Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney emphasized Alberta's essential role in the nation's future as the province moves closer to an independence referendum. Separatists submitted a petition to trigger a vote.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that Alberta was “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the province’s leader moved the oil-rich region closer towards a referendum on independence. Separatists in the western province spent months collecting signatures seeking to trigger a binding October vote on seceding from the nation. On May 4, they delivered their petition to provincial officials, insisting they had collected more than enough names to force a vote under Alberta.....