Alberta’s Smith rejects party accusation she’s muting pro-Canada referendum ads

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting a claim from her party president that her government is muting its pro-Canada messaging ahead of the separation vote.

Smith says she hasn’t been neutral and that her United Conservative Party government’s $4-million ad campaign urges Alberta to remain a sovereign province within a united Canada.

“I say the same thing to every audience,” Smith told reporters Monday at a news conference in Airdrie, north of Calgary.

“No one should be surprised that I support a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”

Critics have accused Smith of a half-hearted approach to the referendum, voicing support for a united country when asked but failing, as promised, to actively campaign for the pro-Canada vote.

In the Oct. 19 referendum, Albertans will be asked whether they want the province to stay in Canada or if there should be a second, binding referendum on separating. Nine other questions on the ballot ask for approval on immigration and Constitutional reform.

Smith’s comment comes after UCP president Rob Smith, who is not related to the premier, took to social media Sunday to assure rank-and-file members that the government’s ad campaign is focused on the first nine questions.

When it came to the question on separation, Rob Smith wrote, “(The premier) assured me … emphasized, I’d even say, that the included language and ‘promotion’ regarding this question would be as NEUTRAL as possible.”

He added that Smith made the promise to be as neutral as possible “even though we all know her stated belief in and support for ‘a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.'”

The premier disagreed with that characterization.

“No, that’s not true,” Smith said.

Rob Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The video ads, posters and billboards released so far by the government refer to many of the issues at stake in the first nine questions.

They all carry the same message, encouraging Albertans to “stand up for a stronger Alberta” or to “stand up for a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”

The premier is walking a balancing act with her party on the issue, as some members want to leave Canada and are publicly unhappy with her support for the province to stay in Confederation.

Smith has said she called the referendum to get a final answer on a question roiling hundreds of thousands of Albertans. Critics, including the Opposition NDP, say it’s all about Smith simply trying to appease UCP separatist hardliners.

Dissension within the party fold has already appeared in the riding of Highwood, south of Calgary.

The riding’s UCP constituency association recently endorsed a review of Smith’s leadership. It’s a token gesture for now, as a quarter of all 87 associations would have to do the same to move such a vote forward.

RJ Sigurdson, the legislature member for the riding and a cabinet minister, said in a statement he doesn’t believe the vote represents the broad view of constituents and said Smith has his “full support.”

The premier, asked Monday about such an internal leadership challenge, said she would address such issues after the referendum. She noted in the most recent party review she had over 90 per cent support.

“You always do have alternative voices in every political party. You’ve got to listen to them,” she said.

Smith is also dealing with a surprising byelection loss a week ago in a Calgary riding that had been a UCP stronghold. Some have suggested the loss was due to dissatisfaction with the referendum.

NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi said Smith is catching heat from both sides of the debate because she refuses to clearly pick a side.

“Her own political future is now at risk — a risk that she has created by lighting the fire of separatism in this province and trying to play both sides,” Pancholi, said.

“She’s not convincing anybody on either side that she’s actually doing what’s best for Alberta.”

Peter Guthrie, a former Smith cabinet minister who left the UCP over concerns of corruption, said she is harvesting the confusion she has sown.

“This is what happens when you tell different people different stories: eventually, someone repeats what you told them,” Guthrie wrote on social media.

Thomas Lukaszuk, leader of a campaign to keep Alberta in Canada, said in a recent interview Smith has not been actively stumping for Canadian unity.

And he said all 10 questions factor into the debate. The other nine, he said, would mean Alberta carving up more policy independence from Canada.

“Those are questions very much aligned with separatism,” he said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2026.