@coolxenu.bsky.social:
Canada’s MAGA hopefuls are showing themselves to be disgusting racists.
It’s been well known, for a long time, that rural Alberta is a cesspool of ignorance & racism.
It sure as hell is, I’ve lived in it for decades
The #UCP and #StephenHarper’s #ConservativePartyOfCanada want to bring this to the rest of Canada.And, Mark Carney. I believe he’s coaching Smith so as to destroy Canada quicker while she is named the bad guy, he sleazily pretends he’s innocent.
@squee22.bsky.social:
Thankfully the referendum can’t actually do anything except destroy confidence in Alberta’s economy, and make us a national embarrassment, because the questions are all unconstitutional, and the courts are looking into restricting the abuse of the notwithstanding clause… so… ya…
@Jaredwesley.ca:
Remember: just like the referendum questions on immigration, the UCP’s anti-Indigenous rhetoric is calculated to divide and distract through rage baiting.
Don’t bite. Call it out, but stay focused on what they don’t want the public to notice.
And check-in on your neighbours who are being targeted.
If anyone is wondering how Premier Smith’s remarks and Bruce McAllister tirade are affecting UCP supporters, it’s not a pretty sight in their social media circles.
They have opened up a can of anti-Indigenous sentiment that is flowing freely on X and Facebook.
@yeggirlab.bsky.social:
Thanks for speaking out. I’m so sick of this horseshit. Smith is despicable. Not sure how she can look herself in the mirror or sleep. Maybe she’s not, because she looks and sounds like shit
@trueoak.bsky.social:
This is a problem when people live in a world of us and them instead of a world of all of us. The UCP has shrunk their “us” to a small portion of Albertans and upped the rhetoric on their “others” and have just magnified division & hate.
Government should at least attempt to govern for all of us.I’ve lived in Alberta (now to my great regret) for over four decades. There’s never been a govt, not even Notley’s NDP, that governed for all of us. It governs for American rich oil and gas interests, and the most hatefilled rural Albertans (because gov’ts know rural Albertans control the vote). Under Smith, it’s the same, but much louder, more crass, more hatefilled, much more Nazi and much more stupid (the more stupid the easier to feed hate and division).
@betterpensionsbc.bsky.social:
And like Brexit, a referendum in Alberta seems particularly ripe for Russian meddling to undermine Canada. Especially with so many credulous conservatives already lapping up disinfo. Fascist Russia is already at war with Western democracies and this is a golden opportunity from Putin’s point of view.
@edsjoh.bsky.social:
Would not be surprised in the least if [Danielle Smith’s] accepting Russian money.
@edsjoh.bsky.social:
Same with pp.
@squee22.bsky.social:
I’ve seen more than a few people from “moscow university” commenting on her linkedin posts. The russians love her – of course.
@savingdemocracy101.bsky.social:
So does the mango mobster. She’s a useful idiot. Always willing and eager to undermine the rest of Canada at every opportunity.
@bcreality.bsky.social:
Brexit was engineered by Bannon using Cambridge Analytics. No different than Alberta.
Steve Bannon is the guy to watch.
@nigelb.bsky.social:
Let’s be clear, residents of AB are not a “people” w/in the meaning of int’l law; we are just an agglomeration of individuals with different cultural & linguistic backgrounds.
“Albertans” have no “right to self determination.”
By contrast Indigenous Nations in Alberta are peoples w a right to SD.
@allij.bsky.social:
Why is the Forever Canadian question not going to be the one on the referendum? Other than Smith’s personal preference dictating that it will be the separatist’s question. Now that we know there will be a vote this fall, the FC one needs to be there.
@dachibi.bsky.social:
The only group that can view immigrants as an issue are the First Nations, and frankly that’s not part of their culture (AFAIK).
I’ll never understand the hatred towards immigrants. It goes against all sense of community, hospitality, and even pride.
One should feel proud to help their neighbors.
@calgarycanuck.bsky.social:
The CTV Calgary straw poll shows an overwhelming 88% against the government wasting 30 million on the referendums and that doesn’t include the millions they’ll spend on the summer propaganda tour. Rarely are results so one sided.
@steve1970peng.bsky.social:
She is making Alberta Ungovernable!
You have to ask: for whose benefit ?
northofthe49th.bsky.social:
Immigration policy should not be based on citizen votes; it should be based on facts – population needs to maintain consumer demand, skills shortages, costs to support, housing supply, etc.
A referendum is simply a measure of the amount of racism in Alberta.
@bornat3b.bsky.social:
Exactly.
This is hate-mongering.
“You’re not fighting conservatives. You’re fighting fascists. Danielle Smith is a fascist loyal to Trump and the Americans. get it right.”Mark Carney is the same, in my view, he’s a nastier traitor to Canada than Smith it, both serve Pedo Protecting Nazi USA.
@cooperlk99.bsky.social:
And for the enlightenment of the Christo-fascists, it’s also very un-Christian
@allij.bsky.social:
Poorly functioning governments — and people — need scapegoats. Immigrants are convenient for that.
@darrenstrath.bsky.social:
To get her hands on the signatures? Make a list?
Alberta announces date of referendum; proposed questions include changes to Canada’s Constitution by Leanne Sanders, Feb 19, 2026, ATPN
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says voters will get their say in a provincial referendum on Oct. 19 on several proposals that could have major implications for Alberta’s relationship with the federal government.
In a televised address on Thursday evening, Smith proposes several questions be put to a referendum as it grapples with low oil prices in preparing its next budget. The proposed referendum questions do not yet include one on separation, but that could change.
“On October 19, 2026, we will hold a provincial referendum primarily focused on how Albertans want our government to deal with the issue of immigration, as well as steps we can take as a province to strengthen our constitutional and fiscal position within a united Canada,” Smith says.
“These were far and away the issues most strongly identified by Albertans during last year’s Alberta Next panel town halls and online submissions, and in my view, it is time to act on them.”
The townhalls also brought out those in favour of separation, but so far none of the citizen led initiatives on separation have garnered the required 177,000 signatures required to force the province to add them to the referendum.
However, a petition led by former politician Thomas Lukaszuk on a question to keep Alberta in Canada garnered more than 404,000 signatures, well over the 293,976 signatures required to have the question be put on the ballot. Elections Alberta certified the petition on Dec. 1, 2025.
According to a new Angus Reid poll “determined and decided opposition to separation vastly outpaces this sentiment on the other side,” according to the pollster’s website.
Fewer than three-in-10 (29 per cent) of Albertans say they would vote for their province to leave Canada if there were a referendum now. On the other side, two-thirds (65 per cent) say they would vote to stay, and the larger proportion of that group are solidified in their vote (57 per cent definitely vote to stay), it says.
One referendum question Smith wants put to voters is whether they want to strengthen provincial rights by giving Alberta’s laws priority over conflicting federal laws when dealing with shared constitutional areas of jurisdiction.
