CALGARY —On a blustery Sunday in south Calgary, Premier Danielle Smith celebrated Alberta Day with a crowd estimated at 20,000 who braved the wind and rain to wave two politically-charged flags. Alberta officially became a Canadian province on Sept. 1, 1905, and various festivities were planned this weekend ahead of the province’s birthday on Tuesday. Smith’s speech at Calgary’s Heritage Park came as the province’s Oct. 19 separation referendum enters the home stretch. The premier has called a vote for Oct. 19 that will ask Albertans whether the province should remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country. The premier has said she’s voting for the province to stay, and that hundreds of thousands of Albertans signed petitions in support of either separation or staying in Confederation. She said their voices deserve to be heard. Sunday at Heritage Park, Smith doubled down on the province’s place within Confederation. “We are Canada’s economic engine more than ever,” she said. “Canadians understand what Alberta brings to the country.” “The world needs what Alberta has to offer: our energy, our resources, our skills, and our expertise are in high demand,” she added. “They are helping Canada’s economy. This means more good jobs for Albertans and Canadians, and new opportunities for families to achieve their dreams.” One of those families was Sandeep Butta’s, who drove from Edmonton to celebrate Alberta Day. Butta told CTV News he had just moved to Canada three years ago, and as far as he was concerned, he’s good. “We are just new to this country, (and) we are enjoying every bit of it,” Butta said. “So I won’t say much on it (the separation debate), but if it (Alberta) stays within Canada, we would really love it.” Kathrine Low was sympathetic to the desire to separate but said it doesn’t make much sense, logistically. “I’m not for the referendum only because it (independence) takes more than just becoming our own country,” Low said. “We are landlocked,” she added, “so there is more things that are involved. So I’m not really a supporter. “I’m a supporter of the independence of (Alberta) financially,” she said, “but not like the actual geographics of it.” Cristna Diordiev seemed to want to keep the referendum question out of the Alberta Day conversation. “Just keep the outside noise on the outside and just enjoy the day for what it is,” Diordiev said. Saturday in northwest Calgary, at a Rally for Canada, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi reflected on the meaning of Alberta Day at a tumultuous moment in the province’s history. “(On) September 1, 1905, Alberta became a proud province of Canada,” Nenshi said. “At that time, we were a much smaller place, but we already had people from every corner of the earth living here, and of course, we built on Indigenous peoples who had signed treaties long before Alberta became its own province.” “It’s a great day to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished,” Nenshi added. “It’s a great day to celebrate who we are as Albertans -- and (to) remember that the core part of being Albertan is being a proud Canadian.” Petitioners on both sides push back Petitioners on both sides have pushed back against Smith’s approach. Separatist leader Jeffrey Rath has accused Smith of betraying separatist UCP members, misleading Albertans and undermining the province’s interests in Ottawa. Critics, pointing to long-standing opinion polls indicating massive support for Alberta staying in Canada, accuse Smith of self-serving politics by calling the vote merely to placate restive separatist hardliners in her United Conservative Party. On Saturday, Alberta separatists converged outside the legislature in Edmonton, with many saying Alberta would be better off without Canada after having joined Confederation 121 years ago. Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi held a “Vote for Canada” rally in Calgary, also on Saturday. During that rally, he called for the fall referendum to be put off amid the escalating trade war with the United States. Earlier this week, Thomas Lukaszuk, organizer of the pro-federalist Forever Canadian petition, made a similar call. Lukaszuk said he was writing on behalf of the more than 400,000 Albertans who signed his petition. “We submit that this is not the time for unnecessary domestic conflict; this is the time for Albertans to stand together with our fellow Canadians and collectively rally against this unprecedented economic threat,” Lukaszuk wrote. Smith was asked about the calls to postpone the referendum amid the trade tensions during a recent interview with CTV News, but didn’t say whether rescheduling the vote was on the table. Instead, she compared the anger Canadians in Quebec and Ontario might be feeling toward Trump amid the trade war with the anger Albertans feel toward former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Smith has said before separatists have a decade-long list of resentments with Trudeau over his energy and environmental policies. “I would say that in the last 18 months, the new prime minister and I have done everything we can to reset the relationship,” she said during the interview. “But when you cause that kind of damage, people get hurt. That’s what we’re seeing in Alberta right now. I don’t think that you solve problems by ignoring them. You solve problems by addressing it.” She said she is working to explain to Albertans that Ottawa is working for them, and vice versa, and renewed her call for Albertans to vote to remain in Confederation. With files from CTV News’ Tommy Osborne and The Canadian Press
