Poilievre Emphasizes Unity After Former Reform Leader Manning Suggests Liberal Win Will Spur Western Separation

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre visits Cancoil, a manufacturer of commercial refrigeration products, to hold a press conference in Kingston, Ont., on April 3, 2025. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he is in favour of Canadian unity when asked whether he agreed with comments from former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, who suggested that a Liberal win would fuel Western secession.

“We need to bring all Canadians together in a spirit of common ground,” Poilievre said at a campaign stop in Kingston, Ont., on April 3. “What we need is a new Conservative government that will unite Canadians.”

Poilievre was commenting on an April 2 opinion piece Manning wrote for The Globe and Mail, in which the former Opposition leader said that if the Liberal Party wins a fourth term, it would undermine national unity.

“Large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it,” Manning wrote, saying that this is the result of the Liberal government’s “mismanagement” of national affairs and “failure” to address the concerns of Western Canadians.

“The support for Western secession is therefore growing, unabated and even fuelled by Liberal promises to reverse many of their previous positions.” He added that “voters, particularly in central and Atlantic Canada, need to recognize that a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession—a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it.”

Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning at a conference in Ottawa on Feb. 9, 2018. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Making a reference to the party he founded in the 1980s, Manning said that unlike then, currently “there is no Reform Party to redirect that populist energy in a ‘West Wants In’ direction.”

Manning was the founder and leader of the Reform Party of Canada, which evolved into the Canadian Alliance and later merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today’s Conservative Party of Canada.

Poilievre did not directly comment on whether a Liberal win would lead to Western separation, instead highlighting what he sees as the Liberals’ negative record over the past three terms and outlining how his government would address it.

“Let’s unite our nation, because after the lost Liberal decade of blocking resource jobs, driving half a trillion dollars out of our economy to the U.S., taxing away our workers, and selling out our country, we can’t give the Liberals a fourth term in power,” Poilievre said. For their part, the Liberals say that Poilievre’s team has “no experience or plan to protect our economy,” and that Carney would make Canada “the strongest economy in the G7.

‘National Unity Crisis’

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last month suggested that an “unprecedented national unity crisis” could arise if the next prime minister fails to address specific demands from her province, including the removal of climate policies such as the Impact Assessment Act and the oil and gas emissions cap.

The Alberta government has opposed many of Ottawa’s policies, arguing they overstep provincial jurisdiction and challenging some of them in court. Ottawa has maintained it has the authority to address issues of national concern such as climate change.

Smith recently said that if her province’s demands aren’t addressed, she would consider setting up a panel to consult Albertans on the province’s next steps.

A group of Albertans is sending a delegation to Washington this year to gauge U.S. support for the province’s independence. The proposed delegation includes two former MPs, a lawyer, and business leaders. The group is also pushing for a referendum later this year.

In his April 2 op-ed, Manning said the support for Western secession is currently centred on Alberta and Saskatchewan, but that “it has the potential to spread to most of B.C., Manitoba and the adjacent territories depending on how it is organized and led.”

Manning suggests organizing what he calls a “Canada West Constitutional Conference” after the federal election.

He says that, if there is a “genuinely new federal government,” the focus of such a forum should be on finding ways to cooperate with Ottawa and negotiate U.S.–Canada trade relations. However, he adds that if the Liberals win, the conference agenda “should be to consider ways and means of peacefully seceding.”

When asked about Manning’s op-ed, British Columbia Premier David Eby said on April 3 he was “deeply disappointed” after reading it, arguing the piece suggests “the path forward is to break up the country” amid what he describes as a growing sense of “Canadian patriotism.”

“I just can’t fathom that mindset,” Eby told a press conference. “In this moment where we’re all coming together, to try to rip the country apart, drive divisions. We need to stick together and be successful as Canadians.”

Meanwhile, in her latest push to assert provincial autonomy, Smith has proposed collaborating with Quebec, noting that both provinces have a shared interest in “countering overreach by the federal government” in matters of provincial jurisdiction.

“I see an opportunity before us, as the democratically elected leaders of Alberta and Quebec, to chart a path toward a new era in Canadian federalism,” Smith said in a March 21 letter to Quebec Premier François Legault.

When asked about those wanting Alberta to separate from Canada, Smith said earlier this week that she loves Canada but that the country needs to also “start working for Alberta.”

“It’s not right now,” she said.