“I look forward to the debate on these critically important ideas, and to receiving your decision on the questions outlined so our government can get to work on implementing an immigration policy that puts the needs of Albertans first, as well as constitutional reforms needed to make Alberta stronger and more sovereign within a united Canadacontradictory slogan Smith and her anti Canada KKKlan stole from a Quebec comedian; it works because so many of her base are stupid,” Smith says.
But, she could face an uphill battle with Alberta First Nations on any constitutional changes.
The Confederacy of Treaty No. 6 First Nations remains strongly opposed to Alberta separation, arguing it is unconstitutional and violates Treaties made directly with the Crown. A December 2025 court decision affirmed that any separation referendum would breach Section 35 of the Constitution.
“This successful intervention in the courts by Treaty No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 First Nations is a victory for Treaty Rights and the inherent rights of all First Nations,” the Confederacy said.
Another proposed question from the Alberta premier is whether voters support the ability to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction, including health, education and social services. But Smith wants associated federal funding maintained, allowing provinces to use the funds for their own programs.Ya, to evilly steal from the “public” funding to further destroy public education, public health and social services, and put the “public’s” money into private pockets of the rich providing private services for only the rich. Fucking disgusting, but Smith and her base are disgusting, so it’s fitting they do disgusting things. Mark Carney is the same, and by stealing some of the worst Pee Pee cons, he’s quickly turned his majority and the liberals into hideously cruel corrupt serve only the rich Harper cons.
Smith is also proposing questions on abolishing the federal senate and allowing provinces to select justices appointed to King’s Bench and Appeal courts.Nazi Smith wants to be Q-Anon queen of the stupid and hateful religious terrorist Albertans.
Smith attributes Alberta’s budget challenges to two main factors, falling oil prices and federal immigration policies.JFC. She never fucking admits her own fuckups and endless big mistakes, just like her frothing-at-the-mouth, ugly wannabe-kid-rapist-Trump separatists never do either. Smith begged for more immigrants, and got them, for the rich to make more profits off of. But, now her base hates immigrants, even though they are all immigrants or products of immigrants, so Smith has to hate immigrants too, and abuse them, to keep her evil ass in power and to farm hate and rage among her greedy selfish hateful anti Christian “christian” base, to divide and destroy Canada. Just continuing the stupidity and Nazi rage of the Fucker Truckers, controlled and financed by Putin and USA dark money.
“In the year I became premier, the price of oil averaged $90 a barrel U-S. These strong oil prices saw our budget enjoy royalty revenues of over $25 billion dollars and a surplus of around $11.6 billion dollars which we used to build up the Heritage Fund and pay down provincial debt,” Smith says, noting the picture hasn’t been as rosy in the last few years.Ya, because of your stupid corrupt thieving serve the rich governing. Idiot.
“Since that time, however, the price of oil has fallen by over $30 dollars a barrel to around $60. Each one dollar drop in the price of oil means roughly $750 million dollars less in oil royalties for the province. The result – what had been an $11.6 billion surplus in 2023 at $90 oil, has turned into a large budget deficit at $60 oil,” she adds, noting that it’s not the first crash in oil prices the province has faced or the last.
Smith also used her televised address to criticize former prime minister Justin Trudeau for his “open border immigration policies,” which she claims have led to unsustainable population growth in Alberta, straining health care, education, and social services. Which Smith fucking begged for. Ghastly, pathetic liar and hate farmer, always pointing at Trudeau for her own slop production to feed the greed and rage in her stupid MAGAt base.
“In just the last five years of Trudeau’s tenure, Alberta grew by almost 600,000 people to more than five million, all while Ottawa throttled our most important job creating industries and prioritized immigration away from economic migrants and instead focused on international students, temporary workers and asylum seekers,” Smith says.Lie after lie after lie. Smith and her UCP are to blame, not the feds. Trudeau gave and gave and fucking gave to the fucking American polluting abusive law violating tarshit companies and to frac’ers also, it’s never enough. Now she’s fucking bending over her American dildo loaded ass to force Canadians to pay for yet another fucking bitumen pipeline, so that she can fuck First Nations and their lands and rights, and wipe out endless listed species. Queen of Stupidity and Vulgarity.
To combat those budgetary pressures, Smith says her government will continue with its long-term strategy of investing to build up the Alberta Heritage fund. Key to doing that, she says, is implementing an energy agreement.She just doing that to later rape the Heritage Fund empty to give to Harper’s AIMCo to give to American frac’ers and AI and the new pipeline losing their shirts and shit in Alberta.
Canada and Alberta signed a memorandum of understanding on getting oil to markets on Nov. 27. The MOU could pave the way for construction of a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast. Smith wants to build pipeline capacity to the west coast by 1.3 million barrels per day.
“Alberta will double our pipeline capacity over the next 10 years, and our oil producers will grow and fill that pipe,” Smith says. “We will not permit Alberta’s and Canada’s most valuable resource deposit, worth almost $10 trillion, to remain in the ground to the detriment of millions of Canadians. That’s not going to happen.”Gaia may give you no fucking choice Ms. Evil Queen of Death and Destruction. Climate chaos is not stopping just because of Trump’s raping greed, or Smith’s. No company wants to pay for that 2nd bitumen pipeline, just like no company wanted to pay for the first one, because companies know Canada’s tarshit is filthy polluting cancer causing debilitating slop, like AI, and because they know there is no profit to be made in those pipelines. There isn’t even product to put into it. Stupid stupid stupid.
The MOU was met with strong opposition from coastal First Nations communities who say no pipeline will be allowed through their territories. They were also critical of the lack of consultation from the government before the MOU was signed.
Smith’s government is also proposing several changes that would impact immigration. Referendum questions will ask voters if they support a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and those with approved immigration status be eligible for provincially funded programs including health, education and social services.Not only is the Vulgar Queen of Stupid full of hate, she’s a sadist serving the worst people in Alberta, the wanna be American sadistic separatists.
She also wants voters to consider a question on the government charging a “reasonable fee or premium” to people with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta
In concluding her address, Smith says she’s confident in the judgement of Albertans.
“Although there are some politicians and commentators that fear direct democracy, such as referendums, I do not. I trust the judgment of Albertans,” Smith says.Liar. You trust in Elon Musk and AI and Russia interfering in the referendum, to give you and your hatefilled base the results you want. No matter what happens, I will never trust the results of your hideous referendum.
***
@amirattaran.bsky.social:
Alberta is the teenager of Canada.
Always complaining, always blaming others, never taking responsibility.
Smith succeeds because she’s a whiner. Prentice failed because he said to look in the mirror. It’s a culture of crybabies.
Is it just me, or is the makeup heavier and she’s going for a Kristi Noem look?Yup. And, to me, she looks fake like Stephen J. Harper (who just so happens to be in the Epstein files)
@amirattaran.bsky.social:
Anti-immigrant, anti-Canadian, MAGA-faced bitch. No more need be said.with a smug ass for a face.
@dnadoc12.bsky.social:
I think she may have had some work done on her eyelids and maybe some botox. And she has changed up her makeup and lightened her hair. And there are camera filters being used.
