Naheed Nenshi tells CBC Premier Smith is fuelling Alberta's independence movement

Independence advocates recently submitted over 300,000 petition signatures to Elections Alberta in favour of holding a province-wide referendum on independence.

On Monday's live stream, David Menzies and Sheila Gunn Reid reacted to Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi accusing Premier Smith of "playing games" with national unity by not explicitly condemning the independence movement.

Nenshi told CBC's Rosemary Barton last week that the premier is attempting to appease Alberta's independence advocates at the expense of the rest of Canada.

Referencing the Brexit movement, Nenshi accused Smith of giving rise to increasing separatist sentiment by not explicitly condemning independence activists.

"Danielle Smith is following David Cameron's playbook from Brexit. You know, he said there's no way this separatist referendum will pass, the Brexit referendum, I'm going to use it as leverage at the European Union," he said.

"Now that didn't end very well, because it's naive to think that you can get people so angry, and then they will just acquiesce because you signed a deal. The premier has suggested that if she can appoint federal court judges, that will quell separatism, and it's her only negotiating tactic with the feds," Nenshi continued.

Sheila commented on Nenshi's increasing concern with the province's independence movement. "I love Nenshi's confidence in the separatist movement," she said.

"Yes there's a lot of work to do, there are a lot of people they need to convince in the future over the campaign up until October 19, but it sounds like he's pretty scared of what's about to happen. That makes me happy," Sheila continued.

"Here's the thing: the more Nenshi talks, the more people dislike him, and so I hope he never shuts up. His polling numbers are plummeting," she added.

The referendum, tentatively scheduled for October 19th, still faces a few obstacles, including the outcome of ongoing litigation.

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  • Bernhard Jatzeck
    commented 2026-05-12 18:32:31 -0400
    I live in his riding and I’m sure that my fellow residents, many of whom are ardent Dippers, are perfectly satisfied with what he’s doing and saying. Then again, they’d be happy with a department store mannequin as MLA, so long as it’s NDP.