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And the day before Carney went to Trump’s White House, Smith once again encouraged separation, in her soft-spoken, did-she-just-say-that way.

“There are thousands of Albertans who are so frustrated with the last 10 years of Ottawa’s attacks on their friends’ and family’s livelihoods that they feel Alberta would be stronger and more prosperous as an independent nation,â€� said Smith. “That is an understandable and justifiable feeling to have, even if we disagree on what to do about it. These Albertans are not traitors, nor should they ever be treated as such. They just love their province and family, and want a better future than the one Ottawa is offering them right now.â€�

Smith failed to mention that oil production is at record highs in Alberta, but did imply federal policies are killing Albertans and their families. God, it was disingenuous. All separatists are, by definition, traitors to their country. At least Quebec separatists were fairly straightforward: they wanted to break up Canada and go it alone. Smith, meanwhile, half-pretends she is a bystander. It’s like hearing an arsonist say, I am not in control of the fire I set because that fire will follow its own path, but I will respect the fire’s decision.

And the fire is a worry. Yes, the number of Albertans who support separatism hovers around 25 to 30 per cent in most polls. No, Alberta could not unilaterally secede, even with a yes vote. Yes, treaties with First Nations are a . There are plenty of barriers, and it’s possible that losing a referendum puts the idea to bed for a generation or two. That’s the best case.

And yes, maybe this is all a big dumbshow to distract from Smith’s problems: an easy-to-follow, hard-to-escape health-care scandal, deeply electoral changes, a tax cut just before WTI oil prices plummeted earlier this year, and a potential recession yet to come. Watch for an early election, maybe.

Whatever the reason, it’s the reckless, dangerous stuff of modern right-wing populism: a weakening of the country at a critical time, and a bug light for foreign interference. As Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi put it on Ryan Jespersen’s , “They just pick fights all the time because that’s what keeps their base excited and keeps their base going. But when you start picking these fights all the time, you start something you might not be able to control.â€� Nenshi, coincidentally, says he was in the room when then-British prime minister David Cameron told European leaders that he was going to go ahead with the Brexit referendum. Nobody expected Brexit to win.

Quebec’s flirtation with separation damaged the province’s economy, and especially Montreal. Brexit kicked the crap out of the British economy for no good reason. Trump’s first election was a national cry for help; his second election might yet become a national murder-suicide pact.

And at a time when an Albertan prime minister has signalled more openness to fossil fuel expansion than at any point in decades, here comes Smith with a clumsy attempt at a better federal-provincial deal. In Washington, Carney was asked about a referendum, and was disappointingly soft: “Well, Canada is stronger when we work together,” he said. “As an Albertan, I firmly believe that you can always ask a question, but I know what I would respond to it with.â€� He was slightly better in French, but he’ll need to do better than that.

Canada still has a right-wing grievance problem. Smith’s United Conservative Party, like B.C.’s Conservative party on one side and the Saskatchewan Party on the other, is increasingly unmooring itself from the real world, but is very sensitive if you mention it. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has parachuted into an Alberta riding that might include strong support for separation. And now Smith is playing with matches in the country’s biggest gas station. 

At least Doug Ford, when he’s not proposing tunnels to nowhere, has it right. But it’s difficult enough that Carney has to deal with Trump’s unhinged threats to erase the border, or break the country. With Smith, the call comes from inside the house.