@academicautistic.bsky.social:
Heavy use of filters as well
@pstabs.ca:
She’s a traitor
@emmettmacfarlane.com:
Writing a quick post on Danielle Smith’s nightmarishly evil constitutional agenda. Up soon.
Anyway, if the poison continues to spread, and Canada is indeed about 5 years behind the US on the ’embrace far right anti-liberal democracy lunacy’, we can rely on the Canadian fourth estate to do just as good a job as America’s: by gaslighting us into thinking everything is normal.
@journodale.bsky.social:
Exactly right. That speech was a declaration of war on federalism.
@mconcagh.bsky.social:
Chantal Herbert was calling one of the referendum questions a modern day head tax the other day and I wish more commentators would be that straightforward
@qu1nton.bsky.social:
they are painting a picture for us, and these questions attempt to turn it into a paint by numbers. We don’t have to stay inside the lines. I am voting to stay in Canada.
@ydsink.bsky.social:
It appears PMMC”s MOU wasn’t enough…she wants more control…the authoritarian playbook…its never enough..your move PMMCIt’s clear to me that Nazi Carney is helping Smith eat the charter, and destroy Canada to please Nazi USA and make his rich pals much richer while stealing from the environment, our public health, the future, and the rest of us to do so.
@locutusof.bsky.social:
Just read @emmettmacfarlane.com newest email. Very good, clear piece on Smith and Alberta.
“Because as with all far-right populists, Smith’s agenda is as much about sowing division and hate, and about her own inept failures and lack of vision, as it is about serious constitutional reform.”
Rarely have I seen a writer articulate my feelings about Canadian federalism as @emmettmacfarlane.com does.
“This country is already the most decentralized federation…” Not enough for craven xenophobic opportunists like Danielle Smith. She doesn’t want to separate from Canada: She seeks to kill it.
@mynamesnotgordy.bsky.social:
We have tried absolutely nothing and it hasn’t worked so now the only obvious solution here is to blame others from other places.
@journodale.bsky.social:
As expected, #PnPCBC invites Danielle Smith on and she lies about absolutely everything, and frankly the guest host, who has certain strengths, doesn’t have the ability to call bullshit on any of what she’s laying out.
@mcfarl.bsky.social:
Aside from the racism, and the hint of fascism, all of her proposals require either cooperation with the feds or cooperation with the majority of provinces.
Honestly I wish she would just put the separation question in as well, but she won’t bc she will lose and then won’t be able to make threats.
@mlm7.bsky.social:
There’s a lot to unpack in those questions. They say more about her and her group than it does about Albertans. So now we who know what she’s really up to have to fight another ridiculous fight. To me this is her version of project 2025.
@rogeralien.bsky.social:
There is no end goal – it’s designed for perpetual outrage, and division which she’s banking on giving her many more years in power.
@kiddingo2.bsky.social:
It’s not about the results. It’s about the irreparable damage they do in the lead up to the referendum.
@jaredwesley.ca:
None of Smith’s referendum questions are likely to result in actual policy change.
Because they require constitutional amendments (federal veto) or are plainly unconstitutional.
Assuming “yes” votes carry, what then?
Kenney’s equalization referendum didn’t soothe separatists. It emboldened themIntentional. Best way to turn people Nazi is to rage and hate farm them (which is what the Fucker Truckers were paid to to), and make them think they are missing out on something (like immigrants taking their cookies away when in reality, it’s ALWAYS the rich taking our cookies away)
@philipaubin.bsky.social:
Danielle Smith, the alleged corrupt Premiere of Alberta, us proposing referendum questions which are vague, racist, divisive, misleading, & in many cases clearly unconstitutional.
Some of the questions sould like they were written by the evil MAGAt undead Sith Lord, Steven Miller.Or Heritage Fdn Fucker, Kevin Roberts, creator of Nazi USA’s kid raping Project 2025.
@lukaszukab.bsky.social:
Immigrants are not Alberta’s problem. They’re here legally. They’re the ones serving you coffee at Timmies.
Populist governments need a scapegoat, an “out-group”.
For Hitler it was Jews, for Trump it’s Latinos.
It’s an un-Canadian and deplorable political strategy.
@bisseemom.bsky.social:
So many in the “caring” professions will be impacted. I could feel my blood pressure rise as she read each referendum question. Such racist bullshit.
@theecologyprof.bsky.social:
“She is the most dangerous politician in Canada, launching an agenda not only of fear and greed, but one that seeks to undermine the country“
“It is worse than a secessionist agenda, it is an agenda to make Canada a dysfunctional confederacy of selfish, inward-looking, disaggregated provinces”
duanebratt.bsky.social:
There is so much to unpack from Smith’s TV address. It was a firehose of information. But one thing I need to emphasize. A referendum question to introduce an Alberta head tax on immigration!
One of the worst episodes of Canada’s past was the Chinese Head Tax. Something that the Harper government eventually apologized for and provide compensation. And she wants to bring it back!
In case you think I am exaggerating, this is the question I am referring to.
lots2say21.bsky.social:
Is she really saying new immigrants have to pay to go to school?
@idontwanttogotousa.bsky.social:
This merry-go-round, I want the fuck off right now.I’ve wanted off the hideous kid-raping human merry-go-round my entire life
@mendelmatt.bsky.social:
We need to internalize that the main conflict in Europe and North America is between a global authoritarian movement opposed to pluralism and the rule of law, and those of us committed to democracy and human rights.
And the former controls the information/disinformation ecosystem.
@paulisci.bsky.social:
We don’t have any money and we don’t have any migration. I have the perfect idea — let’s spend millions on a referendum.
@carrietait.bsky.social:
Net migration in Alberta. Up, up, up, down, down, down.
Net international migration to Alberta totalled 197 in Q3 2025, down 99% from 32,046 in the same quarter a year prior.
@dontberuthless.bsky.social:
The green line is going to keep going down as Canadians flee.
@lucasalami.bsky.social:
Alberta government since 2019: “move to Alberta please, we’ll cut you a cheque”
Alberta Government since the nazis down south took office: “not sure who invited all these immigrants.”
@alantperry.bsky.social:
I’m old enough to remember the Alberta government advertising in the Toronto subway to attract migrants.
Was it 2022? 2023?
@bcreality.bsky.social:
Danielle Smith less than two years ago
Alberta Urges Canadian Federal Government to Double Its Immigration Allotment For 2024 by Colin R. Singer, April 2, 2024, immigration.ca
Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has said that federal immigration levels are too low and are affecting her province’s ability to create jobs, grow the economy, and provide aid for those fleeing the violence in Ukraine.
She has urged Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to double Alberta’s 2024 PNP allotment of 9,750 to 20,000 and add on top of that 10,000 for Ukraine evacuees.
“We want to offer long-term stability as well as certainty to all newcomers who have chosen to settle in Alberta,” Smith told reporters in Edmonton while releasing her letter to Trudeau.
“Ottawa is preventing us from being able to do that.
“We’re concerned that this is one more example of the federal government interfering in our provincial jurisdiction.”
