Quebec and Alberta united in pushing back against Ottawa, Premier Danielle Smith says

In this composite image, (left) Alberta Premier Danielle Smith leaves the podium after an event in Calgary, Alta., May 16, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh), and, (right) Quebec Premier Francois Legault speaks at a news conference at the legislature in Quebec City, April 29, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Monday that her province and Quebec are united in their desire to resist federal overreach, as she pushed for closer economic ties between the provinces.

Speaking ahead of a speech to a business group in Montreal, Smith said Alberta and Quebec are frustrated with a federal government that wants to “impose its will” on provinces.

“We have to get back to operating the country the way it was intended, we have exclusive areas of provincial jurisdiction,” she said.

“The provinces respect the federal areas of jurisdiction; the federal government doesn’t respect ours.”

As an example, Smith used Ottawa’s decision to ask the Supreme Court to set limits on how Quebec and other provinces can invoke the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause.

Smith says she supports Quebec’s pre-emptive use of that clause in its secularism law to shield the legislation from some Charter challenges.

Smith plans to invoke the clause in amending three laws that affect transgender people, according to a leaked government memo obtained by The Canadian Press last month.

Smith is on an eastward swing through Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, where she’s looking to drum up support for resource development, including an oil pipeline to the northern B.C. coast. She was set to meet later Monday with Prime Minister Mark Carney, and said she planned to urge him to take action to show that “Canada is open for business.”  

“It’s their job to build ports and rail infrastructure, it’s their job to build cross-border pipelines, and I think it’s the prime minister’s job to show some courage in showing leadership on this,” she said. 

“We’re not going to be a G7 leader and we’re not going to be an energy superpower without the federal government making some decisions to build things again.” 

The Alberta premier also pitched the need for closer economic ties between provinces in her speech at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.

She said Ontario and Quebec have a strong manufacturing base that could supply Alberta with equipment such as drill bits, turbines and steel pipe, all of which the province currently buys from the United States.

Speaking with reporters ahead of the speech, Smith said she’s not pushing for a pipeline project through Quebec right now, but believes the province should develop its own natural gas to reduce its reliance on the United States — and on federal equalization payments. 

“So, if Quebecers want to be strong and sovereign within a united Canada, starting by developing their own resources is number one,” she said, adding, “I’d love to see Quebec develop a new revenue source so that they can reduce the amount of equalization they get.” 

Smith said she was also trying to find out if it might be feasible to eventually transport Alberta’s fossil fuels to Thunder Bay and then ship them to a Quebec port by tanker for eventual export.

As part of her trip, Smith also plans to meet with federal government officials and MPs in Ottawa, before speaking with Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Toronto on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.