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🇨🇦 Canada /Elections & Politics

Federal Tories launch ‘Conservatives for Canada’ campaign ahead of Alberta referendum

From Global News · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Canada’s federal Conservatives launched a campaign urging Albertans to vote to remain in the country in the Oct. 19 referendum.
  • Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Alberta needs different policies from Ottawa, not a separate country, while caucus lead Dane Lloyd acknowledged continuing frustration with the federal government.
  • Polls indicate that most Albertans favor remaining in Canada, although separatist groups argue that a referendum would give the province leverage with Ottawa.

Canada’s federal Conservatives have launched a “Conservatives for Canada” campaign to persuade Albertans to stay in the country ahead of the Oct. 19 referendum. The vote will ask whether Alberta should remain a province or begin the legal process for a binding referendum on separation.

We don’t need a different country in Alberta, we need different government policies in Ottawa.

· Pierre PoilievreThe Conservative leader argued that Alberta’s grievances concern federal policy rather than Canadian unity.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has argued that Alberta’s separatists are angry with the Liberal government, not with Canada itself. “We don’t need a different country in Alberta, we need different government policies in Ottawa,” he said in Calgary on June 8. Parkland MP Dane Lloyd now leads the Conservative caucus effort to support staying in Canada.

Lloyd said the campaign would not tell Albertans that everything is fine. He said many believe their voices are not heard and their values are not respected by the federal government. That frustration continues despite Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cancellation of the consumer carbon price, a memorandum of understanding with Premier Danielle Smith on resource development, and the referral of a West Coast pipeline for approval as a project of national interest.

We are engaging conservative Albertans with a message, and the message is not that everything’s all right.

· Dane LloydLloyd described the campaign’s approach to supporters in Alberta.

According to Lloyd, Albertans he has met at roundtables still see themselves as patriotic Canadians. They remain frustrated by how successive federal governments have treated the province over decades, with former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives presented as the exception. Lloyd said growing national pride during the trade war with the United States should be engaged by the campaign.

their voice isn’t being heard, that their values are not being respected

· Dane LloydHe summarized the frustrations expressed by Albertans toward the federal government.

Polling suggests that a large majority of Albertans want to remain in Canada. Groups supporting the referendum process argue that a yes vote would give Alberta leverage in negotiations with Ottawa. The polling also indicates that separatism is mainly a right-wing issue, with substantial support coming from backers of Smith’s United Conservative Party. The Conservatives for Canada group launched its website and released a statement on social media on Friday.

all Conservatives will be campaigning for Canadian unity in Alberta.

· Pierre PoilievrePoilievre described the party’s position on the referendum campaign.
About this summary

Originally published by Global News. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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