Albertans are being played by their own government.

As expected, the political discourse has been dominated in recent weeks by a series of looming referendum questions on Alberta separation, immigration-related issues, and constitutional matters.

Everything else — acute matters relating to health, education, international and interprovincial trade, provincial overreach into municipal affairs — is being swept aside.

The referendum questions themselves are questionable at best. To answer them, electors are essentially forced to agree with how the queries are framed by the Alberta government.

Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features.

There was an error, please provide a valid email address.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Noon News Roundup will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

If someone rejects the premise of the questions and disagrees with the UCP’s assessment of how the country works, or where to lay the blame for Alberta’s struggles to support its stretched health and education systems, there is no obvious way for a voter to point this out with a simple, binary response.

On top of this, there’s no telling what comes after the vote, no matter how the results turn out.

The fine print on Elections Alberta’s website........

© Calgary Herald