“With so many Ukrainian refugees arriving right at a time when we have a labour shortage, [to have] Ottawa limiting our ability to offer permanent residency doesn’t make much sense.”
“Alberta’s stability and economic opportunity offer much needed sanctuary from the chaos and danger in Ukraine. And the promise of a better life here among friendly Albertans is the best gift we can offer them during this unimaginable time,” she further added, as per CBC’s reports.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Smith reported that 57,000 Ukrainians fled to Alberta. Of them – and of those who will come in the future – 90 per cent will seek permanent residency in Alberta.
With this figure in mind, the limit put by Ottawa is being questioned by Alberta, as 12 per cent of Canada’s population is held by it but it leads the country in net employment growth.
“The decision on Alberta’s 2024 allocations represents a reversal of previous commitments by the federal government, and negatively impacts Alberta’s ability to grow and diversify its economy.”
Smith’s attempt to extend provincial control over the immigration system is with relation to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, which allows nominees to apply for PR in the province of Alberta.
Nominees need to show that they have the requisite skills to fill job shortages or have the skills needed to buy or start an Alberta business.
The program is run by the provincial and federal governments, and Ottawa holds final say over PR applications.
“Even though we are only 12 per cent of the population, we’re getting 23 per cent of the Ukrainian evacuees who are seeking refuge in our country — that’s the reason why we want to have a special program that allows for us to settle them,” Smith said.
“We have welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainian evacuees seeking refuge in our province, under the Canada Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel Visa program.”
CUAET is a temporary travel visa that allows Ukrainians and their families to travel, study, and work in Canada for up to three years, or until it is safe for them to go back to Ukraine.
While applications were closed last summer, visa holders have till the end of March to come to Canada.
@mellowcanuck.bsky.social:
My apartment is full of immigrants. Who I see grinding day in day out. I hate this government.
@redliberation.bsky.social:
They take jobs no-one else will do and are extremely law-abiding because they don’t want to draw attention. Hell, one of them went out of their way to return my lost wallet just this evening.
Immigrants aren’t and never have been the problem. It’s the bastards in the oilpatch.
@eapplegate.bsky.social:
Millions will be spent on a referendum. There is money to burn? Is immigration seriously an issue in Alberta? And how will getting rid of the Senate benefit Albertans? And if oil prices are so low why the pressure to build another pipeline? Just trying to make sense of all this…..
locutusof.bsky.social:
Just read @emmettmacfarlane.com newest email. Very good, clear piece on Smith and Alberta.
“Because as with all far-right populists, Smith’s agenda is as much about sowing division and hate, and about her own inept failures and lack of vision, as it is about serious constitutional reform.”
Danielle Smith is no separatist; she’s much, much worse by Emmett Macfarlane, Feb 20, 2026, Defending Canadian Democracy
In a televised address last night Danielle Smith launched a xenophobic assault on immigration and proposed a set of referendum questions for next Fall advocating a constitutional agenda that would reduce Canada to a rump of pathetic, disaggregated fiefdoms. Smith seeks to initiate a Maple MAGA revolution. It’s a vision that would see her take control of the courts, punish the most vulnerable members of our society, undermine the rule of law, and destroy Canadian federalism.
As the CBC reports, among Smith’s immigration proposals are:
- Alberta taking more control over immigration, giving preference to economic migrants and giving Albertans “first priority to new employment opportunities.”
- Granting eligibility for provincially funded programs in health, education and social services only to citizens, permanent residents and people with “an Alberta-approved immigration status.”
- Setting up a one-year residency requirement before anyone who isn’t a citizen or permanent resident can qualify for provincial social support programs.
- Charging people with non-permanent immigrant status a fee or premium to access health care and education.
Smith’s vision is one that would create a nightmarish, dystopian underclass. It is a cruel, inherently racist agenda, straight from the far-right populist playbook we have seen play out in the United States and other western countries. It is anti-Canadian.
(It is also worth pointing out the political opportunism at play. As recently as 2024, Smith was complaining to the federal government that Alberta wasn’t receiving enough immigrants – h/t Dale Smith (pdf)).
As for the set of constitutional questions Smith will advance, the CBC lists them as follows: “Those proposed amendments include allowing provinces to choose justices for their superior courts; abolishing the Senate; permitting provinces to drop out of federal programs dealing with health, education and social services while still receiving federal funding; and giving provincial laws priority over conflicting federal legislation in areas of provincial or shared constitutional authority.”
Smith’s desire for control over judicial appointments stems from her desire to assert control over the courts, who render decisions upholding the Charter of Rights that she dislikes. Smith has made it abundantly clear that she cannot be trusted to uphold the rule of law – from the ‘Alberta Sovereignty Act’ to her disreputable threats against courts to her government’s rampaging attack on the rights of trans people – there is no reason to believe that giving her power over judicial appointments would not lead to an attempt to overtly politicize the judiciary, and lead to appointments that would undermine the law, and the rule of law. This is precisely what the Republicans have done to the Supreme Court of the United States, which is now a rotting, corrupt husk of a court that has actively aided and abetted the collapse of democracy in that country.
Her desire to flip what is known as the paramountcy doctrine (“giving provincial laws priority over conflicting federal legislation”), coupled with seeking provincial powers over judicial appointments, is also a nefarious attack on Canadian federalism. This country is already the most decentralized federation in the world. One of the things that keeps it together is the idea that everyone across the country enjoys the same set of rights, the same legal protections, the same social safety net, and that there is, fundamentally, a desire to work together to pursue a thriving and secure future.
Smith represents the antithesis of this vision. It is worse than a secessionist agenda, it is an agenda to make Canada a dysfunctional confederacy of selfish, inward-looking, disaggregated provinces. Her attack on the federal equalization program only further illustrates the point. She frames the program as one where “Alberta taxpayers can no longer be asked to continue to subsidize the entire country through equalization.” “Alberta’s” taxpayers are like every other taxpayers in the country: they pay provincial taxes, and they pay federal taxes. Within Alberta, the provincial government redistributes that money, literally “subsidizing” rural areas, people who need healthcare, etc. The money we all pay into the federal level does the same thing. When the feds make transfers back to provinces, we lift up (equalize) areas of the country to ensure all Canadians share a roughly minimal quality of social services and programs. It’s called being a country. This sort of redistribution is what every functional country does, whether they are a federation or a unitary state.
Once you understand how equalization actually works, it unmasks the core of Smith’s complaints about it: “Alberta’s taxpayers” pay more into federal coffers than they receive solely as a function of having higher incomes. It’s a nakedly greedy notion that because Alberta benefits from sitting on vast oil reserves the federal government shouldn’t use its own tax base to support other parts of the country.
If Smith and other anti-equalization zealots don’t want to be part of a functioning country, they should just admit it. But among the long list of referendum questions she’s planning to pose to Albertans next October, separation isn’t one of them. Instead, we get an ugly set of destructive proposals by a far-right MAGA-hat.
