The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the Alberta government will be "playing with fire" if it continues to fan the flames of a referendum on separation, says former premier Jason Kenney. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that separation talk has grown louder in the wake of the federal Liberal Party's recent election victory. Tens of thousands have registered with the Alberta Prosperity Project, which supports a sovereignty referendum. And Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she would support any citizen-led petition that gets the number of signatures required to trigger a plebiscite on the issue. "This kind of stuff is kryptonite for investor confidence," Mr. Kenney told media at the Atco annual meeting Wednesday. Mr. Kenney, now a director of the Calgary-based energy and utilities giant, said he was asked this week at an investor conference on Wall Street just how serious Alberta is about a separation referendum. "People who follow Alberta closely in investment circles are paying attention," he said, and what they are seeing is "a blinking light of uncertainty, which they hate." Atco chief executive officer Nancy Southern said she does not think talk of separation should receive any oxygen.