AdvertisementAdvertisementOil pumpjacks operating in a farmer’s field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on Nov 26, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Todd Korol)23 May 2026 07:50AM Bookmark Bookmark WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedInAdd CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.Read a summary of this article on FAST.Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday (May 22) that Alberta was "essential" to the country's future, hours after the province's leader moved the oil-rich region closer toward a referendum on independence.Separatists in the western province spent months collecting signatures seeking to trigger a binding October vote on seceding from the nation.On May 4, they delivered their petition to provincial officials, insisting they had collected more than enough names to force a vote under Alberta law.But an Alberta judge shut down the process, saying the citizens' initiative was invalid because the separatists had failed to consult with Indigenous groups whose rights could be threatened if the province separated from Canada.Show MoreShow LessIn an address late Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called the judge's decision "erroneous" and said she would go ahead with a referendum, structuring the question so that it does not violate the ruling.In October, she plans to ask Albertans if they want her government "to commence the legal process necessary to hold a binding referendum" on independence."It's time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject and move on," said Smith, a conservative whose political coalition includes separatists.Carney, who spent most of his childhood in Alberta, responded on Friday in a taped video address from Parliament Hill."Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better," he said. "We're working with Alberta on making it better."Alberta "is essential" to Canada's future, the prime minister added.CNA Explains: What's behind the separatist push in Canada’s Alberta - and why Trump is paying attention"SACRED AGREEMENTS"The Indigenous groups who blocked the citizens initiative in court condemned Smith on Friday, insisting the treaties they signed with the British crown before Canada's independence cannot be cast aside through "unilateral action by Alberta."The deal ensuring their land rights "was entered into with the Crown long before Alberta became a province," Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi of the Treaty 8 First Nations said in a statement."These sacred agreements cannot simply be ignored or politically worked around," he added, urging Smith to pause her plan to put an independence question to the public in October.Polls show that roughly 30 per cent of Alberta's five million people support independence, a record-high figure.The separatist camp accuses Ottawa of stifling Alberta's oil industry with excessive federal influence, while blocking investment over what they view as unreasonable concern about the environment.Carney and Smith are working together on advancing a new oil pipeline, something resisted by Carney's predecessor Justin Trudeau.Smith has voiced hope that increased federal support for the oil industry could help tame separatist anger.Source: AFP/gsSign up for our newslettersGet our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inboxSubscribe hereGet the CNA appStay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best storiesDownload hereGet WhatsApp alertsJoin our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat appJoin hereAlso worth readingContent is loading...Expand to read the full storyGet bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST