Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Danielle Smith joined forces at an Alberta brewery Friday to make a last-ditch pitch for Albertans to vote to stay in Canada.
Carney stood with Smith and other politicians, crowded shoulder-to-shoulder, at Red Hart Brewing in Red Deer, Alta.
He channelled author Charles Dickens, saying Monday’s separation referendum comes as globalist forces and policies threaten Canada and the province as it stands on the cusp of unprecedented growth and success.
“We’re here in both the best and worst of times,” said Carney.
Smith, Carney and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre were all in Alberta ahead of Monday's referendum.
Voters are being asked whether the province should remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on separation.
Smith has said it’s time for Albertans to decide on the issue and that she prefers a sovereign Alberta in a united Canada.
She said earlier this week that she voted at an advance poll to stay in the country.
At the brewery, she and Carney praised each other as sharp-eyed, flinty negotiators who fight for their positions but want the best for Canada and are making progress, including with a proposed fast-tracked oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
“For the first time in a long time, Alberta and Canada are walking together,” Smith said.
They are, however, agreeing to disagree when it comes to the rest of Smith’s referendum.
The leaving-Canada question is one of 10 on the ballot. Smith wants Albertans to endorse nine proposals for more control and rules around immigration and for a mandate to pursue constitutional changes to wrest power from Ottawa.
She has said she needs that mandate to negotiate a better deal with the federal government.
Carney on Thursday urged Albertans to reject the other nine. Smith said she will work to change his mind.
As the brewery crowd looked on, she handed Carney an explanatory booklet, adding, “I have bad news for you, prime minister, all of the premiers are interested in talking about immigration and how we might be able to reform it."
Poilievre, in a speech in Calgary earlier Friday, said he understands separatist disillusionment with the state of affairs in Canada but that quitting isn't the answer.
“Quitting is the easy way out — and Albertans are not quitters,” Poilievre said.
“We don’t just take our ball and go home. We don’t walk away. We stand and fight for what we believe in, and we reflect upon all that we have."
Poilievre said countries like Canada are built, defended, reimagined and reinforced by generations honouring those who came before.
“Some even died (in wars) so that we can have the country that we have today," Poilievre said. "They had to be strong so that we could be free."
He said he gets how people are unhappy with rising costs and what he characterized as a lax justice system, an out-of-control immigration program and federal policies that curtail resource development. But he urged Albertans to see the bigger picture.
“To those people who are thinking about taking out their frustration on the current government by voting for separation in the referendum, I say this: Canada is more than a government.
“It is a people, a flag, a land, a history and a promise.”
Carney was to attend an evening rally in Edmonton with the federalist group Forever Canadian. He attended a similar one in Calgary on Thursday night.
At that event, he told a crowd of roughly 5,000 that a vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that could lead to years of lost opportunities.
Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a national unity rally in Red Deer, on Friday Oct. 16, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Ulan
He said frustrations in Alberta are real but that Canada is working in the spirit of co-operative federalism.
Polls have suggested a strong majority of Albertans will vote to stay on Monday, but leaders stress that voter apathy could open the door to a winning vote for separation.
Albertans have been voting by mail and, for more than a week, at advance polls in numbers that suggest the final count could set a record.
Smith called the referendum earlier this year. She said bubbling discontent with past federal policies reached a boiling point with hundreds of thousands signing petitions for and against staying in Confederation. She said a referendum is needed to resolve the issue once and for all.
Critics, however, say Smith isn't resolving a broad-based grievance. They say she has instead inflamed and validated latent fringe separatist sentiment, rolling the dice on the future of the country to appease hardliners in her United Conservative Party.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
— With files from Dayne Patterson in Calgary
By Jack Farrell | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.