Calculated Deception: Danielle Smith Wants Alberta Sovereignty, Not Separation

Danielle Smith is playing a reckless game with the future of this country, and the time for polite silence is over. In her recent interview with CTV, Alberta’s Premier had the gall to claim she doesn’t support separation, only “Alberta sovereignty in a united Canada.” That’s not clarity—that’s calculated deception. You don’t introduce legislation like Bill 54, tinker with the machinery of referendum rules, and rattle sabers about federal overreach if you’re genuinely committed to national unity. This is textbook doublespeak, and the most dangerous kind: the kind that hides behind patriotic language while pushing a separatist agenda through the back door.

Smith wants Albertans to believe she’s merely defending provincial rights, but the truth is far more cynical. She is laying the groundwork for Alberta’s exit from Confederation while trying to deny it with a straight face. It’s political gaslighting of the highest order. You do not spend your premiership rewriting laws to make separation easier and then act shocked when people question your motives. That’s not leadership—it’s opportunism with a smug grin.

And let’s call Bill 54 exactly what it is: a legislative Trojan horse designed to grease the wheels for Alberta to walk away from the rest of Canada. It gives the Premier sweeping powers to override federal laws, and it’s written in a tone that reeks of defiance rather than cooperation. If Smith wants us to believe she’s not driving this province toward the brink, she could start by ditching this garbage legislation that spits in the face of Canadian federalism. Her refusal to do so proves the point: she is absolutely preparing for a separation fight—just without the integrity to admit it.

And if she thinks the rest of Canada—or even the rest of Alberta—is going to sit quietly while she builds this illusion of inevitability, she’s delusional. There will be resistance. There will be outrage. And there will be a massive political and emotional campaign for unity. Because this isn’t just about policy—it’s about identity. It’s about a country that millions of us have fought for, cried for, and believe in. If Smith believes she can bulldoze over that with a wink and a sovereignty bill, she’s in for a rude awakening.

Let’s also not ignore the staggering disrespect she shows to Canada’s First Nations peoples by hijacking the language of sovereignty. Only Indigenous peoples in this country have the historic and legal grounds to call themselves nations within a nation. To compare Alberta’s economic grievances—however real—to the centuries-long struggle of First Nations is not just arrogant, it’s shameful. And to proceed with her legislation without their meaningful consultation shows that, yet again, their voices are treated as an afterthought.

The Chiefs across this country, particularly in Alberta, have every right to be outraged. They have every legal and moral ground to reject, freeze, and withhold any cooperation on projects that touch treaty lands. And who could blame them? This government has yet again shown that so-called reconciliation is just a buzzword when real decisions are being made. When will this end? When will First Nations people be treated as full partners in Confederation instead of inconvenient footnotes in the political aspirations of premiers with delusions of grandeur? The answer seems to be never—unless the rest of the country wakes up and demands better.

We hear “reconciliation” endlessly from politicians. It’s on speeches, on banners, in every government-issued land acknowledgment. But when it comes time to actually reconcile—to include First Nations in the heart of the most consequential conversations about the future of the country—they are pushed aside. Their legal rights are treated as bargaining chips, their historical claims ignored, and their warnings dismissed.

Smith’s government is no different, and arguably worse. She is attempting to redraw the map of this country without even pretending to consult the very people whose lands she would carve up and govern with impunity. This is not just political negligence—it is a deliberate act of erasure.

Smith wants to be the Prime Minister of Alberta. Let’s not kid ourselves. Every move she makes, every piece of legislation she pushes, every word she dances around in interviews—it’s all part of a carefully choreographed path to a fantasy where she leads a breakaway nation, crowned not by democratic consensus but by manipulation and media apathy.

And where’s the press in all of this? Too many reporters are still treating Smith’s answers like they deserve the benefit of the doubt. They don’t. Journalists have a duty to hold power to account, not coddle it with softball questions and unchallenged contradictions. If the media won’t call this what it is—bullshit—then we’re all complicit in the dismantling of a country under the guise of provincial pride.

This is a wake-up call. The Premier of Alberta is trying to play both sides, and in doing so, she’s putting the entire country at risk. We don’t need more ambiguity. We need spine. And if Danielle Smith is so committed to Alberta’s place in a united Canada, then it’s time she starts acting like it—or gets out of the way.