Smith’s address last night is worse than advocacy for separatism. It’s an agenda to destroy Canadian federalism from within. To rely on stoking fear and xenophobia, to attack society’s most vulnerable, to dismantle the grand bargains that make Canada the best country in the world.
It remains important to note that most of the things on Danielle Smith’s referendum question wish list are simply not going to happen. Many require constitutional amendments that no sane federal leader would agree to, and that hopefully most other provinces would also reject. But that’s not really the point. Because as with all far-right populists, Smith’s agenda is as much about sowing division and hate, and about her own inept failures and lack of vision, as it is about serious constitutional reform.
We like to denigrate comparisons to Trump as lazy because Trump is distinct in so many ways. He tells more lies than any other politician. He actively and nakedly seeks unlawful self-enrichment. He is on multiple counts a criminal. He is monumentally stupid. In short, any other politician will always have attributes that distinguishes them from Trump. Smith is no criminal. She’s not stupid. But once we see that Trump is as much a symptom as he is the cause of America’s anti-democratic rot, we should recognize the same holds for people like Danielle Smith. She is the most dangerous politician in Canada, launching an agenda not only of fear and greed, but one that seeks to undermine the country, its federal structure, and its spirit of tolerance and compassion. It is nothing short of evil, and it must be fought on all fronts.
Valerie Jobson:
She has not been convicted of a crime that I know of, but it seems possible the corruptcare scandal could eventually lead to criminal charges against her, some Ministers and some of her staff. That’s about healthcare contracts to private providers which allegedly did not follow the rules. The point here being that like Trump she might use what power she has to avoid going to jail.
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Ms. Smith conveniently forgets that is was the financial leadership of the Cdn. government provided that started and continues to sustain the oil industry in Alberta. In today’s dollars, an estimated 70.6 billion has been spent from early geological surveying to bail outs to purchasing the Trans Mountain Pipeline and much more. When we all share, we all win.
Alison Hall:
Thank you for explaining equalization payments. What she wants is to keep the rich rich. The whole problem is what AOC said in Munich – if we don’t tax the rich their fair share, the gap widens, and companies become so powerful they start calling the shots. As for healthcare? How’s that court case coming along? Alberta is responsible for its own healthcare, yet corrupted it with lack of funding and introducing privateers, and still want federal funding for it? Pffft. She needs to go!
Bill E. Featherstone, M.A.:
Albertans need to come to their senses and be done with her!Rural Albertans are heavily religiously propagandized and they control the vote with Smith also gerrymandering to set that in concrete. She’ll get a bigger majority next election and Smith fucking knows it.
Ken Fisher:
You nailed this assault on our country. “Smith’s vision is one that would create a nightmarish, dystopian underclass.”
Jeremy:
She’s a zealot and ideologue. As unfit a person to be premier of a Canadian province as there’s ever been
Jane Flemming:
There is a playbook here. Undermine faith in institutions, then take control of those institutions and weaken them further, further undermining public trust, and it’s all in the service of rich backers. Thanks for calling it out.
Canadian Returnee:
She is a wannabe-American drunk on powerAnd, she knows she’ll win again and again because of the many empty brained but hatefilled MAGAts in rural Alberta
Terry:
Us Albertans have become so high and mighty and great at looking down our nose at others because of our one resource and Smith has been able to exploit that arrogance and implement her heritage foundation plan for a two class state. Alberta will become that 2 class province, the rich and the low wage, heavily exploited underclass.
Glen Brown:
You nailed it. Bravo!
Anne Trudell:
It seems to me that Smith is bloviating from a years-past world view: before 2025, Venezula had low oil production and Alberta could glory in being a good supplier of similar oil, China’s industrial boom was requiring ever more fuel, other developing countries had similar rising energy requirements, and the effects of buring fossil fuel on climate were on the lower part of the climate change curve. Now China’s industry is producing a plethora of renewable energy tech such as solar panels, big battery storage, and wind-mills and using it to de-carbonize its industry, transportation and housing. That tech is available to developing countries (and even developed countries) at ever more economical prices and whole societies are leap-frogging the “fossil fuel” phase of transportation, housing, and industrial develpment to go directly to renewable sources. The fossil fuel peak could come as soon as 2030. Resources dumped into additional fossil fuel infrastructure really looks like a fool’s spend. The federal government would be foolish to waste money on such infrastructure that only Alberta wants (and won’t pay for!!! (Those enriching themselves on the oil sands owe the rest of Canada a lot of money!))
Jane Flemming:
They have also really mismanaged the revenues from the oil. They robbed the heritage fund to keep taxes low. Alberta could have been as rich as Norway now, with money to spend on expensive infrastructure projects and the diversification of their economy for when the inevitable downturns come whether from a collapse in the price of oil or the growth of renewables. There has been gross mismanagement in Alberta, but there’s always the evil feds, especially the liberals, to blame. What mystifies me is why Albertans keep voting for this?Bible belt fairy tales controls the minds of the rural masses
Archimedes of Syracuse:
Smith is not stupid?!
Her referendum ideas certainly appear stupid. Poorly thought through. Constitutional reforms that are unlikely to happen. And, seriously, is there difference between stupidity and her acting out on her xenophobia?
Hansard Files:
I pulled up the recent StatsCan numbers on this, and the hypocrisy is staggering. Premier Smith is demanding a referendum to block newcomers, yet in 2024 she literally begged Ottawa for 30,000 more immigrants through the Provincial Nominee Program (the system provinces use to recruit specific workers). Now that her own ad campaigns worked too well, she wants to build a wall. According to the province’s own Economic Dashboard, net migration to Alberta actually plummeted by 86% in late 2025 anyway. It feels like she is fighting a ghost just to keep her base angry.which is how one turns the masses into eager Nazis
Kevan:
So we have a blatantly racist, closet separatist, anti democratic Premier who apparently has an iron grip on the gonads of here entire UCP caucus and the federal CPC Alberta caucus (including PP) as well.
When will these spineless fools we elected less than three years ago, when we thought they were people of wisdom and integrity, find their intellect and their voice to rein in Dictator Danielle?
Considering how leading, biased and self serving I continue to think her end goal is to be Alberta’s president for life as she shovels money to her friends?me too
LAS:
Smith is the ultimate Trump. Her super strong Depends order is on its way.
@micropainter.bsky.social:
Albertans: Hands up if you’d rather have an election than a racist referendum!
@maureenduffy.bsky.social:
I posted about this last night. Scapegoating immigrants is a tired old strategy. As an immigrant to Canada, I beg to differ with her, although I also note that the scapegoating always focuses on some immigrants, with a clearly racist focus. Shades of MAGA.
@tedmccoy.bsky.social:
Cowardly move by the UCP to target immigrants as the source of any problem in Alberta. I’m so sick of this shit
@nigelb.bsky.social:
So Smith claims to believe in direct democracy but only on her terms.
The rest of us have to bust our ass to even get a Q to step 1 – eg Corb proposal (which DS may still dismiss).
Meanwhile DS gets to drop a bunch of racist referendum Qs via a political announcement that we pay for.
