Liberals announce $258.6M fund for skilled worker training in critical sectors
For the second day in a row, the federal government is announcing plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to train more skilled workers in Canada.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu is in her home riding of Thunder Bay today rolling out a plan to spend up to $258.6 million over the next five years to train workers in critical sectors, with annual funding of $50 million in the years to follow.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of a Sectoral Workforce Innovation Fund a little over a year ago and the government opened applications for the program in August.
The fund aims to fill the gaps between workers' skills and industry requirements in sectors like energy or critical minerals by funding projects that could speed up training or certification.
Hajdu's announcement comes a day after Ottawa unveiled $430 million in spending to help unions and other organizations cover costs for new training facilities and equipment.
The Liberals have announced billions of dollars in spending to train up to 100,000 new skilled workers over the next half decade to support the government's ambitious infrastructure agenda.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
By Craig Lord | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Carney to bring his pro-Canada campaign to Edmonton with referendum just days away
Prime Minister Mark Carney continues his pro-Canada campaign in Alberta as the clock ticks down to a referendum on whether the province should break up with Confederation.
He is set to visit Red Deer with Premier Danielle Smith today and later rally in Edmonton with the federalist group Forever Canadian.
Carney spoke Thursday at one of the group's rallies in Calgary, telling the crowd of roughly 5,000 that a vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that could lead to years of lost opportunities.
He says frustrations in Alberta are real but that Canada is working in the spirit of co-operative federalism.
Smith has put 10 questions on Monday's referendum, including one on whether Alberta should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding vote on leaving.
Meanwhile, Smith and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will both speak at a conference in Calgary about keeping Alberta in the Confederation fold.
With voters just days away from the polls, those who attended Thursday's rally said Albertans in favour of separation have valid concerns, but Canada is worth fighting for.
"We've got everything we need here and we're stronger together than we are apart," said Bill Chan, who lives in Calgary.
Chan said he heard from Carney's remarks a more "conciliatory" tone in how Ottawa would treat provinces and territories going forward, notably Alberta.
He also said parts of the prime minister's speech hit home.
"What he said about Canada being a country that was built historically by people banding together really stuck out for me," Chan said.
"Because if history is any guide, going separate ways has never proven to be as strong and as impactful as doing things together."
Carney told those gathered that the referendum comes at the worst possible time.
The world has grown more dangerous and divided, he said, and some outside Canada's borders were working to "break us so they can own us."
"At this pivotal moment, Albertans have a choice: to build a stronger Alberta and an even greater Canada to leave for our children or we can burden them with years of deep division and great uncertainty," he said.
"What we need is a decisive result on Monday to settle this question."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
— With files from Dayne Patterson in Calgary
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Quebec sovereigntists see fundamental rift with Alberta separatists
With just days before Alberta’s vote on an independence referendum, longtime Quebec sovereigntists are distancing themselves from the western province's separatists.
Question 10 of 10 on Monday’s referendum ballot asks whether Alberta should remain in Canada or if the government should start the legal process to hold a subsequent, binding referendum on separation.
Advance polls opened Tuesday and run until Saturday.
Quebecers may have a sense of déjà vu after voting on a similar question in 1980, when René Lévesque’s Parti Québécois asked whether the province should begin negotiations to leave Confederation. Nearly 60 per cent of Quebec voters were against Lévesque's proposal.
A second referendum followed in 1995, narrowly won by the "No" side. But ardent sovereigntists see profound differences in the two movements.
Marie-Anne Alepin, president of the Société St-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal, a prominent Quebec nationalist group, believes Alberta is using the threat of separatism as leverage in negotiations with Ottawa. She sees the referendum as a means of pressure rather than a genuine desire to form a country.
“They want a bigger role within Canada and we want to leave,” she said. “They want more control over their oil and gas … we don't want pipelines.”
But that hasn't stopped some leaders in the Alberta separatist movement from claiming common cause.
Quebec elected the PQ — which has promised a third independence referendum — to a minority government on Oct. 5, leading figures in the Alberta separatist movement to rally behind premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and declare him a possible ally.
