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Smith rejects claims 'separatists' helped her win UCP leadership, says she doesn't need their backing

David Wiechnik
Published on:
25 Oct 2026, 12:15 pm

CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she doesn’t need the backing of independence supporters, despite a large portion of United Conservative Party (UCP) members having favoured leaving Canada in the lead-up to the October 19 referendum.

In a Saturday interview with CBC’s West of Centre, the premier dismissed suggestions that members of the independence movement were responsible for helping her win the UCP leadership and insisted the debate over leaving Canada was settled in her party.

“That’s not who was supporting me,” Smith said when asked whether she could maintain her leadership and win the next provincial election without the backing of independence supporters.

“The people who were supporting me were the ones who were really concerned about the COVID response. The people who were supporting me were the ones who were concerned about some of the DEI ideology that was in classrooms. They were the ones who were concerned about young children being transgender behind their parents’ backs. Those are the people who voted for me.”

She also argued the independence movement is “brand new” and that some of its leaders “woke up one day in April of last year and decided to join the separatist movement.”

Earlier in the week, Albertans went to the polls, and 75% of them voted to remain in Canada, with 25% voting for Option Two — beginning the constitutional process toward a future binding referendum on independence.

Only two ridings in all of Alberta — Central Peace-Notley and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre — managed to gain over 50% support for independence.

However, an Angus Reid poll released just days before the referendum, on October 16, found that 63% of UCP voters surveyed supported independence, compared with 37% who wanted to stay in Canada.

Still, Smith has stated the referendum result must be respected by anyone wishing to represent the UCP going forward.

“It is settled in my party,” she said.

"I am the leader not only of government but also of my party. I'm the chief communicator for our party, and I have said that anyone who wants to run as a candidate for us, anyone who wants to be on our provincial board, has to align with what Albertans told us."

She added that all potential candidates and constituency association board members who refused to accept the results should reconsider their involvement in the UCP and could pursue other avenues to advocate for independence and express their viewpoints, including through advocacy groups, podcasts or other political parties.

“If you don't want to agree to follow the will of the people, you don't have to be a candidate for us. Don't put your name forward. You don't have to run for our provincial board,” Smith said.

When asked whether she would sign the nomination papers of candidates who continued to advocate for independence, Smith was coy in her response, saying, “I guess we'll see whether or not people will rise to the occasion. I think most people do.”

Her comments come after Mitch Sylvestre, one of the leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) and president of the UCP’s Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul constituency association, said earlier this week that Smith’s government had turned against its own supporters following the referendum, adding that the party “made a decision, and, you know, they’re going to have to live with the consequences.”

Sylvestre is one of several prominent figures within the movement who feel independence supporters helped to oust former premier Jason Kenney and were an important factor in Smith’s subsequent rise to the UCP leadership.

However, Smith rejected that notion when questioned about her past relationship with Sylvestre, as well as other independence figures such as political organizer David Parker.

"Our position as a party and my position in running was: let's try to make Canada work by getting Canada to focus on its areas of jurisdiction so we can focus on ours,” she said.

“That's always been my pitch. Others think that there's another way, but that's not been my position."