The prime Minister of the Canadian province of Alberta has allowed a referendum on secession from the country.

The province of Alberta in western Canada may hold a referendum on secession from the country in 2026. This was announced on May 6 by the Prime Minister of the peripheral region, Daniel Smith.

According to him, initially the issue of secession from Canada will not be put to a pro-national referendum.

"If there is a successful civil petition for a referendum that gathers the necessary number of signatures asking for this issue <...>, our government will respect the democratic process and will also include this issue in the ballot of the provincial referendum in 2026," he said in an address on the government's website.

Smith noted that over the past 10 years, successive liberal governments in Ottawa have initiated a wave of laws and political attacks against Alberta's free economy.

He stressed that the authorities have blocked new pipelines, canceled many oil and gas projects and banned the movement of tankers for transportation to new markets, limited oil and gas production. According to him, the relevant measures have scared off global investments worth over half a trillion dollars. The Prime Minister called such attacks on the province unbearable for residents.

According to the prime minister, Canada continues this policy towards Alberta, but the province "has always fought back and will continue to fight back." He stressed that he would work with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to eliminate laws and policies that have "devastated the provincial and national economy."

"Alberta will take steps to better protect itself from Ottawa," Smith stressed.

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American political scientist Malek Dudakov, in an interview with Izvestia on April 29, linked the leadership of the Canadian Liberal Party in the parliamentary elections to the fact that its new leader Carney correctly took advantage of the surge of patriotic feelings among the population after threats from US President Donald Trump. The expert admitted that the Democrats could definitely remain in power in Canada for another three or four years.