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After being questioned about the pending referendum in Alberta during a press conference on housing, Prime Minister Carney was allegedly caught on a hot mic saying to Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, “What are you doing? This is stupid. You’ve got an off-ramp. Take it!”

Carney was asked by Mackenzie Gray of Global News at a subsequent press event to clarify the statement he had made and whether it was referring to Danielle Smith. Carney nervously laughed and said he was simply talking to Robertson. Then he went on about what he calls “cooperative federalism” and started talking about international aircraft procurement.

In watching the press conference on housing, it’s difficult to find any context where Minister Robertson was offered some sort of off-ramp or declined one.

In viewing the portion of the conference where Alberta’s independence movement arose, some possible context can be seen.

It is easy to read in a context where it could be thought that the court ruling in Alberta that quashed a petition for an independence referendum offered Danielle Smith a potential off-ramp on the issue. Rather than taking the proffered escape hatch on the referendum issue, Smith offered a reworded question on a ballot, which will be put to a referendum on October 19th.

Considering Carney was clearly frustrated by fielding questions on national unity when he wanted to speak about housing initiatives, one can see how his statement to Robertson may have been referring to Smith.

If indeed Carney was speaking of Smith in that candid moment, it offered an unvarnished glimpse of the respect the prime minister may hold for the premier and her democratic initiatives within Alberta.