Carney and Smith Shared a Stage in Red Deer. They Agree on Staying. They Do Not Agree on the Other Nine.

RED DEER – October 17, 2026 – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney stood together at a brewery in Red Deer on Friday and said they both want Albertans to vote Option 1 on question 10. Option 1 is remain in Canada. “We often disagree quite publicly on several things,” Smith said. “But today we can all agree that on question 10, we are voting for Option 1 to remain in Canada.” She added that “this is now a time, a moment in Canadian history where we are going to be able to work side-by-side. I feel for the first time in a long time, Alberta and Canada are walking together.”

Carney has spent the week telling Albertans to vote “no to the nine.” Those nine questions cover immigration rules and constitutional changes. Smith wants a yes on them. She said Friday she will work to change his mind. “I have bad news for you, prime minister – all of the premiers are interested in talking about immigration reform.” Both leaders listed recent co-operation: the Pacific Link pipeline that Ottawa designated a project of national interest on October 1, and agreements on water, housing, and defence. Smith noted that the Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear an appeal of the federal single-use plastics ban. Former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach and former MP Monte Solberg were in the crowd.

The Red Deer stop sat between Carney’s Forever Canadian rally in Calgary on Thursday and the one in Edmonton on Friday night. Smith has said she herself voted to remain. She has also said the nine questions are the ones she wants a mandate on. Carney’s “No to the Nine” line is an attempt to split those questions from the stay-or-go question. Whether voters treat them as separate is the part the polls have not settled. Advance voting runs through Saturday. The ballots are counted on Monday. A yes on question 10 does not take Alberta out of the country. It starts the process toward a second, binding vote. Smith has said she will not hold another if the remain side wins, at least while she is premier. On Friday the two of them stood on the same stage and agreed on one question. They did not agree on the other nine.

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Keenan Hutka

Publisher of RL News. Covers Kenora, Northwestern Ontario, and Central Canada — local stories, national politics, and the war in Ukraine.

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