Carney says Canadians will decide their future after Elon Musk expresses support for separatism

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Carney says Canadians will decide their future after Elon Musk expresses support for separatism

2026-10-09 07:25 Last Updated At：08:30

SHERBROOKE, Quebec (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada’s future will be decided by Canadians, pushing back on Elon Musk's call for Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan to separate from Canada.

“The future of Canada will be decided by Canadians and the priorities of Canadians, the priorities of the people of Quebec,” Carney said when asked about Musk’s comments.

Carney said Canadians should be free to live according to their languages and cultures, without interference "from foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do."

Musk weighed in on Canada’s separatist debates Wednesday in a post on X about Quebec Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose separatist Parti Québécois won Monday’s provincial election.

The PQ’s victory was not a mandate for independence. The party won about 28% of the popular vote and fell short of a majority of the seats in the Quebec legislature. Support for Quebec independence remains at about 30%, said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. He said the election was driven more by a desire to oust the Coalition Avenir Québec government than by support for separation.

“Good. Quebec should separate,” Musk wrote, adding that “They would be better off. Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.”

Alberta is scheduled to hold a vote Oct. 19 on whether the province should remain in Canada or move toward a future referendum on separation. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she will vote to remain in Canada.

Smith said Thursday that separatist sentiment in her province has weakened as her government and Carney’s have worked to address Albertans’ concerns.

“The federal government has changed. Their approach to us has changed and they’re willing to work together on addressing those issues,” Smith said in Edmonton.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe responded to Musk on X with a single word: “No.”

Musk, the world’s richest man and first-ever trillionaire, is a South African-born Canadian-American.

Isaias strengthens into Category 2 hurricane on collision course with the US Gulf Coast

MIAMI (AP) — Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it barreled toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday, prompting orders for tourists to abandon beaches for safer spots inland, sending locals scurrying for gas and groceries and leading fishing crews to secure their boats before the potentially destructive storm’s arrival.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season was forecast to intensify rapidly and cause dangerous conditions in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain and flooding were possible into the weekend as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina.

“We are expecting Isaias to be a dangerous hurricane when it makes landfall,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

He added: “Today is the day to prepare and get ready and be in your safe place by tomorrow as conditions will rapidly deteriorate along the northern Gulf Coast as Isaias approaches.”

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the hurricane center, surpassing the 96 mph (154 kph) threshold for a Category 2 storm.

Isaias was headed northeast at 14 mph (22 kph) and was centered about 260 miles (415 kilometers) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

A hurricane warning was in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay-Gulf County line in Florida, the hurricane center said. A storm surge warning was in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi to the Suwannee River.

Coastal communities moved quickly to prepare, as Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey ordered non-residents to immediately evacuate Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Dauphin Island. Videos on social media showed traffic at a standstill on a highway leading out of Gulf Shores, where double-red beach flags signaled water access was closed.

At least four Florida school districts canceled late-week classes, while several counties announced mandatory evacuations for some coastal areas. The governors of Florida and Alabama declared states of emergency for dozens of counties, with Florida's Ron DeSantis saying about 5,000 National Guard troops were expected to mobilize by Friday.

On Dauphin Island, a 15-mile (24-kilometer) barrier island off the Alabama coast, officials encouraged voluntary evacuations, particularly on its popular western section, which is vulnerable to storm surge.

Mayor Jeff Collier said he did not anticipate substantial damage, “but at the same time, these things are very fickle and a little jog here or there, or some last-minute increase in strength — we just have to be prepared for the worst.”

Water from the storm surge and high tide could reach heights of 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2 meters) in parts of Alabama and Mississippi, forecasters said. Isaias also could dump up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain on coastal areas and spawn tornadoes overnight Friday into Saturday from Alabama to the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Georgia. The hurricane is expected to quickly weaken after coming ashore.

The National Weather Service warned of possible “long-duration power outages.”

Isaias developed more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season and was one day short of tying a 121-year-old record for the area’s latest-forming hurricane. That record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over the Atlantic. Storm activity has been above average in the Pacific, where Hurricane Simon, which formed as a tropical storm on Wednesday off of Mexico and became a hurricane late Thursday, was forecast to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane. Farther north, Tropical Storm Rachel was expected to reach Baja California, Mexico, and Southern California this weekend.

Isaias is expected to strike a swath of coastline that’s familiar with major hurricanes.

One of the 20th century’s worst storms, Hurricane Camille, killed more than 250 people after hitting land near Waveland, Mississippi, in 1969. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 razed neighborhoods in Mississippi, flooded New Orleans and killed nearly 1,400 people. And Hurricane Michael leveled homes and buildings near Panama City, Florida, in 2018.

Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers shut down a significant share of offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S.

As of Thursday, about 63% of the oil production in the region had been temporarily halted, taking nearly 1.3 million barrels a day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration. It said 121 of the Gulf’s 371 manned oil platforms had been evacuated.

With oil prices already high, the production cuts are steep enough to affect markets, though other Gulf hurricanes have caused larger disruptions, said Jim Burkhard, global head of crude oil market research for S&P Global Energy. More concerning, he said, is whether Isaias strikes as a powerful storm near refineries.

As it moves inland, Isaias might also disrupt Saturday’s college football showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama, a game President Donald Trump planned to attend.

In Loxley, a small Alabama community where county officials urged voluntary evacuations, Nichole Eubanks and her husband prepared to ride out the storm on their farm, which is home to dozens of animals, including pigs, donkeys and about 20 rescued cats.

They planned to put contact information on the hooves of their goats, donkeys and pigs in case they got loose.

“It’s definitely scary, and you never really know where these storms are going to go and how bad it’s going to be until it gets there,” said Eubanks, 35.

In the Alabama fishing village of Bayou La Batre, Tony Rice and Lance Connor installed doors on their fishing boat Thursday to protect the vessel. The boat was one of many moored there, and Rice said they planned to move it to a less-crowded spot to decrease the chances of it bumping into others.

In Pensacola, Florida, officials said the airport will close to commercial flights Friday morning. Mayor D.C. Reeves urged residents to check on older adult neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point,” Reeves told a news conference. “This is really about preparation.”

Rico reported from Atlanta and Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Also contributing were Associated Press reporters Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Laura Turbay in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Julie Walker in New York.