Scott Moe addresses separation, repeats call for a ‘united Canada’

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Scott Moe says his hypothetical referendum ballot would be cast in favour of a “united Canada.”

“I would vote for a strong and united Canada any day and every day and Saskatchewan to be part of that,” the premier told reporters on Tuesday.

Moe’s comments come after fellow premier Danielle Smith introduced the Alberta Next panel to discuss that province’s future in Canada. She also lowered the threshold required in Alberta to trigger any form of referendum, including a vote on separation from the country.

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Moe attributed the growing separatist sentiments within Western Canada to federal policies from Ottawa.

“I’m sure there’s people that, yes, absolutely want to separate from Canada,” he said. “I think you could narrow that down to largely being frustrated.”

Asked if anyone in his caucus holds separatist views, Moe said “No.”

“I actually think it’s alienation that many Canadians are feeling,” he noted.

Sentiments of provincial autonomy

Jim Farney, director of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina, said the Saskatchewan Party’s support is broad enough to include some voters — and potentially MLAs — with strong sentiments of provincial autonomy.

As for an outright pro-separation stance, Farney said that would be easier to find among other centre-right or right-aligned parties in the province.

“There has not been good polling,” Farney said of the general sentiments toward separation in Saskatchewan.

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He estimates that perhaps a third or a quarter of Alberta voters might be in favour of separation, with even fewer in Saskatchewan.

As Farney sees it, a major issue facing Smith and Moe is that most of the voters in question “are inside their coalition.”

More referendum talk

Ideas of Western separation continue to float around Saskatchewan’s legislature despite the government saying it’s opposed to the idea.

While a petition to separate is circulating online — promoted by self-described “conservative leaning” lobby group Unified Grassroots (UG) — NDP Leader Carla Beck is set to introduce legislation to amend the rules for referendums and plebiscites.

Details were not provided on the proposed Bill 604 — aside from having “Keep Saskatchewan in Canada” in its title — because it had yet to be read a first time before the legislative assembly.

The NDP has also sought to tie two Saskatchewan Party MLAs — David Chan and Jamie Martens — to Unified Grassroots by citing their membership in a Facebook group. As well, UG’s leader referred to Chan as “one of us” during a podcast appearance.

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“Neither MLA Chan or Martens are members of Unified Grassroots,” said the government in an emailed statement.

NDP MLA Aleana Young said those individuals should speak on why they joined the Facebook group.

“If it wasn’t separatism, if that’s not the issue for them, maybe it’s trans kids. Maybe it was the anti-vax movement,” said Young on Tuesday.

For a plebiscite to be called in this province, 15 per cent of electors would need to sign a petition.

“Getting 125,000 signatures in Saskatchewan is really hard,” said Farney. “It takes a lot of money and resources.”

Asked whether Western separation could eventually pick up more steam and become less of a fringe issue, Farney said it would require MLAs peeling away from the party with support from some 30,000 to 40,000 voters.

“Then,” he said, “I think we’re talking about something real.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com

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