{"id":105199,"date":"2026-05-28T08:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105199"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:30:14","slug":"alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta premier wins standoff with party over position on provincial separation vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson A standoff between Premier Danielle Smith and her own United Conservative Party on the issue of separation is over \u2014 and the premier has won. Premier Smith and party president Rob Smith had been at odds over where they stand on Alberta staying in Canada ahead of a fall referendum on the matter. The premier said Wednesday she wants Alberta to stay in Confederation, while the party president, who is not related to premier, said earlier this week the party would not pick a side leading up to the vote. Premier Smith told QR Calgary and 880 CHED that when it comes to the United Conservatives, her word is the last word, and the party&#8217;s official position is that it wants Alberta to stay&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F28%2Falberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson A standoff between Premier Danielle Smith and her own United Conservative Party on the issue of separation is over \u2014 and the premier has won. Premier Smith and party president Rob Smith had been at odds over where they stand on Alberta staying in Canada ahead of a fall referendum on the matter. The premier said Wednesday she wants Alberta to stay in Confederation, while the party president, who is not related to premier, said earlier this week the party would not pick a side leading up to the vote. Premier Smith told QR Calgary and 880 CHED that when it comes to the United Conservatives, her word is the last word, and the party&#8217;s official position is that it wants Alberta to stay... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F28%2Falberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alberta premier wins standoff with party over position on provincial separation vote - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alberta premier wins standoff with party over position on provincial separation vote - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson A standoff between Premier Danielle Smith and her own United Conservative Party on the issue of separation is over \u2014 and the premier has won. Premier Smith and party president Rob Smith had been at odds over where they stand on Alberta staying in Canada ahead of a fall referendum on the matter. The premier said Wednesday she wants Alberta to stay in Confederation, while the party president, who is not related to premier, said earlier this week the party would not pick a side leading up to the vote. Premier Smith told QR Calgary and 880 CHED that when it comes to the United Conservatives, her word is the last word, and the party&#8217;s official position is that it wants Alberta to stay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T12:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/28\\\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/28\\\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Alberta premier wins standoff with party over position on provincial separation vote\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T12:30:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/28\\\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":962,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/28\\\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/28\\\/alberta-premier-wins-standoff-with-party-over-position-on-provincial-separation-vote\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alberta premier wins standoff with party over position on provincial separation vote - 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