Global News Edmonton has reported:

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada expects foreign governments, including the United States, to stay out of Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum. Speaking to Global News in Calgary on Thursday morning, he said Canada’s expectations were “absolutely clear” and called protecting the integrity of elections at every level of government “fundamental.”

The referendum includes a question on whether Albertans want to begin the legal process to hold a binding vote on separating from Canada. Carney said the principle should apply to elections in both countries. “Our expectation, to be absolutely clear, on foreign governments, United States included, is we don’t get ourselves involved in their elections, they don’t get themselves in our elections,” he said.

He urged Albertans to vote and make their views heard. “Fundamental point: the way to ensure there’s no foreign interference in an election is to get out and vote in the election, and let’s have the voices of Albertans heard,” Carney said.

The prime minister was in Alberta ahead of the vote. The separation issue has dominated the province’s politics for more than a year, amid concerns that foreign actors may be supporting the separatist cause. Leading figures in the separatist movement have said they travelled to the United States to seek assistance from the State Department.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has publicly described Alberta as a “natural partner” for the United States. Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik, has accused Carney of collapsing trade talks to gain “leverage” over the separatist movement.

Carney said Canadian national security agencies are actively monitoring possible covert foreign interference in the referendum, but he did not provide specifics. “It’s fundamental to ensure the integrity of all our elections, whether it’s municipal, this referendum, national, provincial elections … Our national security agencies are very active in monitoring potential foreign interference,” he said. “Ultimately … there’s a limit to what I can say, given the codes, but there’s active involvement in that.”

Carney also appealed directly to Albertans to vote against starting the formal separation referendum process. He pointed to recent federal project announcements in the province, including a new pipeline called the Pacific Link to the British Columbia coast, and said Alberta could move forward within Canada.

As a warning about the possible costs of uncertainty, Carney cited the Brexit referendum, which took place while he was governor of the Bank of England. “It wasn’t clear what Brexit meant at the time people made that vote. And for the next few years, while that was being determined, there was huge uncertainty, investments stopped, the economy started to underperform,” he said.

Carney said the British economy is now “at least 10 per cent lower than it would otherwise be.” He added: “We’re taking thousands and thousands of dollars of earnings that people are giving up, higher taxes, higher debt on the government.”

He said Alberta could instead “boldly move forward” as a province within Canada. “The world’s opening up to Canada. Let’s take advantage of it. Or take another path, which is not the one I recommend, which is (to) subject ourselves to uncertainty, slower economy, higher debt, higher taxes, and missed opportunity,” Carney said.