Carney to Alberta in Thanksgiving message: Please don’t go

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OTTAWA — Be thankful for a united Canada.

That was Prime Minister Mark Carney’s message in a video-recorded Thanksgiving greeting released Monday morning on social media — using the upcoming Alberta independence referendum as the video’s primary message.

“This year, Thanksgiving is a bit different,” Carney said in the 1-minute, 55-second video.

“A week from today, Albertans will have the opportunity to make an important decision about their future: whether to remain part of Canada, or begin a long and uncertain process through which Alberta could separate from Canada.”

Indeed, Albertans are heading to the ballot boxes on Oct. 19 to take part in a province-wide, 10-question referendum asking if Alberta should remain a Canadian province, or commence the legal process under the Constitution to hold a binding separation referendum on independence.

In addition to independence, the referendum will also deal with issues concerning provincial sovereignty — including limiting temporary residents’ access to social services and healthcare, election security and judicial appointments.

That said, independence will be an uphill battle for those pushing for a separate Alberta.

Recent polling by Leger suggests 70% of Albertans support staying in Canada — a number that’s grown over the past months.

PM puts on the hard sell

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, appears to have shot the video in a classroom at his alma mater, St. Francis Xavier High School in West Edmonton.

The PM visited his old high school during a visit to the city earlier this month.

“I’m back home a lot these days, because we are building big things again in Alberta: thousands of new homes, high-speed rail, a new pipeline to the West Coast that will create lasting opportunity and prosperity for hundreds of thousands of people in this province and across the country,” he said, conspicuously framed by Canadian and Alberta flags on one side, and a large map of the world on the other.

Carney ended the video with warnings that the world of today isn’t the same one we knew just a few years ago.

“We should recognize that the world has changed — Canada’s facing real threats to our economy, to our security, to our way of life,” he said.

“We have to be strong, and we are stronger together. Generations of Albertans helped build this country. It’s yours, it’s ours, and it’s worth fighting for.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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