> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thewatchdog.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Previously Unseen Video Shows Danielle Smith Worried Alberta Separatism Was Gaining Traction With Calgary Business Elites - URL: https://www.thewatchdog.ca/previously-unseen-video-shows-danielle-smith-worried-alberta-separatism-was-gaining-traction-with-calgary-business-elites/ - Published: 2026-10-19T22:20:46.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-20T00:34:41.000Z - Description: Smith told conservative conference that separatist grievances were resonating with ‘establishment business people’, not just ‘cranky grassrooties’ - Author: Luke LeBrun - Tags: NEW Years before becoming Alberta’s premier and calling a referendum, Danielle Smith expressed concerns that separatist sentiments were beginning to resonate within influential business circles in Calgary. During a breakout panel at the right-wing Manning Centre’s 2019 conference, the future premier shared candid observations about the evolving threat posed by Alberta’s separatist movement. “I’ve watched the separatist movement rise and fall many times,” Smith told a sparsely filled room of political staffer and policy wonk types. “It’s always been the cranky grassrooties. Now we’ve got cranky grassrooties and establishment business people all asking the same questions.” [SIGN UP FOR THE WATCHDOG](https://www.thewatchdog.ca/signup/) Smith was moderating a panel at the conservative think tank’s conference that year focused on the question of Alberta separatism and a possible “Albexit.” The panel, titled “Breaking up is hard to do,” featured former federal Conservative cabinet minister Monte Solberg along with right-wing media personalities Lorne Gunter and Beryl Wajsman. Smith introduced the panel as a discussion focused on “understanding just how angry Albertans are and how close we are to seeing the nation dissolve.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/78/69/78691ad9-bb05-4bb9-84d7-bd327e74858a/content/images/2026/10/wd-image-01-10-2026-manning-centre-danielle-smith-separatism.jpg) Source: Manning Centre While the panel discussion centred on issues like federalism, equalization and pipelines, it also at times veered into the realm of the hypothetical (“if you subdivided Southern Alberta … it will become the 51st state within a matter of weeks,” Gunter mused in reply to one question from Smith about the possibility of partitioning Alberta). Video from the 2019 panel, which has not been published previously, shows that at the time Smith viewed Alberta’s separatist movement as a “great danger” and felt it needed to be taken more seriously. “There isn’t a true appreciation for how close we are to seeing this turn into something,” Smith told the room at Ottawa’s Westin Hotel. “I’m glad that some of you from outside Alberta are taking this seriously because this, I think, that is a great danger that I see.” Given she would later go on to become premier and call a referendum vote about initiating a legal-binding process toward Alberta independence, Smith’s remarks at the Manning Centre panel provide new insights into her thinking on the issue. Contrary to suggestions Smith simply [seeks to appease](https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/ucp-needs-a-question-on-separation-to-appease-voter-base-lukaszuk/?ref=thewatchdog.ca) the [fringe elements](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-alberta-separatism-went-from-fringe-cause-to-referendum?ref=thewatchdog.ca) within her party’s base, Smith’s comments suggest she was less worried by “the guys driving the tractors” than she was by influential Calgary business elites. Emphasizing a class dimension within the separatist movement, Smith shared one anecdote about a $350 per plate dinner she emceed at Calgary’s Petroleum Club, suggesting it illustrated that separatist sentiments were lately gaining traction with the city’s “business establishment”: > “I moderated an event a couple nights ago. Peter Zeihan wrote a book called ‘The Accidental Superpower’. In it, he had a chapter saying Alberta leaving Canada is inevitable. He wrote this five years ago, said because we have a young demographic, the rest of the country has an aging demographic, we already have an imbalance in transfers and with these tension points, Alberta won’t stay in. This room was packed. It was the Petroleum Club, which is not the guys driving the tractors, it was a $350 a plate dinner, and it had the business establishment in town — I’ve never seen that. I’ve watched the separatist movement rise and fall many times in politics, it’s always been the cranky grassrooties. Now we’ve got cranky grassrooties and establishment business people all asking the same questions.” 