Pierre Poilievre has retreated to a safe Alberta seat after losing his Ottawa one to the Liberals. Of course, he will win by a comfortable majority. But in the meantime he’ll have to figure out what to do about the ticking time bomb he’s been handed by the Alberta premier.

The day after the election and before Conservative party leader Poilievre had decided where to run, Danielle Smith introduced amendments to legislation that would make it easier for groups to trigger referenda. The number of signatures required on a petition would be about 177,000 compared to the 600,000 needed now. That would make it so much easier to have a referendum on separation from the rest of Canada. Or maybe becoming the 51st U.S. state.

Smith seems to want to facilitate a referendum on separation while playing coy about whether she supports Alberta separating from the rest of Canada or not. And of course holding a referendum on the subject will distract Albertans from pressing issues, such as the sinking price of oil, which affects government coffers and the government’s role in a health care scandal that seems to get worse by the week.

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It will be interesting to see how Pierre Poilievre handles that. He couldn’t possibly support separation from the rest of Canada now being promoted by a small band of fanatics. Doing so would destroy what turned out to be a healthy level of support for Conservatives in the rest of Canada. That’s not what they signed up for. Even most Conservatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan.