Global News Edmonton has reported:

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made a joint appeal Friday for Albertans to vote to remain in Canada, days before a referendum that could lead to a second, binding vote on separation. They appeared with other politicians at Red Hart Brewing in Red Deer, Alta., where Carney invoked author Charles Dickens to describe the moment facing the country and province. “We’re here in both the best and worst of times,” he said.

Albertans will vote Monday on whether the province should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on separation. The question about leaving Canada is one of 10 on the ballot. Smith called the referendum earlier this year, saying that discontent with past federal policies had reached a boiling point, with hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions both for and against remaining in Confederation.

Smith has said Albertans should decide the issue and that she favours a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. Earlier this week, she said she voted at an advance poll to stay in the country. At the brewery, she and Carney praised each other as sharp-eyed, flinty negotiators who stand up for their positions while seeking what is best for Canada.

The two leaders also pointed to progress on issues including a proposed fast-tracked oil pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast. “For the first time in a long time, Alberta and Canada are walking together,” Smith said. Their agreement does not extend to the other nine referendum questions, which Smith wants voters to endorse.

Those proposals seek more provincial control and rules around immigration, as well as a mandate to pursue constitutional changes that would transfer power from Ottawa. Smith has said she needs the mandate to negotiate a better deal with the federal government. Carney urged Albertans on Thursday to reject the nine proposals, and Smith said she would try to change his mind.

As the brewery crowd watched, Smith gave Carney an explanatory booklet about the questions. “I have bad news for you, prime minister, all of the premiers are interested in talking about immigration and how we might be able to reform it,” she said.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also in Alberta ahead of Monday’s vote. In a speech in Calgary earlier Friday, he said he understood separatist disillusionment with the state of affairs in Canada but argued that leaving was not the answer. “Quitting is the easy way out - and Albertans are not quitters,” Poilievre said. “We don’t just take our ball and go home. We don’t walk away. We stand and fight for what we believe in, and we reflect upon all that we have.”

Carney was scheduled to attend a Forever Canadian rally in Edmonton on Friday evening. On Thursday night, he spoke at another rally by the federalist group in Calgary, telling roughly 5,000 people that a vote against Canada was a dangerous bluff that could lead to years of lost opportunities. He said Alberta’s frustrations were real and that Canada was working in a spirit of co-operative federalism.

Polls have suggested a strong majority of Albertans will vote to stay in Canada, but leaders have warned that low voter turnout could open the way for separation to win. Albertans have been voting by mail and at advance polls for more than a week, with participation suggesting the final count could set a record.

Critics say Smith is not resolving a broad-based grievance. They argue that she has instead inflamed and validated latent fringe separatist sentiment, gambling with the country’s future to appease hardliners in her United Conservative Party. Smith has said a referendum is needed to settle the issue once and for all.