0:00 /0:46 1× 🗞️ subscribe to the watchdog for free **The Watchdog* keeps power in check by bringing stories of public concern to light. If you value our journalism, sign up to get our stories for free: [SIGN UP ](https://www.thewatchdog.ca/signup/) Smith later qualified her comments by claiming she later took a straw poll of the Petroleum Club, asking if they preferred to separate or “become the 51st state.” Smith claimed most were persuaded by her call to “negotiate a better deal” with Canada instead, a position that aligns with her messaging today. The Premier’s Office did not respond to a request from *The Watchdog* to clarify her past comments at the 2019 Manning Centre panel. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/78/69/78691ad9-bb05-4bb9-84d7-bd327e74858a/content/images/2026/10/WD-image-08-10-2026-danielle-smith-petroleum-club.jpg) Source: Canadian Global Affairs Institute Peter Zeihan, the speaker at the 2019 Petroleum Club event, said his memory of the event differs from how Smith characterized it. “I don’t recall any separatism-related specifics of that conversation,” Zeihan told *The Watchdog*, though he concedes this was “probably 900 presentations ago.” “Alberta as a separate country would NOT work,’” Zeihan stressed, explaining his general views at that time. “It would be landlocked and forced to negotiate from a weaker position with both the US and Canada.” “Few Albertans are chomping at the bit for an independent Alberta.” A recording of the Petroleum Club event retrieved by *The Watchdog* confirms that separation was not the main thrust of Zeihan’s speech nor did he advocate for the inevitability of separation. Although Zeihan did briefly raise the idea of separation in passing, he emphasized that the idea was unrealistic. “You have to be convinced that you can go it alone before you pull the trigger on this one,” Zeihan told the Petroleum Club. “I’m not sure that’s possible.” “Think about independence very carefully.” [SIGN UP FOR THE WATCHDOG](https://www.thewatchdog.ca/signup/) An [event page](https://www.cgai.ca/disruptors%5Fof%5Fthe%5F2020s?ref=thewatchdog.ca) from the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, the Calgary think tank that organized the event, shows the Petroleum Club event was sponsored by oil companies, developers, wealth management and corporate law firms. Photos suggest attendance was somewhere around 150 to 200 people, just under the [listed 250 capacity](https://archive.ph/wip/PQwbI?ref=thewatchdog.ca) for the Petroleum Club’s “Devonian” grand ballroom. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/78/69/78691ad9-bb05-4bb9-84d7-bd327e74858a/content/images/2026/10/WD-image-07-10-2026-danielle-smith-petroleum-club.jpg) Source: Canadian Global Affairs Institute Calgary’s Chamber of Commerce, which is [actively campaigning](https://archive.is/wip/8tslB?ref=thewatchdog.ca) for Alberta to stay in Canada, reports that [nearly half of the organization’s members could leave Alberta](https://calgarychamber.com/whats-new/release-half-of-calgary-chamber-members-are-likely-to-relocate-business-if-alberta-separation-process-moves-forward-policy/?ref=thewatchdog.ca) if separation moves forward. Many oil and gas companies, however, have been [staying out of the independence debate](https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/10/07/news/alberta-oil-gas-sector-referendum?ref=thewatchdog.ca). Several months after the Petroleum Club event, a number of Calgary business establishment people [made headlines](https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/braid-talk-of-alberta-exit-is-out-in-the-open-again?ref=thewatchdog.ca) musing about Alberta separating. During the 2019 federal election, the CEO of Calgary-based Whitecap Resources [shared a chain email](https://pressprogress.ca/calgary-oil-ceo-warns-workers-alberta-could-separate-from-canada-if-conservatives-lose-the-election/?ref=thewatchdog.ca) with the oil company’s workers warning Alberta could separate if Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives were defeated by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Smith herself penned a Calgary Herald column calling Alberta a [“national doormat,”](https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-alberta-heres-how-to-stop-being-a-national-doormat?ref=thewatchdog.ca) warning that the election could threaten national unity and urging then-premier Jason Kenney to take action to “stem the tide of Alberta separation.” Alberta's referendum on whether to initiate the process of separating from Canada is set to take place on [Monday, October 19](https://www.elections.ab.ca/elections/referendum/?ref=thewatchdog.ca). Polls have consistently shown around [two-thirds of Albertans would vote to remain](https://www.thewrit.ca/p/alberta-referendum-poll-tracker?ref=thewatchdog.ca).