alberta's place within it. So, that dynamic, that gatekeeping has totally totally changed. And now it is very very easy for people who think the same things, who love the same things, who hate the same things, who have the same sort of political beliefs. It's very easy for those people to find each other. And we've seen the outcome of that quite clearly a handful of times in the last decade. I mean, the an earlyish example, but a good one, I think, is the farm safety bill protests um when Rachel Notley first became premier or the 2019 convoy to Ottawa that was over the tanker ban and bill C69, the freedom convoy in 2022. These are all major instances of sort of right-wing um grievance and uprising that occurred because of the way that social media is linking people together now. And that's just something that did not exist in the 1980s. So I think that has been a very significant factor in why this movement is so powerful at this particular moment. And I'm I'm taking from your book, but what what do you make of there not being a charismatic leader, a you and and you you in the book you point to the the reference to Renie Lec in in Quebec and and the place that he had in driving that.

[00:05:09]>> Yeah. It's funny. I did a video years ago for the National Post saying that the big problem with the separatist movement is that they don't have a leader. Um and they they still don't have a leader, but ironically are rather powerful without having a leader. I I do think that poses a problem for them in sort of the medium term. Um if this goes towards a referendum in October that gives us a handful of months in which there'll be a sort of public debate over the state of Alberta and Alberta's place within Confederation. You know who is going to be that person for the separatists? Is it going to be a number of different people? You know, at the moment it seems to be Jeffrey Wrath, lawyer with the Alberta Prosperity Project and Mitch Sylvester, the CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project. Um, David Parker with Takeback Alberta is certainly playing a role in this sort of dynamic, but is it just those three guys? There do seem to be other influencers on social media that are talking about this. You know, there were people that gathered signatures, for example, on the on the Stay Free Alberta citizen initiated petition. Are they going to be leaders? This this is not like a political party. That's another big difference. A political party has to have a leader. You can't not have a leader as a political party. But this isn't a political party. It's a movement of some sort. Um, but it doesn't seem to have a leader, but it does seem to me they probably need to find one at some point in the next few months.

[00:06:26]>> So, then let me ask how how do what's your read then on the role that Danielle Smith as premier plays in all of this and and even the impact of the UCP and what's happening within that dynamic.

[00:06:38]>> Danielle Smith has played a really interesting role in this over the past year. And the thing that she can't quite avoid is that she has given on sort of two separate occas at least two occasions a leg up to the separatists.

[00:06:51]You know the first was last spring when the threshold was lowered for the citizen initiated petitions. The second time was in December when some of the rules were changed basically to allow the separatists to try again after they lost in court the first time. Um so she has for better or worse despite her own personal politics and she is not a separatist. um she has helped them. Um and there's I think a running debate on why that is the case. But she did come out just last week with sort of her strongest pro-Canada statement yet. I would say she was asked by a reporter why the Alberta government doesn't just do a referendum itself. You know, there's this court battle going on.

[00:07:31]There's this petition gathering going on, signature gathering I should say.

[00:07:35]Why doesn't Alberta just do it? And she said, "Well, I don't I don't believe in that. I think that Alberta should remain within Canada." So, she's staked her position rather clearly, but at the same time has helped the separatists get to where they are. Um, and she's in a bit of a sticky situation with her own party. There's no doubt about that. I mean, last November she was booed on at least three occasions when she had sort of pro-Canada statements at the UCP convention. I mean, it was a remarkable sort of scene. Um, one that I can't remember in the time I've been covering politics. Um, and the polling certainly suggests that within the United Conservative Party, within Alberta voters who vote for the United Conservative Party, probably a majority, not a large majority, but a majority of them are trending towards voting to leave Canada. She is in a very sticky situation, I think, in terms of the internal party dynamics. Um, and let's not forget, of course, we're going into an election next year. Um, and goodness knows what happens there after all of this, all of this sort of shakes out.

[00:08:34]All right, we'll have to leave it there.

[00:08:36]Wish you could uh dedicate about half an hour to this. It It's a It's a great read. It's a very interesting reteller and really appreciate you're coming in and congratulations.

[00:08:46]>> Oh, thanks for having me. It's good to be back.

[00:09:00]From information flow around the October referendum to journalist Tyler Dawson's new book on separation dynamics in our province and the prime minister's announcement of a new sovereign wealth fund. Time now for tonight's politics panel. And joining us this evening, Chris Spearman, former mayor of Lethbridge, and Chelines, newly retired political science faculty member with Mchuan University. Good evening to you both. And let's begin with the Smith government's launch of uh a referendum website late last week. A website, a Strathmore content creator, very quickly took to task.

[00:09:36]>> I'm just a guy with a keyboard who likes to make dumb politics memes and and do satire and stuff like that. And I thought, you know what? Why don't we why don't we make an actual website that maybe actually is a little bit more informative and >> Stephen Ellischuck started work on his spoof site Alberta referendum that's dum 2026.ca Thursday and launched it at noon on Friday. He calls it a public interest project to point out what he calls biased information from the province.

