EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith on Friday returned to active duty at the legislature for the first time in 2026, and immediately addressed the separatist sentiment her own party has been cultivating for the better part of a decade by asking everyone to "take a deep breath" and "trust the process."

"We are not leaving Canada," the Premier said, during a press conference held in front of a banner that read, in part, Alberta's Future Is Ours To Decide. The banner was not asked to clarify.

The Premier's remarks were intended to reassure markets, federal counterparts, and members of her own caucus who had begun briefing reporters that they could not actually picture what separation would look like in practice. Several backbenchers were reportedly relieved to learn that the Premier did not, in fact, intend to declare independence over the long weekend.

Pressed on whether the increased separatist rhetoric within the UCP was a problem, the Premier said that the rhetoric reflected Albertans' "legitimate frustrations," and that she would not be telling those Albertans to be quiet, which would be undemocratic. Asked whether she would be telling them to be quieter, she said she would consider it, then changed the subject to the federal government.

Government insiders described the Premier's approach as "having it both ways," noting that the Premier appeared to want to be the responsible adult who tells everyone to calm down, while also continuing to be the person making them stop being calm in the first place. One staffer, speaking on background, said the strategy was "high risk, high reward, and also possibly the actual point of the whole party."

The Premier is expected to address the issue further in a televised address next week, in which she will reportedly clarify that Alberta remains committed to confederation, the country, the institutions, and "all the parts of Canada that don't require us to do anything we don't want to."