@thatheatherc.bsky.social:
Christ on a bike. Where’s the question for October 19 that asks me whether Danielle Smith should foxtrot oscar, leave Alberta and Canada, and be exported to another universe entirely? Because frankly that’s the only one I want to spend my time answering provincially.
The Real Goal of Smith’s Referendum Blitz? Separation, The long list of questions focuses on fantasy and immigrant bashing by David Climenhaga, Feb 20, 2026, Alberta Politics
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a raft of referendum questions Thursday demanding provincial intrusion into federal jurisdiction, cutting services to new Canadians and other anti-immigrant measures, and seeking significant changes to the Canadian Constitution.
There will be five wordy policy referenda on Oct. 19 focusing on immigration and clearly designed to appeal to the United Conservative Party’s base, but worded to sound reasonable at an inattentive glance.
There will be four additional questions asking voters to approve an effort to negotiate major constitutional changes.
Needless to say, once it gets a border or two away from Wild Rose Country’s well-trained voters, all this is likely to float about as well as the proverbial lead balloon.
But if nothing changes in the way the federation is structured, that will be just fine with Smith and her political brain trust. This is because the plan described in her 13-minute televised message last night at suppertime is clearly designed to succeed at the first step, passage by a majority of however many Albertans bother to vote, and thereafter get bogged down in opposition from other provinces and the complexities of the Canadian Constitution’s amending formula. This will advance the UCP’s separatist agenda.
In the meantime, with her finger-pointing about how falling oil prices and Liberal politicians are responsible for rising costs and tighter spending in Alberta, her televised chat was also an opportunity to lower expectations for next Thursday’s provincial budget.
As retired Mount Royal University political science professor Keith Brownsey observed yesterday after the video had been aired,
“What we have here is a premier blaming immigrants for her government’s failures to maintain health care, education and other social services. What she forgot to mention is that most ‘immigrants’ to Alberta come from other parts of Canada.”I am an immigrant to Alberta. I am white, was born in Montreal to immigrants from Europe, and after I finished my M. Sc., I immigrated to Alberta because masses of Albertans were leaving in the big oil bust of 1982, walking from their huge greed induced mortgages. Smith and her racist fuckers want to take my rights and health care away and worse, by way of stupid cruel religion, take my charter right to MAID away?
“I can guarantee that there will be no constitutional changes,” Brownsey added. “She seems to be setting the province up for a vote on independence.”
Smith acknowledged that all the referenda ideas came out of her government’s directed and supporter-packed “Alberta Next” policy snake-oil road shows, but framed that as if it were a good thing.Oh FFS, I bet the Nazi kid raping Trump regime, Project 2025, and or Harper and Carney wrote them for her.
Throughout the fire-free fireside, she blamed most of the province’s problems on lower-than-expected oil prices, immigrants and Justin Trudeau, not necessarily in that order. The focus on immigration was widely expected, in part thanks to a couple of her advisors’ intemperate social media posts in the previous few hours.
Smith pointed to Trudeau Era immigration policies as the cause of the province’s shortage of classroom space for the children of new Albertans. Never mind her UCP government’s failure to plan for growth everyone knew for years was coming, or to fund it.
And while she barely mentioned the lack of capacity in Alberta’s hospitals that has seen them descend into chaos in recent months, that glossed over the fact it’s been more than 40 years since a new hospital was built in Edmonton while the population of Alberta’s capital city has more than doubled.
Naturally, Smith also made no mention of the multi-millions of dollars her government has hosed away on ideological projects and political mischief to own the Libs in Ottawa, like that $70 million for almost unusable children’s “Tylenot” purchased during a short-lived national shortage of acetaminophen in 2022. The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that Alberta has just spent another $718,000 to destroy what was left.Harper aimed to destroy Canada’s public health care to serve his greedy fucking American private health corps, but, he failed. Now, his little maid Smith, is cleaning up after him to destroy our health care. Best way to destroy it, is to make services so bad that people die needlessly, but Smith is also a sadist, she loves to cause suffering in others.
Nor did Smith say anything about her call less than two years ago for Alberta’s population to double to 10 million people — the better to throw our weight around in Confederation. Or the UCP’s successful advertising campaigns calling on Ontario and B.C. residents to move here.
These ideas riled her party’s highly influential MAGA base and by the summer of 2024 she had jumped on the anti-immigration bandwagon.
So her dream of Red Deer, a city of 100,000 souls best known as a coffee-and-gas stop halfway between the fleshpots of Calgary and Edmonton, hitting a population of a million any time soon will have to be put back on ice for a long spell.
“Alberta taxpayers can no longer be asked to continue to subsidize the entire country through equalization and federal transfers, permit the federal government to flood our borders with new arrivals and then give free access to our most-generous-in-the-country social programs to anyone who moves here,” Smith complained, exploiting her government’s carefully nurtured popular misunderstanding of how federal transfer payments work.
Turns out the population growth she was demanding so recently is “financially crippling and undercuts the quality of our health care, education and other social services.” You know, like public health care, which her government is striving to dismantle.
Hilariously, the premier assured listeners that despite low oil prices and the cost of all those immigrants, “the approved wage increases for our doctors, nurses and teachers will remain in place so we can continue to attract the skilled professionals needed to catch up with our growth.”
Nice to know. I wonder who informed her that, unlike the United States she so admires, even governments in this country have to abide by legal contracts and the rule of law? Can you imagine what would have happened if the UCP had tried to roll back just-negotiated wages with skilled health-care professionals? It wouldn’t have been pretty.
So here are Ms. Smith’s planned referenda questions, in her own words:
• Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purpose of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and ensuring Albertans have first priority to new employment opportunities?
NO!
• Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially funded programs such as health, education and other social services?
NO! People, notably families, new to places need those services more than the rest of us, notably education. FFS. What a vile Nazi turd Smith is.
• Assuming that all citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs, as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to be a resident in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially funded social support programs?
NO!
• Assuming that all citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their families’ use of the health-care and education systems?
NO!
• Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to be eligible to vote in a provincial election to strengthen Alberta’s constitutional and fiscal position within a united Canada?
NO! Nazi Fuck
Needless to say, much of this makes little sense upon examination. It is mostly bad policy that would not save money and in some cases would violate the Constitution we have now.Nazis shit on the law and constitutions. Smith is copying Trump or following Harper0-Carney orders
In addition, it would be mean-spirited and often cruel.In true Nazi style The final point is a solution in search of a problem, although one that is fiercely believed in by MAGA fantasists.
In addition, the government will seek approval to work with “other willing provinces” to amend the Canadian Constitution in four ways, Ms. Smith said. It is not completely clear if this is supposed to be one referendum question with four bullets or four referenda:
• Have provincial governments and not the federal government select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and appeals courts.
NO!
• Abolish the unelected federal Senate.
NO! The Senate is vital. It must never be abolished
• Allow provinces to opt out of federal programs intruding on provincial jurisdictions such as health, education and social services without losing any of the associated federal funding for use in their own provincial social programs.
