Prime Minister Mark Carney chose Thanksgiving Monday to make a direct pitch to Alberta, releasing a video filmed in a classroom at St. Francis Xavier High School in west Edmonton — his own former school — exactly one week before the province's referendum.
The timing is deliberate. On Oct. 19, Albertans will answer a series of referendum questions, the last of which asks whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or begin the legal process toward a second, binding vote on separating. Advance voting opens Tuesday.
Carney told viewers this year's Thanksgiving feels different because of the vote, warning that Canada faces real threats to its economy, security and way of life, and arguing the country is stronger together than divided. He pointed to his government's Alberta record — thousands of new homes, a proposed Edmonton–Calgary high-speed rail route, and a newly proposed pipeline from the oilfields to the West Coast.
His central argument was about building: Canada cannot take on big national projects if it is divided, and generations of Albertans helped build the country he is asking them to stay in.
Carney also issued a separate written Thanksgiving statement on Monday stressing unity and buying Canadian — a message that, unlike the video, did not mention the referendum at all.