"Quebec rejected the status quo today," wrote columnist Cory Morgan — a founding member of the Alberta Independence Party in 2001 — on social media after the PQ's victory. "Alberta can do the same in two weeks by choosing to send a message with Option 2 on Question 10.”
Alberta separatist Jeffrey Rath also took to social media the day after the provincial election, saying that "for the first time in history, Alberta Independence will have the support of the elected government of Quebec." He also congratulated St-Pierre Plamondon and "the country of Quebec."
The two, along with lawyer Keith Wilson, lamented that Quebec’s quest for independence is seen as legitimate while they say Alberta separatists are sneered at.
During a visit to Calgary last year, St-Pierre Plamondon said he would recognize an independent Alberta should the province vote to separate. Rath said he met with the PQ leader during that visit.
But while they believe in the democratic process of a referendum, many Quebec sovereigntists do not identify with the Alberta separatists.
Former PQ leader Jean-François Lisée did not mince words when asked about Monday’s referendum.
"It's mostly a waste because defeat is certain," he said. “There's really nothing much to gain from watching the Alberta independence movement, except maybe negative lessons."
It’s a feeling shared by other sovereigntists.
Louise Harel, who was a PQ minister during Quebec's 1995 sovereignty referendum and later served as interim leader of the party, agrees with Lisée. Both say the Quebec and Alberta sovereigntist movements are fundamentally different.
In their view, Quebec sovereigntists are motivated to preserve their cultural and linguistic identity, while Alberta separatists are motivated by the economy and political libertarianism. They also see a desire for Alberta to get closer to the United States, while Quebecers are wary of talk of assimilation.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has repeatedly said she is against secession, while PQ leaders have openly called for sovereignty.
"In Quebec, the idea is to give a unique historical nation in North America, which … has valiantly resisted assimilation, the powers it needs to survive in a globalized world,” said Harel. “But there is no such issue of identity or culture in Alberta.”
While sovereigntist Quebecers also feel economically disadvantaged within Canada, Lisée said, the sentiment isn’t at the core of the movement. He also stressed that Quebec's sovereigntist parties have historically been social-democrat, while the movement in Alberta seems tied to conservatism.
Daniel Turp, a Université de Montréal law professor who represented both the Bloc Québécois and the PQ, sees differences in the referendum process itself. Quebec’s two independence referendums included a single question on sovereignty.
As a result, there were mass mobilizations from both federalist and sovereigntist factions for weeks.
Public support for independence also varies widely between the two provinces.
On the eve of the 1995 referendum, public opinion was split evenly in the polls. Three days before Quebecers cast their ballots, Canadians from across the country made their way to Montreal to urge them to vote against independence.
Poll aggregator 338Canada shows less than 25 per cent support for Alberta to leave Canada as of Oct. 11.
“There hasn’t been a love-in in Alberta yet,” Turp said. “Maybe we’re not as worried because the polls show the option to remain will win.”
More than 90 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot in the 1995 referendum, which federalists won with 50.58 per cent of the vote.
“That’s the kind of voter turnout you see in countries where voting is mandatory,” said Harel. “I would be extremely surprised if voter turnout in the Alberta referendum were the same.”
But the sovereigntists do not reject the Alberta separatist movement entirely. All four said they sympathize with the desire for autonomy and self-determination.
"If Alberta were to vote yes, and then Ottawa would say, 'well, you can't leave,' we will be on the side of Alberta," said Lisée.
Harel added that while she does not see ideological similarities between separatists in Quebec and Alberta, the democratic process must be respected. She said that the Alberta referendum can give legitimacy to the one promised by the PQ.
Asked if they worry that a no vote on Monday could affect the PQ's promised referendum, all four said no.
Alepin believes the two movements are too different for Albertans to influence Quebecers’ appetite for sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Lisée predicts that “the defeat of the yes side in Alberta will be a negative but very insignificant factor in (Quebec's) referendum debate.”
If Alberta stays within Canada, Turp believes the province may be inspired by Quebec’s approach to negotiating more autonomy with Ottawa.
“And then they can organize a second referendum, like we did,” he added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
By Erika Morris | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.