[00:10:08]The government's actual website lists the nine referenda questions that will be put to Albertans October 19th and each question is paired with background information provided by the government.

[00:10:18]Chris, what is what what's to be made of the parody website? What what and and what does its very rapid emergence say about the state of debate around the referendum?

[00:10:30]Well, I I was very impressed with the quality of the parody website and I think the information there is uh some of it's very serious and uh points out to the obvious uh that really the Alberta government and our premier is not really focusing on the issues that are important to Albertans. This is a a six-month diversion that doesn't, I guess, address things like uh affordability, the housing crisis, high youth unemployment, and uh the controversies and the issues we have with healthcare. So uh you know when we uh look at this uh this website and look at the questions we're asked to focus on and we we look what happened the last time the government consulted Albertans and uh they consulted on the pension plan and refused to release the results.

[00:11:19]They had to be uh released under uh access to uh information uh battles that lasted 21 months and then they were slow to release the survey results from Alberta next panel. uh they were only released last week uh again under pressure. Uh and both the the results from those surveys were were negative to what the government wanted. Uh so uh this time Danielle Smith has said that uh on these other questions that the government is sponsoring she's going to be actively campaigning and I think that is uh very interesting that she's going to be f focusing her energy on these referendum questions rather on rather than on the issues that matter to Albertans. Charlene, to that point, the premier did make clear during the Thursday news conference that she will not be a neutral observer where the direction of the referendum is concerned. What to what degree do you see the government's website actually reflecting that?

[00:12:21]Well, uh, the government's website, the better referendum 2026, uh, is is giving us information on the questions that are going to be posed, are putting them in context. Uh, and I think that what I'm seeing is a really crowded ballot potentially, and that could cause a bit of confusion for Albertans. that uh the government on the one hand is saying uh they're going to take a mandate from some of the questions which makes this a binding referendum. Uh but on some of the constitutional questions it's basically an advisory referendum in in other words the outcome is not going to change Canada's constitution. the government is simply going to use it as a basis to engage with other provinces on how to change the constitution. I think the the parody website and the satire is all a reflection of our times and I hope that people will take this more seriously and come up if they oppose this uh uh effort by by the government really come up with uh credible information that counters the government's uh approach rather than this kind of satire which I don't think really contributes much to the process.

[00:13:43]Chris, maybe as a final question on this particular topic, how do how do you see this website, the government's website changing if it is that a separation question ends up on the October referendum ballot? What what kind of position would that then leave the Smith government in?

[00:14:00]>> Well, it will be interesting to see how they frame that because uh the in Daniel Smith's UCP party, more than half the members uh support separation. um will how will she frame a question? Uh will it be in a neutral way or will it be one that panders to uh a base in the UCP party?

[00:14:22]>> All right. Uh for us up next, we heard from Globe and Mail journalist Tyler Dawson off the top on the launch today of his new book, The Republic of Alberta, an idea that won't go away.

[00:14:32]Chaldine's perfect timing with a separatist petition set to conclude signature collection in mere days. What what what do you make of what Tyler Dawson sets out to do with this new book?

[00:14:46]>> I think Tyler's contribution is emphasizing the the fact that this western alienation idea is deeply rooted in Alberta.

[00:14:57]uh you know western populism and this kind of uh resentment against uh uh you know federal intrusion is is really embedded in Alberta's political culture and uh it's it's it it's interesting that he attributes some of the recent uh efforts to social media. I think he's right on that point. Uh but we also should point out that if you look at uh what happened in the aftermath of Shannon Town, Meech Lake and the forment that arose out of President Manning's Canada, excuse me, the West wants in effort in the reform party. uh that was really an aleta effort and u what I'm seeing now is the separatists now are reversing person money maning and saying the west wants out uh which is a kind of a a different approach but indeed uh Michael I'm seeing an element here that on the separation side is very clear-cut they want to leave Canada and on the pro Canada side. It's a divided approach. You have the Daniel Smith approach which is a different vision of Canada uh a a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada and on the forever Canada side is a very uh a strong endorsement in my in my in my way of thinking of the federal government's approach. So the pro Canada side is divided different conceptions of Canada and I think that is really going to crowd and make this this a very very interesting referendum if if it shapes out to be in October October 19th.

[00:16:47]>> Chris Tyler Dawson digs deep into the history of secession sentiments in the province lays out the dynamics that Albertans are witnessing today. What what kind of read do you get on Alberta being at a at a tipping point on this issue, even if polling does not show separation being the preference of the majority?

[00:17:06]>> Well, clearly the issue isn't going away in the near future. It's right um front and center. I think uh Tyler provides a background as to uh the historical context to that and what the current uh modern influences are. And I think uh what's missing here is uh something that people can go to for reliable information and facts. I think um Tyler's provided uh certainly a solid background for why people think the way they do and I think there does need to be more understanding of the grievances and more listening that uh has to take place uh in order to come out of this uh very uh tricky situation in a positive way. All right, U time for us to take a bit of a break, but when we come back, the announcement of Canada's first national sovereign wealth fund. More from our politics panel in a moment.