NO!
• Better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared constitutional areas of jurisdiction priority over federal laws when in conflict with one another.
NO!
All these ideas are likely to be immediately rejected by other provinces. Which, as previously noted, is probably the point.
The NDP, foolishly, decided to wait until this morning after the news cycle had moved on to respond.In my view, Nenshi and Alberta NDP are useless cowards, much like the fed NDP (too chicken shit to even let Yves Engler or his wife run for leadership, which had they won, would have fed some umph
That fits with Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi’s wish to do politics in full sentences. It doesn’t show much understanding of how political discourse is carried on in this era, though. The UCP, I am sure, was delighted
Paul:
Comment on CBC just now, pointing out that these referendum questions just add to the long list of thing Danielle is doing that she never mentioned during the last election, and that if she wants to do these things, instead of referendums, she needs to have a Provincial Election first, to get support for them.
Unlikely she will, or could. And running secret policies seems to be a hallmark of Reform.
But two things these “referendum” questions reveal.
First, we have reached Peak Oil, and the oil and gas industry has no need to build any further infrastructure, thus no need for workers coming to Alberta. And they finally gave Danielle the memo, so that she coulld put the ‘Come to Alberta’ campaign of just 2 years ago into reverse.
Second, the reforms that Trudeau made to the Senate (beginning when he was leader of the 3rd party in Parliament, notably) are working, and the Senate has become an effective player in giving us a better government. Thus it must be destroyed, in her view, a step beyond PP just wanting to emasculate it again.
steveCumming:
Given the international circumstances and the known collusion of Alberta magatry with the Trump regime, this move strikes me as an deliberate campaign to subvert the Canadian state. These people are so brain-rotted with 4chan trollery that they can’t imagine ever facing consequences.
GRAHAM:
smith’s toxic verbiage and messaging needs to be put in a drum and dropped in the hole with canada’s nuclear waste far underground. What a wretch.
Holy Flapjack Alberta NDP! Get off the pot already, come out swinging FFS and deliver a few shots to the head. Land some big blows and quit being so namby pamby. You’ve got nothing to lose here as you are probably losing most elections in AB but at least get the facts out. Help the people see the absolute total lies smith os peddling and give them the facts, the irrefutable facts. C’MON!
SuperYeti:
YESS exactly. I don’t promote bullying but those of us who grew up with it know how to fight. I don’t know who promotes silence but a certain percentage of the public who can swing elections under stupid First Past the Post will not think critically about it, …unless there’s an instant rebuttal. Don’t let this passive-aggressive smug lady with a shyte-eating smile control all narratives like the Queen of Id, opposition.
GRAHAM:
It would be great to start hearing from the 80+% of Albertans that aren’t buying the bull that smith is always selling. Maybe they are speaking out, somewhere, but I don’t see it in the AB media I look at. I don’t hear of anyone making noise, I don’t see any rallies or protests telling smith to stick it. It’s fine and fair to not like the feds or some policies but to do so while backing the worst premier and provincial government in Canada? C’mon.
SteveCumming:
I’m going by a recent poll which showed that only 25% voted NDP provincially. In the last Federal election, 64% I think it was voted CPC. The last polls I saw indicated that the UCP would cruise to victory again.likely with a bigger majority I am sorry, I just can not be optimistic about the Alberta electorate in aggregate. They may not support secession, but they will go to their graves voting for a party that does.Alberta cons are bible controlled, heavily brainwashed to never think for themselves. They vote how hate against Trudeaus and anyone with coloured skin tells them to vote
puppyg:
Our apparent inability to jettison Smith for being a threat to our sovereignty (and common decency and truth itself) mirrors the world’s inability to dump Trump for the same reasons. Get with it, Canada.
Blurr:
Probably 3 of the 5 questions would require the notwithstanding clause, but that’s par for the course with Smith, and matches her hypocrisy of calling for constitutional amendments while breaching the very constitution that is in place.
But, the most stupid has to be this demand for an opt-out of programs but get to keep the money. That’s like me telling my employer I am just going to stay home but you still have to pay me … right.
Ken_Akura:
I wonder how many Abs actually believe it’s possible to opt out but retain the benefits. It’s the same mentality that believes in becoming a sovereign entity within a united Canada and continuing to enjoy all the benefits.
Seems DS is suffering from a Malice in Wonderland syndrome.
Blurr:
She’s continuing and elevating the politics of grievance, with lots of just, plain lies, and it’s time for the NDP to move. Alberta can and should be someone far better than the drunk uncle at the family reunion, and Nenshi should just call crazy … crazy.In my view, Nenshi is a con, and has always been a con, just like Mark Carney. Nenshi is controlled opposition, pretend to be opposing while enabling evil and Carney serves Nazi USA, Israel, the rich and American corps.
SuperYeti:
She also opted out, or more accurately refused, to sign on with the federal government’s program to offer free meds and devices for all people with diabetes. The level of unfitness in this lady seems to know no bounds. Putting a target on immigrants should throw her out of office in my opinion.but, her base LOVE it, and her, and hate-filled rural Albertans will vote her a bigger fatter more hate-filled majority next election. Smith, like all Nazis, and like her hero Trump, is a sadist, I bet being cruel to those less fortunate give her endless thrills and orgasms.
@mlm7.bsky.social:
Feeding her hatefulevangelical christian white racist as fuck MAGAt base a smorgasbord of piled raw meat
@savingdemocracy101.bsky.social:
Exactly. The rabid right wing base loves her. The only way she loses the next election if someone further to the right runs against her.
HelburDUH always votes against their best interest to “own the Libs”. It was all PMJTs fault. He resigned. They cannot move on.MAGAts are incapable of critical thinking and incapable of admitting their own fuckups, which are plenty Now it’s hating the rest of Canada.
@scottymcarthur.bsky.social:
Fucking embarrassing that we have her and this awful govt in Alberta
The next 6 months will be angry and drive wedges between Albertans:that’s the Nazi intent.
- rural vs urban,
- educated vs not so much
- racist vs not
- economically literate vs conspiratorial
and so on
She wants to be American
@elisabethkosters.bsky.social:
Blame others for your own failings.
Blame the Feds
Blame “foreigners” (non-white foreigners, she means).
Someone deport her, please
@damemyniah.bsky.social:
“limiting access to health, education, and social programs to only Canadian citizens and permanent residents, or charging a premium for immigrants to access them” isn’t that unconstitutional?Her boss, Herr Nazi Harper has always hated Canada and our charter. He failed to destroy it, Nazi Smith is now cleaning up after him to kill it.
@timlade.bsky.social:
Conservatives don’t like rules when they tell them they can’t do the fascist thing they want to do.
@voice-of-treason.bsky.social:
Cut federal O&G subsidies
Alberta’s Nazi hate ‘n rage was fuelled intentionally by the Nazi Fucker Truckers:
@nicelynicely.bsky.social:
Smith should run for federal Parliament if she wants to change immigration policy.She knows she’d never win, she knows she can only win in an ignorant spoiled rotten (by oil and gas) hate-filled fairy tale believing province like Alberta. She’s not even the boss of herself. Harper, the kid-raping Trump regime, the vile Take Alberta Back into the Cave Davie Parker and his bigoted religious shits and the separatists are the boss of her, and control her.
