Oct 9, 2026
The world’s richest man weighed in on Canada’s future this week — and the prime minister didn’t take it quietly.
After Elon Musk posted that Quebec should separate from Canada, and that Alberta and Saskatchewan should follow, Prime Minister Mark Carney fired back. Canada’s future, he said, will be decided by Canadians, free from interference from foreign governments “and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.”
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The spat lands at a touchy moment. Quebecers just elected a sovereigntist government, and Albertans vote Oct. 19 on a question tied to separation. It’s also not the first time Canadian governments have clashed with Musk, and some of those clashes have already cost taxpayers money.
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What did Musk say and how did Carney respond?
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was reacting on Oct. 7 to a post on X about Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “Quebec should separate,” Musk wrote, adding “They would be better off.” He said Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.
Carney responded the next day while speaking to reporters in Sherbrooke, Que. “The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” he said. He named those priorities as affordability, social justice and the fight against homelessness — and building “a strong Quebec within a strong Canada.”
The Prairie premiers didn’t bite either. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s reply to Musk was simple: “No.” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government, caucus and party support Alberta remaining in Canada.
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Who actually decides whether a province can leave Canada?
So who gets the final say? Not a social media post and certainly not Elon Musk. Under the federal Clarity Act, the House of Commons must decide whether a provincial secession question is clear and whether a clear majority voted for it. Without both, Ottawa can’t negotiate.
Timing is also important. The Parti Québécois won a minority on Oct. 5 with about 28% of the popular vote. St-Pierre Plamondon has said he’d hold off on a referendum until 2029 or 2030, after President Donald Trump leaves office.
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Alberta’s Oct. 19 vote won’t separate the province either. Elections Alberta, the province’s independent elections agency, confirms the ballot asks whether Alberta should remain a province or start the legal process towards separation to hold a binding referendum later. Carney has said this non-binding vote doesn’t trigger the Clarity Act.
Are markets reacting to the separatism talk?
So far, not much. The Canadian dollar was little changed after Quebec’s election, according to online broker VT Markets.
Bond investors are paying closer attention. On election night, Quebec’s 30-year bonds traded more than 9 basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) above comparable Ontario debt, up from about 7 two weeks earlier. Many bond funds held in registered retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts own provincial bonds, so wider spreads can nudge prices of existing bonds lower.
For what separation itself could cost households, and how markets behaved during the 1995 referendum, see our breakdown of the University of Calgary study.
What does Carney’s ‘tech firms’ jab signal for Musk’s businesses in Canada?
Carney didn’t name Musk, specifically. But his reference to “large tech firms” follows more than a year of Canadian governments pulling back from Musk’s companies, with real costs attached.
Start with Starlink, the satellite internet service run by Musk’s SpaceX. Ontario cancelled a $100 million Starlink contract in 2025 that was meant to connect rural homes and businesses, citing Musk’s stance on the trade war. The province paid SpaceX a kill fee it called “significantly less than the contract value,” but the amount is confidential. The payout also doesn’t appear in Ontario’s latest public accounts.
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Ottawa may soon follow. Carney told The New York Times last month that Canada will reduce its reliance on Starlink. “Starlink, we will diversify away from, no question,” he said at the time.
Tesla has felt the chill too. In March 2025, Ottawa froze $43 million in Tesla claims under the federal Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles rebate program and barred Tesla vehicles from future rounds while U.S. tariffs remain. Transport Canada later found the claims legitimately represented cars sold before the program’s cutoff.
The lesson for consumers: when politics sours a company’s relationship with the government, the incentives and contracts around its products can change quickly.
What to do now
Political fights hit your wallet in specific, practical ways. A few things to keep in mind:
- Skip trades based on posts or polls, and watch the Oct. 19 results and any Quebec referendum bill instead
- If you’re holding bond funds, check how much of your portfolio rides on a single province
- Get referendum details from official sources such as Elections Alberta, not screenshots
For now, the decisions that could move your money will be made at ballot boxes and in legislatures — not on X or Elon Musk’s mind. As Carney put it on Thursday, “A strong Canada means more independent, more sovereign, more prosperous.”
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
