SHERBROOKE, Quebec (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada’s future will be decided by Canadians, pushing back on Elon Musk's call for Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan to separate from Canada.
“The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” Carney said when asked about Musk’s comments.
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Carney said Canadians should be free to live according to their languages and cultures, without interference "from foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do."
Musk weighed in on Canada’s separatist debates Wednesday in a post on X about Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose separatist Parti Québécois won Monday’s provincial election.
The PQ’s victory was not a mandate for independence. The party won about 28% of the popular vote and fell short of a majority of the seats in the Quebec legislature. Support for Quebec independence remains at about 30%, said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. He said the election was driven more by a desire to oust the Coalition Avenir Québec government than by support for separation.
“Good. Quebec should separate,” Musk wrote, adding that “They would be better off. Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.”
Alberta is scheduled to hold a vote Oct. 19 on whether the province should remain in Canada or move toward a future referendum on separation. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she will vote to remain in Canada.
Smith said Thursday that separatist sentiment in her province has weakened as her government and Carney’s have worked to address Albertans’ concerns.
“The federal government has changed. Their approach to us has changed and they’re willing to work together on addressing those issues,” Smith said in Edmonton.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe responded to Musk on X with a single word: “No.”
Musk, the world’s richest man and first-ever trillionaire, is a South African-born Canadian-American.
