Refer to my other comment in this thread, but no, this is not "manipulation" any more than any form of capitalist and liberal reaffirmations are manipulative. They are in that this system socializes people to hold capitalistic values, and so these people make choices that are consistent with those values (which are always to their detriment, not only at this point), but to call this the result of "outside actors" is deeply dismissive of the fundamental elements in Canadian culture and its way of life. Carney has openly supported the expansion of fossil fuel industry in Canada, is he some Russian spy? I doubt any more than any neoliberal is.
You're too focused on responsibility and punishment. Reality doesn't care, we have what we have to work with. Albertans are deeply influenced by the fossil fuel industry in the same way Canadians are not only deeply influenced, but dominated by the interests of capital and extractive settler-colonialism. Nothing is different here from Canadians wanting to seperate from US imperialism only now that there is a perception that they are "uniquely picked on and punished," despite this state's complicity in that brutal violence. Our entire standard of living and way of life is built through that violence, and guess what, it was to everyone's detriment and that itself is only acknowledged now that we deal with the inevitable decay of that system and the environmental/economic turmoil that it has wrought. It's not like Canadians have responded to this threat by acting in solidarity with colonized people in the global south or demanding systemic change. Instead, they have strengthened ties with other imperialistic and capitalistic powers. Go figure.