Danielle Smith pushes back against Manitoba premier’s comments as controversy grows over prospective referendum question

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew are seen in this composite image. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol, Adrian Wyld

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had a few suggestions for how Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew could work together after he fact-checked her earlier this week.

Speaking on her radio program Your Province, Your Premier Smith responded to a question from show host Wayne Nelson about last week’s western premiers event.

“I would say rather than lecturing Albertans about what they should and should not do -- and should believe and shouldn’t -- I would like to see other premiers give – as I am – reasons to feel confident in the western partnership and reasons to feel confidence in Canada," she said.

The comments came after Smith’s comments Tuesday, when she repeated her belief she that a judge erred in ruling that her government neglected its duty to consult with First Nations about the petition.

Smith said she thought the decision overstated the duty to consult, noting she feels it should only be required in relation to major projects.

“We’ll make the arguments in court about what the limits to duty to consult ought to be, and we’ll see how that conversation goes,” she said.

Smith also said she thinks it’s a mistake to expect consultations to be done in relation to citizen-initiated petitions, which prompted Kinew to speak up.

“That is not correct, a lot of what you just said there, Premier Smith,” Kinew said. “It is not up to the petition gatherers to fulfil the duty to consult.

“It is up to you, as the Alberta government, to fulfil the duty to consult.”

Kinew said he agreed with the judge’s ruling, and that creating a new international border around Alberta would certainly impede established treaty rights for Indigenous people to hunt and fish.

On Tuesday, Smith responded by saying the disagreement proved the importance of Canada’s court system, adding that she respected the “difference of opinion.”

“I think we’ll wait to see how our court of appeals process goes and see what the courts .have to say.”

Saturday, Smith had a few more thoughts on the opportunities available for western provinces to collaborate.

“I think that the best thing those partners could do is work with us on getting pipelines built,” she added.

“I know that Premier Kinew has said he wants to get a Churchill pipeline built – he’s said ‘move a few Alberta barrels’," she said.

“I think that’s a really good message,” she added. ”He wants to talk about LNG export which would also benefit us – and it would also benefit him, because if he had new sources of revenue, it would reduce Manitoba’s reliance on equalization –- (as) they get about $5 billion a year in equalization payments," she said.

“So these are the ways in which I think the western premiers should work together and this is a choice for Albertans,” she added. “Albertans in good faith went out – 700,000 people signed onto petitions saying they wanted to have this discussion (about staying in Canada) so let’s have it."

Tuesday, Kinew suggested that with Canada in a trade war -- and as of Thursday, a recession -- now is not the most opportune moment to talk about separatism.

“Now is the time to work together,” Kinew said.

“Why don’t we hold off on this referendum talk for a year or two, so we can get these pipelines under construction?

“Because at the end of the day, we want Canada to succeed.”

Unverified signatures

Smith also made a comment about the more than 300,000 unverified separatist petition signatures gathered by Stay Free Alberta Saturday.

“And on the issue of the signature validation, it is the 400,000 signatures from the Forever Canadian petition have been validated. The court stopped Elections Alberta from validating the 300,000 signatures achieved by Stay Free Alberta.”

“Elections Alberta have the boxes (of signatures),” she added. “They have been told there’s no way to validate them – so I just have to, in good faith, look at that and say, they needed to get 177,000, they submitted 300,000, the other petition got validated at 400 (thousand) -- (so) that’s why I think in order to follow the spirit of the citizen petition law, that’s why I put forward the question we did."

Smith’s use of ‘700,000′ includes over 400,000 signatures collected by the Forever Canadian petition drive organized by former Alberta MLA Tomas Lukaszuk, who said he didn’t want to have a question about staying in Canada on the referendum on Oct. 19.

‘Legitimacy is another question’

Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said that while the legality of posting a citizen initiative petition question on the basis of unvalidated signatures isn’t illegal, its legitimacy is debatable.

“Questions surrounding the number of valid signatures on the Stay Free Alberta petition are understandable for two reasons; the incorrect claims made by leaders like (Mitch) Silvestre and (Jeffrey) Rath on other matters, and the leaked electors list,” she said.

“Faith” in the claims of people with their (Stay Free Alberta leaders’) track record could magnify questions about the justification for the referendum,“ she said.

”The elector’s list leak raises concerns about whether names from the list could have been added to the petitions,“ she added. ”This isn’t simply hypothetical - in the 2017 UCP leadership race several people’s emails were fraudulently added to the list of those eligible to vote for the leader. There is also a concern about unfair access to prospective supporters.

“The legality of the referendum question may yet be challenged in court, but it was designed to get around legal issues raised so far,” she added.

“Legitimacy is another question,” she said. “Especially given the viscerally negative reaction from leaders supporting federalism, separatism, business and economic interests and First Nations.

“And public opinion polls show these concerns are reverberating widely.”

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi also issued a statement about the use of unverified signatures.

“Not one of the separatist signatures were verified, and, given the data breach, there was ample ability to forge signatures. But Danielle Smith didn’t care. This was always her plan. She promised separatists the referendum in return for their support, and now we all are living with the consequences. She can’t blame this referendum on anyone but herself.”

CTV News has reached out to Manitoba premier Wab Kinew’s office for comment.

With files from The Canadian Press