Preston Manning ‘baffled’ by those who view Danielle Smith as an Alberta separatist

Conservative elder statesman Preston Manning says he’s baffled some view Alberta Premier Danielle Smith as anti-Canada given her vocal support of Confederation.

Manning says he seen opinion polls outside Alberta that suggest that many see her as a separatist .

But he says, for years, there has been no one more vocal in speaking out for a strong Alberta and a united Canada.

He says Canadians will get a renewed look at Smith when she speaks at a virtual two-day forum he is co-hosting next week.

He said Smith will discuss Alberta continuing to grow as a strong and sovereign province within Canada.

Smith has called a referendum for Oct. 19 on whether Alberta should remain in Canada or whether it’s time to hold a second, binding referendum on starting the legal process to separate.

Manning, who is 84, is the former federal opposition leader and founder of the Reform Party — a political movement in Western Canada that grew out of voter dissatisfaction with Ottawa and the perceived lack of attention that was being paid to the west in the late 1980s.

He made his comments Wednesday at an event to promote the upcoming forum, which is titled “Alberta and the West Assembly” and begins Sept. 19.

The event will hear from groups for and against secession and is meant to inform Alberta voters looking for information the referendum.

She has said enough Albertans now view separation as a legitimate response to federal interference in provincial affairs that it’s time to put the issue to rest once and for all in a vote.

Critics, including the Opposition NDP, say Smith is inflating and legitimizing the grievances of a small sliver of discontented Albertans in order to mollify hardline separatists in her United Conservative party.