A report says separatist leaders spoke with U.S. officials about exchanging water and oil for American support, as well as discussing software designed to identify and mobilize voters with Republican strategists in Calgary. Federal NDP MP Heather McPherson joins Alberta Primetime’s Michael Higgins to discuss the situation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Michael Higgins: You’ve called this a national emergency, a dangerous moment for our country. You’ve risen at least twice in the House this week, by my count, addressing the issue, including a call for an emergency debate. What warrants that degree of urgency? Heather McPherson: I don’t think that the federal government is taking what we are hearing from Alberta seriously enough. We literally have separatists in Alberta, two weeks out of a provincial referendum, that are offering to the United States, to MAGA Republicans, our water, our royalties from oil. This is traitorous behaviour. And the misinformation, the disinformation, the fact that that Republicans and bad actors from the U.S., from Russia, from other places, could be and likely are impacting our democracy during a referendum that has dire consequences on the sovereignty of our nation, at a moment in time when the U.S. is also threatening our sovereignty, I can’t imagine something that is deemed more of a national emergency. MH: Your request for that emergency debate was denied. But, realistically, what could the government do beyond simply encouraging Albertans to get out and vote in this referendum? HM: The federal government has many tools at its disposal. The RCMP, CSIS, other investigative tools that they have. Parliamentarians, lawmakers in this country, should be able to have an opportunity to ask questions of the government of what they know, what is being done. When you look at almost 3,000,000 Albertans having their data stolen and given to operatives in the United States, I want to understand what the federal government is doing to ensure that foreign interference is not happening, that it’s not happening in this referendum, and what steps are being taken by the federal government to prevent that. Right now the government could be doing more, I have said this time and time again. I would like to see the federal government step up, and not just on the separation question, on the other nine questions that are ridiculous questions about constitutionality that are completely out of the scope of the provincial government. Or immigration questions, which I find to be extraordinarily racist and dangerous. Frankly, if the provincial government can spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money to send out misinformation to Albertans, I would certainly hope the federal government could step up and actually share some facts with Albertans to give them the information that they require when they go to the ballot boxes on Oct. 19. MH: On that point of stepping up with, as you point out, less than two weeks to go, what message are you looking to hear from the government, from the prime minister himself? How should that message be delivered? HM: I want to feel reassured, I think all Albertans do. We even had news today that Elections Alberta has already identified over 3,000 ballots that won’t be counted because they were incorrectly done. We are asking Elections Alberta to undertake a task that they are vastly underfunded for, to undertake a task that has never been done to this scale and scope in Canadian history, to do it without enough staff. And then they have had one hand tied behind their back because Danielle Smith has changed the rules. Every one of those ballots has to be hand counted. We’re one of the only jurisdictions in the world that still does that. This is a dangerous moment in time, and the federal government can play and should play an important role. Mark Carney needs to be speaking about why those nine questions are so dangerous. He needs to be speaking about what is being done by the federal government with all of the tools that they have to prevent misinformation and disinformation to continue to chip away at our democracy and at our sovereignty. MH: Factoring into the government’s response, designating what’s now being called Pacific Link Pipeline a project of national interest. Can you explain your party’s positioning on this? HM: The fact is that the prime minister thinks that by giving Danielle Smith what she wants, that somehow that will appease the separatists. That’s not going to happen, that’s not going to work. I can’t say this enough, I’ve pushed the prime minister to protect our health-care system. I’ve pushed the prime minister to make sure he is standing up for trans kids and others that Daniel Smith has been attacking, the use of the notwithstanding clause against teachers. There are things I think the prime minister could do to make sure that all Albertans recognise the value of being in Canada. But it is not going to address the actual problems that we have with separatists meeting with Republicans, offering our water, offering our royalties from our natural resources. That’s not going to stop the separatists from what they are doing, from the misinformation, the disinformation, the illegal stealing of data from Albertans and giving it to Republican operatives. There is no way, there is no path where Mark Carney can give anything to Danielle Smith that will, in fact, stop her and stop the separatist republic from what they’re doing. MH: Is it that your party does not want the pipeline to go ahead? HM: I have some problems with the fact that we are spending $40 billion on a pipeline that the prime minister himself promised was going to be built with a private proponent, and then that’s not the case. We are being told different stories at different times, I think that’s a challenge. I think the consultations with Indigenous people that are going to be impacted need to be considered. I’ve been very vocal about my opposition to Bill C5 and C39, which take away all of the impact assessment requirements, the Indigenous consultation in a meaningful way, and, frankly, take away workers’ rights in this province and across this country. So, I have some challenges with that, of course, but what I’m asking for in the House of Commons, and I’m going to raise this again with the speaker today, is that we have a debate so that Albertans can feel comfortable that the federal government has their back, is protecting them against the the misinformation, disinformation, and the foreign influence in our referendum.
