Will Danielle Smith steer Alberta away from separation, or will this train keep gathering steam? [Video]

When Premier Danielle Smith speaks, she’s still placing the Canadian flags behind her in among the Alberta provincial flags.

As much as critics insist she’s either a separatist herself or is opening the door wide to the Alberta secessionist movement by easing the rules to have a referendum next year, the premier herself maintains that she wants Alberta to stay within the country.

“Acknowledging something exists is not the same as fanning it,” Smith told the Alberta podcast Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen on Thursday. “My job is to make sure it doesn’t get higher. My job is to make sure it gets lower.”

But if the premier is determined to sway pro-separatists and keep the Ottawa-wary in the Canadian camp, did she help that cause with this week’s array of demands for Prime Minister Mark Carney to fulfil in the next six months? 

She’s calling for easy access to extend new oil and gas …