Danielle Smith, Scott Moe shut down Elon Musk’s calls for provinces to separate: ‘No’

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have rejected billionaire Elon Musk’s suggestion that the provinces should separate from Canada.

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The world’s richest man made the comments on the social media platform X, which he owns along with Tesla and SpaceX, on Wednesday.

Replying to a post from prediction market platform Polymarket, which was reporting on incoming Quebec premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s pledge that Quebec independence would one day be achieved, the 55-year-old billionaire wrote: “Good. Quebec should separate.”

In a follow-up post, he added: “They would be better off. Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.”

They would be better off.

Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2026

On Monday, the Parti Québécois won a minority government in Quebec, less than two weeks before Alberta holds a referendum that could pave the way for its own independence vote.

On Wednesday afternoon, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe quote-replied to Musk’s post, simply writing: “No.”

Smith has also publicly disagreed with Musk’s suggestion. Speaking to the Leduc, Nisku and Wetaskiwin Chamber of Commerce Wednesday afternoon about the upcoming referendum, she said remaining in Canada is the best path forward.

“I am going to do whatever I can to convince as many Albertans as possible that Canada can work and hopefully win them over to that view,” said Smith. “That’s because the fight to make Canada work for Alberta is producing results. When Alberta stood up and spoke out and refused to back down, the rest of the country started listening. That’s why I believe our best days are still ahead, as a strong Alberta within a united Canada.”

In May, Smith announced the Alberta government will present a referendum question on independence to voters after a pair of petitions from grassroots organizations Forever Canada and Stay Free Alberta gathered more than 700,000 signatures.

On Oct. 19, voters in Alberta will have the chance to answer the question: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

In Saskatchewan, however, Moe has previously suggested his province is not interested in separation, saying at the Western Premiers’ meeting in  Alberta in May: “We support a strong and growing province of Saskatchewan with the united nation of Canada.”

At the same meeting he defended Alberta’s separatism vote question, saying that Smith is “following the law.” Though he added: “It’s beneficial for Alberta to remain in Canada.”

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Musk, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, has waded into Canadian separatism.

In April, he agreed with an X user who argued Alberta independence was the only way to save the province. And last year he declared that “Canada is not a real country” in a since-deleted post responding to a House of Commons petition seeking to revoke his Canadian citizenship.

Musk was born in South Africa, but his mother was born and raised in Saskatchewan, where he spent time working on a family farm as a teenager before attending Queen’s University in Ontario.

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