Premier Danielle Smith says next PM needs to repair damage in Alberta

Danielle Smith said she doesn't yet know if she trusts Mark Carney.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says if the Liberals win the federal election, Mark Carney will need to repair some of the damage in his party’s relationship with her province.

But she didn’t outright say that a Liberal win will cause a national unity crisis.

Smith says the last 10 years have “soured Albertans on the idea of a Liberal government,” and the next prime minister will have to navigate that.

The premier met with Carney before the campaign started, and said she gave him a list of demands that must be addressed within the first six months “to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis.”

Smith spoke Thursday at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa, where she endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and talked about the importance of premiers working together for Team Canada.

The network was founded by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, who recently wrote an op-ed in the Globe and Mail saying that a vote for the Liberals is akin to a vote for Western secession.

Poilievre rejected Manning’s concerns last week, though, telling reporters that “we need to unite the country.”

Smith spoke to a packed room in downtown Ottawa on Thursday afternoon, telling members of the country’s conservative movement that the unjustified and unacceptable tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump is imposing on Canada have led to “unprecedented consensus” that this country needs to build.