Canada ‘stronger together’ than apart, Carney says in Thanksgiving message ahead of Alberta visit

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are set to travel this week to address some of the weightiest and most consequential issues facing the country.

Carney, who appealed directly in his Thanksgiving message Monday to Albertans, will visit the western province this week ahead of the Oct. 19 referendum question on separation.

Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, is also expected in Alberta this week, after first visiting Detroit on Tuesday to meet with business leaders and media outlets to push for the removal of cross-border tariffs and champion the Conservatives’ proposed tariff-free auto pact.

“Canada is facing real threats to our economy, to our security, to our way of life. We have to be strong, and we are stronger together,”Carney said in a short video message released on YouTube on Monday.

“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,” the prime minister said as he sat in a classroom at his old Edmonton high school, St. Francis Xavier High School.

Carney, who was born in Fort Smith, N.W.T., but raised in Alberta, said he’s “back home a lot these days” because his government is building “big things” in Alberta, including a new pipeline to the West Coast.

But Canada can’t build big things “on fault lines” while the country is already facing serious threats to its economy, security and way of life, he said.

“Generations of Albertans helped build this country. It’s yours, it’s ours and it’s worth fighting for.”

On Oct. 19, Albertans will be asked whether they wish to remain in Canada or begin a legal process to hold a binding referendum on leaving. More than 300 advance polls opened across the province on Tuesday.

The prime minister is scheduled to attend a rally hosted by the pro-Canada group, Forever Canadian, at the Edmonton Expo Centre on Friday.

That same day, Poilievre, who is also appealing to Albertans to vote to stay, is scheduled to speak in Calgary.

Poilievre, who seemed poised to lead the government before U.S. President Donald Trump’s belligerent threats to make Canada the 51st state, will visit Detroit Tuesday to pitch a proposed plan unveiled earlier this year that the party says would restore the nation’s auto production to two million cars per year over the next decade. Canada built 2.3 million vehicles in 2016. That fell by nearly half, to 1.2 million, last year.

Under the Conservatives’ proposed auto trade deal, “for every car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would get to sell a car in Canada, duty-free, from a CUSMA partner, on a dollar-for-dollar basis,” similar to the old 1965 trade agreement.

It also calls for ending Liberal electric vehicle subsidies.

“My message to Americans is simple: these tariffs drive up costs and put jobs at risk in both our countries,” Poilievre said in a statement Monday.

“For decades, free trade has helped our workers build things together, sell to each other and bring home bigger paycheques,” the Conservative leader said.

“Let’s get tariffs out of the way so workers and businesses on both sides of the border can get ahead.”

According to the latest poll by Leger, backing for a united Canada is holding, and growing: 70 per cent of Alberta residents said the province should remain in Canada, up five points from 65 per cent in August.

In her Saturday call-in radio show, Premier Danielle Smith said outsiders like billionaire Elon Musk suggesting that the province should separate from Canada are out of touch.

Musk last week responded to a post from prediction market platform Polymarket on his social media platform X regarding the possibility of Quebec separating from Canada after it elected the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois to a minority government.

“They would be better off,” Musk wrote of Quebec leaving Canada, adding, “Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.”

On her radio show, Smith responded to a text message suggesting she should heed Musk’s advice. “I don’t know that outsiders commenting on this have really been all that helpful with the debate,” she said.

“I hear more backlash when Americans weigh in on our debate here. I think this is for Albertans to decide. They’ll get a chance on Oct. 19.”

National Post, with a file from Matthew Black, Postmedia News

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