What Carney said before Alberta’s referendum vote

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments on the Alberta referendum are drawing fresh attention as Albertans vote Monday on whether the province should remain in Canada, after he spent the final days of the campaign warning that a vote to leave would be “a dangerous bluff.”

Polls across the province are open from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m., The Canadian Press reported, and results on the independence question are expected to start coming in during the early hours of Tuesday. No results have been released. Official information on the count is posted by Elections Alberta.

Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, toured Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton on Oct. 15 and 16 to rally federalist voters. At a Forever Canadian rally in Calgary on Oct. 15, he told a crowd of roughly 5,000 people to “vote like Canada depends on it,” adding: “Because it does,” according to The Canadian Press.

“What we need is a decisive result on Monday to settle this question,” Carney said at the Calgary rally. “Don’t let anyone tell you this is already decided. Turnout will determine the outcome.”

He also told the Calgary crowd that the referendum comes at the worst possible time and that “some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.” The Associated Press noted he did not directly name the United States or President Donald Trump in that passage, though he has done so in past speeches.

Carney urged Albertans to vote against all of the other questions on the ballot as well. “(Say) no to the nine,” he told the Calgary crowd, The Canadian Press reported. The separation question is the 10th of 10 questions. The first nine deal with immigration and the Constitution, including whether the province should have more say over who comes to work in Alberta and whether to seek talks with other provinces on taking power from Ottawa and abolishing the Senate.

In Edmonton on Oct. 16, Carney told supporters: “This is not a game. This is not poker.” He said a vote against Canada is “a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep uncertainty and lost opportunities for Albertans and Canadians,” the AP reported. “Alberta is my home. I grew up here,” he said.

In a Calgary television interview, Carney drew on his time as governor of the Bank of England during the Brexit vote. “It wasn’t clear what ‘Brexit’ meant at the time,” he said, warning of uncertainty, stalled investment and weaker economic performance during a transition, Euronews reported. He also said foreign governments, including the United States, should not “get themselves involved in our elections.”

Earlier on Oct. 16, Carney appeared in Red Deer with Premier Danielle Smith, who called the referendum but has said she voted to stay in Canada. Smith said Carney had substantially addressed seven of the nine federal laws Alberta opposed. “For the first time in a long time, Alberta and Canada are walking together,” she said, according to the AP.

Smith has said she needs a yes on the nine other questions to give her a mandate to bargain with Carney. She has cited a poll showing 22 per cent of Albertans support separation, which she said is still too high.

Voters are being asked whether Alberta should remain a province or whether the government should begin the legal process toward a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. Elections Alberta said Sunday that more than 1.3 million residents had already cast an advance or mail-in ballot, out of roughly 3.1 million eligible voters, The Canadian Press reported.

The final day of campaigning was overshadowed by the deadly fire at CFB Wainwright, which killed four military members. At a pro-unity rally at the Alberta legislature on Sunday, Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk said it was a “difficult day” to hold a rally and asked supporters to keep “those four soldiers and all the other ones who are injured” in mind. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has also urged Albertans to keep the country united.

Carney first called the separation push a bluff at his Calgary rally last week. For a full guide to the ballot, see what to know before Monday’s vote and how to vote in Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum. Our coverage of the base fire is here.

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Via The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Euronews.