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The bid to boost the economy and promote national unity comes as the prime minister has pledged to eliminate all federal barriers to interprovincial trade by July 1.

“Prime Minister Carney did a really good job in really reaching out to the West,” Premier Doug Ford, chair of the Council of the Federation, told reporters Wednesday at Queen’s Park after a one-hour virtual first ministers’ meeting.

“I was pretty blunt. I said, ‘You know, it’s time that your government starts showing some love to Saskatchewan and Alberta, because … the last prime minister showed no love, matter of fact, to the contrary,” Ford said of Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

“So it’s nice that we’re heading out there to Saskatchewan for (a first minsters’) meeting … which is a good olive branch, and had a good discussion,” he said.

“The way we’re going to unite this country — as I mentioned to the prime minister in front of the premiers — show some love to the people of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and let’s start diversifying our trade when it comes to oil.”

Ford said the premiers praised Carney on his high-stakes meeting Tuesday at the White House with Trump.

“We all congratulated him … how well he did yesterday and the restraint he showed. I don’t think I’d have the restraint that he had yesterday, to be very frank, but in saying that, I think it’s a good start on a new relationship,” said the premier.

Ford also downplayed tensions with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who last week introduced legislation to lower the threshold for triggering a referendum on separation or other issues.

It would enable a plebiscite to be held after a petition signed by 10 per cent of eligible voters in the most recent election, down from the previous bar of 20 per cent.

As well, the time period to collect the necessary signatures — around 177,000 — would be extended to 120 days from 90.

Both Carney and Ford have expressed concern about opening such a can of worms, mindful that two such divisive and debilitating referendums were held in Quebec in 1980 and 1995.

While Smith insisted she does not want Alberta to separate, she said a decade of Liberal government in Ottawa has hobbled her province’s oil and gas sector and exacerbated Western alienation.

In an interview Wednesday with Vassy Kapelos on CTV’s “Power Play,” the Alberta premier conceded she would abide by a vote for her province to secede.

“I will respect the outcome of citizen initiated referenda and that’s why it’s my job to make sure it doesn’t get to that point. I want Canada to be strong and united, and for provincial jurisdiction to be respected, and that’s what I’ll be working toward,” she said.

Smith had bristled Tuesday at Ford’s comments opposing a vote on separation.

“I don’t tell him how he should run his province and I would hope that he doesn’t tell me how I should run mine,” she said.

For his part, Ford said “there’s this big, big misnomer that we don’t get along. I could call her up right now and say, ‘You know, come to Toronto. We’ll be going out for lunch.’ 

“So there’s not this big rift that everyone’s playing out. I just want to support the people of Alberta and Saskatchewan. They’ve been ignored for a decade now and I support them.”

To improve Canada’s economy and national unity Ford stressed new pipelines will have to be built to get Alberta oil and gas to market.

“I’m a big believer of pipelines,” he said. “Let’s start building pipelines west, east, north and, yes, south as well.”

On eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, Ontario has inked deals with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and memorandums of understanding are expected soon with Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island.

“Even Danielle, we’re texting back and forth, and she wants to sign (a memorandum of understanding) too,” said Ford.

Goldy Hyder, head of the Business Council of Canada, said in an interview that CEOs of Canada’s biggest companies believe that Carney handled the meeting with Trump well, but they want a renewed focus on the trilateral free trade pact.

Hyder said Carney should invite Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to the G7 summit next month in Alberta, where the three North American leaders could meet on the sidelines and “give direction to our trade negotiators to commence the process of reviewing and extending the USMCA.”

The Prime Minister’s Office would not confirm whether Carney has or will invite Sheinbaum to the G7 summit that begins June 15.

Nor would the PMO disclose next steps with the Trump administration, after the prime minister told reporters Tuesday that “we began the renegotiation of our trading relationship today.”

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet gave backhanded praise to Carney’s performance with Trump, saying his expectations weren’t high: “Don’t shame us in front of the president. Stand your ground. I believe he did that.”

However, Blanchet also noted that Carney did not get a “better deal on tariffs,” and failed to convince the president to drop a proposal to make Canada his country’s 51st state.