@radicallabgeek.bsky.social:
This is surely her B plan for the separation that is neither popular, affordable, or any advantage to AB.
Some smoke and mirrors to hide the obvious efforts to further a MAGA-esque agenda, with future hope of being Queen of the North
Her incompetence is painful…
trudeauliberal.bsky.social:
A large portion of immigration to Alberta is from other parts of Canada. What are you going to do, Premier Smith? Station border guards in Lloydminster?
@hereforsports.bsky.social:
Blaming immigrants and the federal government for her own government’s inability to be fiscally competent is pretty on brand. The opposite of leadership and dignity.
@bagpiper59.bsky.social:
No original thought, that one. MAGA parrot.
rohanthenahor.bsky.social:
Is she even capable of a single original thought?
@thetruemichael.bsky.social:
What they’d really like to do is light genocide. “Humane alternatives” they call it. Locking children in cages for months and feeding them mold is supposed to be understood as humane, given the alternative they’re capable of resorting to. Maple MAGA can all burn in hell with their southern brethren
FFS! What I cannot understand is why so many christians, Mark Carney included, are deeply bigoted hateful, cruel, racist, assholes operating in opposition to Christ’s teachings.
@trolph.bsky.social:
“common sense”. A favourite right wing conservative term; eliminates discussion and satisfies followers.
@jekllnnhide.bsky.social:
I can barely believe he has the nerve to lift his head out of the pile of shit he slammed it into when he sold out Albertans for an ATCO board seat and promptly left his premier seat (to Dingleberry Smith) before anyone could feel the consequence of what he’d done
Globe and Mail has gone full on Nazi in my view, CBC too, gleefully skipping along with mostly American rich owned Post Media’s Repuglican Nazism.
@lesjfrie.bsky.social:
What fresh bullshit is this? www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art…
@cbinvan.bsky.social:
“They’re eating the dogs”.
@bart403.bsky.social:
Canadian media companies are just conservative jack ragsthey’re much worse than that now, they’re Nazis eager to please their masters Trump, Harper Con Carney, and Harper.
Albertans react to upcoming referendum during weekend rally, call-in radio show, Dozens of people gathered in Edmonton and Calgary to protest separatist sentiment by Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press, Feb 21, 2026
Some callers to Danielle Smith’s provincewide radio show expressed support for a referendum the Alberta premier announced this week, while others at a rally outside the legislature said they’re disheartened with the direction Smith is taking.
One caller congratulated Smith during her morning radio show for her speech on Thursday announcing a referendum in October, which is to include questions about whether social services should be restricted for newcomers.
“It reflected what many Albertans wanted to hear,” the caller told Smith.
“You’re on the right track and I’m so thankful you’re the premier at such a time as this,” another caller told her.
WATCH | Albertans protest separatist sentiment at Calgary rally:
These Albertans want to stay in Canada. Here’s why
February 21|
Duration 2:23People rallying to keep Alberta a part of Canada say they’re fed up with ‘treasonous’ separation talk.
Later in the show, one person said that as an immigrant, he supports Smith.
“New immigrants need to pay their own way, just like all the rest of us older immigrants did,” he said.
In the same hour, dozens gathered in freezing temperatures outside Alberta’s legislature in Edmonton to express their frustration with the referendum and separatist sentiment in the province.
They carried signs, including one calling Smith’s United Conservative Party the “United Corrupt Party” and sang Canada’s national anthem.
“We’re moving backwards. It’s got to stop,” said Keith Weir, a retiree who attended the Edmonton rally Saturday with his son.
“I’ve worked in many provinces, and I know people from coast to coast to coast. Canada is the greatest country in the world. This government in place right now, they’re slowly deteriorating what this country provides. It’s disheartening.”
People also gathered for a similar protest at Calgary city hall.
Smith has said Albertans will be responding to nine questions in the referendum.
One, for example, asks whether to restrict social services from some immigrants and charge a fee to non-permanent residents to access health and education. Another asks whether immigrants should be required to live in Alberta for one year before qualifying for certain social programs.Many immigrants to Alberta are Canadians from other provinces. Nazi Smith wants to take away Canadians’ right to health care and education?
Some questions focus on constitutional amendments.
Smith on Saturday again defended her government’s decision to make more than half of the questions about immigration, saying she wants to reign in the bubbling population of non-permanent residents that she says has become financially unsustainable.Well, she ought to regulate the tar, oil, gas, and frac companies then.
“This is an emerging problem,” she said. “We don’t have any control of any meaningful measure over economic migrants.”
Smith said after she got elected in 2022, her government began trying to attract skilled workers. But at the same time, the immigration process changed, she said.
LISTEN | Kenney reacts to provincial address:
Edmonton AM11:18Jason Kenney on Danielle Smith’s provincial address
“Justin Trudeau took all of the restrictions off all of the temporary migrant programs, whether it was temporary foreign workers, international students, asylum seekers, and we just got flooded with newcomers over four years,” she said.Because you Nazi Smith fucking demanded it be easier, and for Alberta to get tens of thousands more immigrants to drive up riches for the rich. PS And, Nazi Smith, you too, are a product of immigration.
“So when you have those kind of new and emerging issues … you really do have to, I think, go back to the people for a mandate, and that’s what I’m looking to do with the referendum in the fall.”
On Friday, Smith was unable to say if controlling immigration would be enough to eliminate what’s expected to be a multi-billion-dollar deficit this year. And she didn’t provide a total estimate for health-care and education savings.
“We’d have to do the figuring out,” she said.ya, by endlessly lying and whining and blaming Trudeau
WATCH | Smith’s referendum plan could hurt the economy, experts say:
JFC, Smith’s creeepy as fuck, especially when she pounds on the make up and highlites to look more Mar-a-lago
Smith’s proposed referendums spark reaction from experts
February 20|
Duration 1:46Economists, political scientists and those working with immigrant groups say Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s referendum plan could create a further divide and have long-term and harmful effects on the economy.
Marilyn Gaa, a spokeswoman for the Edmonton Raging Grannies group, said at the Edmonton rally that Smith is scapegoating immigrants to distract people from her government’s mismanagement.
“She’s put a whole lot of attention on things that are irrelevant to our well-being,” Gaa said.
“For instance, health care is a disaster, education is a disaster. So many of the priorities ordinary people consider at the top of their list are being ignored.”
She said she was born in the U.S., but later moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen and renounced her American citizenship a few years ago.
“All the grannies here today, except one, are immigrants who made a deliberate choice to be Canadians,” she said.
David Shepherd, an NDP member of the legislature representing Edmonton-City Centre, said Smith’s referendum was pitting communities in Alberta against one another.
“If this government wants a vote, if they think they need a mandate, then let’s have a damn election.”
Refer also to: