---
title: "Elon Musk Told Two Canadian Provinces to Secede. The Premiers Said No"
description: "The world’s richest man endorsed Alberta and Saskatchewan independence on X; the response from Regina was one word"
author: "Nate Ledger"
published: 2026-10-08T16:12:28.917Z
modified: 2026-10-08T20:48:32Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/elon-musk-told-two-canadian-provinces-to-secede-the-premiers-a6a508
language: en
tags: ["trump", "separatism", "politics", "musk", "canada", "us", "world"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Elon Musk Told Two Canadian Provinces to Secede. The Premiers Said No

*The world’s richest man endorsed Alberta and Saskatchewan independence on X; the response from Regina was one word*

By Nate Ledger · October 8, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/elon-musk-told-two-canadian-provinces-to-secede-the-premiers-a6a508

On Wednesday, Elon Musk — trillionaire tech businessman, former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, owner of the platform formerly known as Twitter — looked at the Canadian political situation and decided to offer some product feedback. Reacting to a quote from Quebec premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who had said the province’s independence “will be realized one day,” Musk posted on X that Quebec would benefit from independence. So, he added, would Alberta and Saskatchewan. As a piece of market analysis this was notable mainly for being unsolicited: nobody in Edmonton or Regina had asked.

The response from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe arrived the same day, and [CBC News reports](https://cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-alberta-elon-musk-provincial-separation-9.7374079) it ran to one word: “No.” Moe was not available for an interview on Thursday, and his office said he had nothing to add to the post, which is a strategy more premiers should consider. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, according to the Canadian Press, said she also strongly disagrees with Musk’s opinion.

You can see why neither premier wanted the help. Moe believes Saskatchewan is stronger within a united Canada, though he has previously said he would not stop a referendum if enough signatures were gathered to trigger one. And Smith has her own delicate piece of machinery running: on October 19, Albertans vote on whether the province should stay in Canada or whether there should be a second, binding referendum on separation. That is, the referendum is about having a referendum — about whether to hold the vote Musk is already trying to call on social media. Smith has said she plans to vote to stay. [Recent polling suggests](https://rews.cc/a/the-referendum-that-woke-the-opposition-smith-s-gamble-lifts-37c231) the exercise is mostly reviving her opponents, so an endorsement from a foreign billionaire who used to advise the American president is roughly the last thing either camp needs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, asked about Musk’s comments while speaking in Quebec, said Canada’s future will be decided by Canadians, by the priorities of Canadians and by the people of Quebec. “A strong Canada means more independent, more sovereign, more prosperous,” he said, adding that Canada would be “free from foreign interference of foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.” That last clause is doing a lot of work: the prime minister of Canada just grouped the world’s richest man with hostile state actors as a category of thing Canada intends to be free of. One suspects the comma placement was deliberate.

The awkward backdrop is that separatists are, in fact, having a moment — just not a Musk-branded one. In Quebec, the sovereigntist Parti Québécois [won enough seats on Monday](https://rews.cc/a/quebec-s-separatists-return-to-power-promising-a-referendum--48eda4) to form a minority government, and St-Pierre Plamondon has vowed to hold a referendum — which is the quote that prompted Musk’s intervention in the first place. So the movement’s marquee endorsement this week arrived from a man in Texas, on a platform he owns, touting independence for two provinces whose premiers immediately declined it, on behalf of a country whose prime minister turned the endorsement into a speech about resisting foreign interference.

There is a version of political influence where money buys you a say. Then there is this, where money buys you the world’s loudest microphone and a one-word answer. Musk got the microphone. Moe got the last word, and it was “No.”