Ok. Everybody take a Valium!
That was Montreal Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher's famous advice to Quebecers on the night of the separatist Parti Québécois victory in the 1976 Quebec election. Mosher (aka Aislin) hilariously attributed the words to PQ leader Rene Levesque, the new premier, in his editorial cartoon on the result.
In our view, that advice stands the test of time now that Premier Danielle Smith has announced Alberta will hold a non-binding referendum on Oct. 19, on whether to hold a binding referendum on whether Alberta should separate.
The question will be: "Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?"
Since we'll be facing five months of uncertainty until the vote — to be followed by more uncertainty if most Albertans opt for a second referendum — we suggest heeding the wise old saying, "Keep calm and carry on."
However, we got here due to Smith and the volatile nature of Alberta politics; we are where we are.
While the rest of Canada should take this development seriously, now is not the time to panic. We expect Prime Minister Mark Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and leaders and MPs of all federal parties — except for the separatist Bloc Québécois — to make the case for Canada over the next five months.
We expect Smith and United Conservative Party members of Alberta's legislative assembly to campaign on behalf of the province remaining in a united Canada, without equivocation. If any of them cannot do so in good conscience, they should publicly declare it.
We urge Canada's premiers to stay out of Alberta's decision beyond expressing support for a united Canada. Ultimately, we expect Carney and Smith to make the case for keeping Canada united by demonstrating to Albertans and Canadians that the memorandum of understanding between them to build a new bitumen pipeline from the oilsands to tidewater in B.C. signals a genuine new era of federal-Alberta relations. That is, one not marred by the decades-old attitude and tactics of federal Liberal governments, which have been to campaign against Alberta to secure votes in Ontario and Quebec.