[00:18:17]Welcome back. Canada is about to get its first sovereign wealth fund announced Monday by the prime minister.

[00:18:24]>> We intend to provide it in a way where the investment itself, the actual amount of money is protected. It's something consistent to buying a government bond, but has the upside, the additional return when these projects uh uh realize their potential. The PM says the fund will operate as an independent armslength crown corporation and uh will give Canadians an opportunity to invest in projects that will build the nation.

[00:18:51]The federal government will put $25 billion over three years with further details on mandate structure and implementation plans expected in the next couple of months. Chris, what is what what's to be made of the government seeding this Canada Strong Fund as as it's being called with borrowed money instead of say earnings from resource revenue as has been done elsewhere? What what's it say about fiscal policy?

[00:19:16]Well, there is some criticism that we're uh we're a government and a country that is operating in a deficit and other countries that have sovereign wealth funds are basically operating on a surplus like Norway with a $1.3 trillion uh sovereign wealth fund. Um $25 billion is peanuts. It's going to be seated over three years. Uh again, uh at 8 million, $8 billion a year or you know that's really going to make um I don't know a very small difference. I think uh allowing Canadians to invest in this I think Canadians will be skeptical uh that this is going to generate any returns for them in the in the near future. And uh I'm not sure that it doesn't duplicate. I think some of the criticism of this is what's the difference between this and the the Federal Business Development Bank and a couple of other agencies. Are we going to employ more civil servants and have minimal results? How will this be different? And and the proof is going to be in the the pudding. I think Mr. Carney's credibility depends on this. We can't keep making announcements. What we need to do is build uh infrastructure that changes the future of Canada. We need to make sure that we can get our goods to market. Uh that we can become more independent financially and develop our trading relationships and uh we need to make sure that we create efficient infrastructure to do that. And projects have to get moving sooner than later. We have to stop making announcements and start building projects. Charlies, how how does this play against the the conservative approach to further leveraging private sector in investment? That being tax cuts, loosening up of of regulations, essentially the government getting out of the way.

[00:21:04]>> Well, uh this uh doesn't do that and uh it is uh first of all a duplication of what is already in existence. Canada has uh an infrastructure bank which has a $45 billion uh you know kind of a asset and uh we also have the things like the strategic innovation fund and uh venture and growth capital fund. So in some sense this is a duplication and it's it's it's really making this more of a government intrusion.

[00:21:41]uh and moreover it's it's supposed to be a capital wealth fund but we need to create wealth to make this realistic uh if you want to compare this and as the prime minister does to Norway I mean Norway has over $2 trillion uh uh due to oil and gas uh uh you know investment.

[00:22:03]So Canada has to really move on with wealth creation, more resource development and uh benefit for our future generation. And I think I think this is uh you know maybe Mr. Kani wants to do something but I think uh execution is again the key. Uh it's supposed to take months for the details to come out.

[00:22:29]Uh so I think uh it's just an announcement and uh without more detail and also without its links to wealth creation uh this seems to me similar to what has been announced uh previously.

[00:22:43]>> Chris last 30 seconds to you. Pier Poliov has portrayed this as a liberal slush fund. How challenged will Mark Carney be in establishing governance parameters around operational independence?

[00:22:56]I think that'll be a big issue. This uh if you're going to develop a new fund, there needs to be shown that this will start making a difference in the in the very near future. There can't be obstacles to getting projects approved.

[00:23:09]Uh the confidence in this fund is going to diminish very quickly if businesses can't access it to uh support their significant investments.

[00:23:19]>> All right, gentlemen. We'll have to leave it there. Great to see you both.

[00:23:21]Thank you kindly for this.

[00:23:24]Thank you very much, Michael.

[00:23:25]>> Very welcome, Michael. Thank you.

[00:23:37]Now, here are a few responses to a recent story posted by CTV News, and we are gauging your thoughts about Canada's new sovereign wealth fund intended to stimulate investment in Canada.

[00:23:49]According to Ocean, finally, it was about time. Jeff says it's needed because private investors have fled Canada. Petey wonders, "I thought all these countries and companies are begging to invest in Canada. Now we have to borrow money and invest in ourselves." Skeptical chimes in, "Imagine if we had a country that created wealth from its abundant natural resources, then invested that wealth in renewable technologies." And Daniel asks, "If companies or citizens have cash to invest, why not? There's riskier things out there. Have your say. Email us anytime at commentsalbertaraprime.com.

[00:24:27]Coming up tomorrow, the Smith government is set to begin testing of the 120 kilometer an hour speed limit on a stretch of Highway 2 south of Edmonton and we will pick up the discussion on Wednesday. Until then, have a great evening everyone. From all of us at Alberta Prime Time, thank you for watching and join us again next time.

[00:24:48]Heat up here.