Prime Minister Mark Carney says US is trying to break Canada as Alberta votes on separation path

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has campaigned for national unity as advance voting is underway in oil-rich Alberta in a referendum that could set the province on a path toward a future vote on separation from Canada

CALGARY, Alberta -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Thursday that the United States is trying to break Canada so it can “own us” as he urged oil-rich Alberta not to begin a process toward separation in Monday’s referendum.

The vote is not a direct referendum on independence. Alberta, which has the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, will decide whether to remain a province or instruct the government to begin the legal process toward a future referendum on separation.

“This referendum comes at the worst possible time,” Carney told a large pro-Canada rally in Calgary. “The world has become more dangerous and divided. Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.”

He did not directly mention the U.S. or its President Donald Trump in that passage, but has done so in similar past speeches. Carney’s warning came as U.S. President Donald Trump wages a trade war with Canada and after his repeated threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state. Carney has argued that Canada needs to become more economically resilient and less dependent on the United States.

Carney urged Albertans not to use the vote simply to send Ottawa a message, saying a decisive result could settle the separation question.

“Don’t be fooled by the idea you can ‘send a message’ with your vote,” Carney said. “This is not poker. A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep division and great uncertainty.”

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, spent Thursday campaigning in Calgary before addressing the Forever Canadian rally at the BMO Centre. His office estimated about 5,000 people attended, with some waiting more than two hours to get through security. Organizers were also holding a second rally with Carney in Edmonton on Friday.

Earlier Thursday, he pointed to the many Albertans who were born or educated elsewhere in Canada and to firefighters who come from across the country to help Alberta during wildfires as examples of the ties binding the province to the rest of Canada.

At the rally, Carney also acknowledged the grievances that have fueled alienation in Alberta.

“The frustrations that many Albertans have felt are real,” he said. Carney said that while growing up, Ottawa made Albertans feel “like our resources weren’t our own” and that more recently the province was made to feel its energy contributions were “against the tides of history.”

The setting is striking for a Liberal prime minister. Alberta has spent decades feuding with Liberal governments in Ottawa, particularly over energy and federal power.