Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he is opposed to Alberta sovereignty but understands the frustration in the province that is driving the possibility.

He spoke about the issue Tuesday as he commented on the new federal cabinet announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“I’m against separation. I’m a born and raised Albertan. I love Canada. I think we need to unite this country,” Mr. Poilievre said.

Albertans have many legitimate grievances, he said, including its energy industry being under attack by the federal government through such measures as industrial carbon pricing.

“Frankly Albertans have a right to be frustrated,” Mr. Poilievre said. “I think the message to the government in Ottawa, the Liberal government, is you can’t tell Alberta to just pay up and shut up.”

He said he intends to be a unifying force for the province.

Mr. Poilievre, who lost his Ottawa-area seat on election day, will run in a by-election in the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, where voters elected Conservative Damien Kurek on April 28 with 82.8 per cent of the vote. Mr. Kurek has announced he will step down so Mr. Poilievre can run in the riding.

Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she does not support the secession of her province from Canada, but added “demonizing” the growing number of her constituents who do is not the way forward.

Ms. Smith has been dealing with a noisy separatist movement that grew in rancour after last month’s federal election.

She said she would support any citizen-led petition that gets the number of signatures required to trigger a referendum, even if it puts forward the question of Alberta’s separation.

Western discontent is a growing problem after Liberal election victory

In neighbouring Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe has said he is not interested in seeing his province separate from Canada but that he, too, wouldn’t stop a public vote on the issue if it came forward.

In Ottawa, Mr. Poilievre also criticized Mr. Carney’s cabinet choices, which he says include 14 notable Trudeau-era ministers.

“It’s more of the same when Canada needs real change,” he said.

Ms. Smith also took aim at the cabinet appointments, saying they are reflective of the same federal policies from previous Liberal governments that she contends have “damaged” Alberta’s economic growth over the past decade.

“Albertans will not stand for the status quo from Ottawa,” Ms. Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “If the Prime Minister is serious about resetting the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta then we need meaningful action now, not more of the same.”

Mr. Poilievre said his Conservatives will work with the federal government when the government has good ideas.

“The previous government, to be frank, was a disaster. We had every reason to oppose basically everything they did,” he said.

But now he said his party will not oppose everything the government does. “When they are right, we’ll stand with them,” he said, specifically referring to talks with the United States. “When they are wrong, we will oppose them.”

Mr. Carney and Ms. Smith held their first meeting shortly after the federal election. Ms. Smith said Mr. Carney had assured her that he was on the same page as her about intentions to rapidly advance nation-building projects.

“I gave the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt,” Ms. Smith said. “We wanted to see whether he would take decisive and meaningful action to repair the relationship between Alberta and Ottawa or if this was just more hollow rhetoric that Albertans have become accustomed to.”

However, she said, Mr. Carney’s new pick for Environment Minister, Julie Dabrusin, is a matter of concern for Alberta.

“Not only is she a self-proclaimed architect of the designation of plastics as toxic,” Ms. Smith said, “but she is a staunch advocate against oil sands expansion, proponent of phasing out oil and gas, and for the last four years she has served as the right hand to former environment minister and militant environmentalist, Steven Guilbeault.”

Mr. Guilbeault is remaining in cabinet as Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture. He is also responsible for official languages.

Mr. Moe congratulated the lone Liberal MP elected in Saskatchewan, Buckley Belanger, for his appointment as Secretary of State for Rural Development.

Pointing out that Mr. Belanger is the first federal member of cabinet from his province since 2019, Mr. Moe wrote on social media that he looks forward to working with him “to build a stronger Saskatchewan within a strong Canada.”

Mr. Carney also named new Edmonton MP Eleanor Olszewski as Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience and Minister for Prairies Economic Development Canada.