Stockwell Day supports Alberta vote on separation, warns it's dangerous for Tories

Day supports Alberta vote

Photo: The Canadian Press

Stockwell Day, then international trade minister, speaks to media in Prague, Czech Republic, on Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Day says he thinks Alberta should hold a referendum on separating from Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Former Okanagan Conservative member of Parliament Stockwell Day says Alberta separatism poses a threat to the federal Conservative party — which risks seeing a return to the kind of vote-splitting that was common before the party united in 2003.

Day, who was part of Stephen Harper's cabinet from 2006 to 2011, says he's "as outraged and upset" as the people behind the Alberta separation movement and he thinks holding a referendum is a good idea.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government introduced a bill earlier this month to make it easier to launch a citizen-initiated referendum — including a vote on separating from Canada.

The legislation has faced backlash from Indigenous leaders, who say that no such referendum vote could overturn the treaties that cover much of the province.

Day says he doesn't think separatists would get 50 per cent support from Albertans in a referendum.

But he says the federal Liberal government needs to listen to Western Canadians who feel they aren't getting a fair deal from Ottawa.