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The head of the Forever Canadian group campaigning for Alberta to remain in the federation said Friday Prime Minister Mark Carney has been a “calm” and “reassuring” presence for Albertans.
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta, said Carney is showing “there is someone at the helm” by standing up for Canadians in trade negotiations with the White House.
Carney shook hands with volunteers from the Forever Canadian campaign on Friday in Banff, Alta. They were invited to the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity on the final day of the federal cabinet retreat.
The prime minister was cheered by about 50 supporters of the Forever Canadian campaign, almost all holding red and white signs and some wearing the maple leaf.
The prime minister wrote “Canada is everyone and for everyone” with a black marker on the campaign’s promotional bright pink recreational vehicle, which it’s using to travel around the province.
The crowd then broke out in a rendition of O Canada.
Alberta is set to hold a referendum on Oct. 19 on whether to hold a second vote on leaving Canada.
Carney has called for national unity but has not gone out on the campaign trail to loudly make the case for Albertans to stay in Canada.
The prime minister did not take questions from reporters on Friday. On Thursday, Carney said he sees his role primarily as delivering on his economic agenda for Alberta and Canada to further the cause of co-operative federalism.
He also encouraged Albertans to get out to the polls next month.
“Canada is worth fighting for, and fighting for in this regard means showing up on the 19th or mailing in your ballot or participating in early voting,” Carney told reporters on Thursday.
Lukaszuk said he expects there will be “a stage in the campaign” when the prime minister will become “much more personally engaged.”
Lukaszuk also said he hopes to see the federal Conservatives get more involved in the campaign.
“The leader of the Official Opposition, Mr. Pierre Poilievre, says that his MPs from Alberta are behind us. You know, I keep looking in the rear-view mirror of this RV. I don’t see them,” he said.
“But I certainly hope that they get engaged because this is not a partisan issue and this is the time where all hands are on deck.”
Federal government acting as a ‘strong partner’: minister
While the federal cabinet chose to hold their meeting this week in Alberta and to meet with some of the province’s mayors, ministers did not spell out any future plans to take part in the remain campaign.
At a closing news conference on Friday, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski, who represents an Edmonton riding, said it’s not the job of the federal government to tell Alberta what to do.
“Our role with respect to this referendum certainly is not to tell Albertans how to do anything. It’s not to tell Albertans how to vote. It is to make sure that we are a strong partner with Alberta, that we collaborate in terms of projects and other steps that we’re taking to build a unified country together,” she said.
A report from an Alberta-based think-tank suggests separation would be costly and confusing. But a pro-independence group calls that ‘pessimistic’ and advances its own, uncosted plan citing 45 anonymous authors.
Olszewski said the federal government’s actions “speak a lot more loudly than if we just stand at a microphone and say some platitudes about Alberta.”
But she also said her colleagues are “absolutely” calling for Albertans to vote to remain in Canada.
“We are talking to Albertans about the importance of remaining in Canada,” she said. “We’re showing Albertans that Canada works, that we’re doing our best to ensure that our country works for all regions across the country.”
On Thursday, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas credited Carney and his cabinet for putting in “hard work” in his province and for not taking an off-putting approach to the debate over separation.
“If they had just diminished this to transactions, if they had asked Albertans, ‘Well, what’s it going to take to keep you?’ then I think Albertans are smart. We would have been able to see through that,” Farkas told reporters.
“They have been present not just in major events like Stampede but also … visiting rural communities in Alberta. There’s many areas of Alberta that haven’t seen a member of Parliament from outside of the province — let alone a Liberal member of Parliament — in many, many decades.
“They’re showing up to listen, to learn and to be able to support common cause.”
