Technically, they succeeded. For all intents and purposes, though, the much-ballyhooed petition drive by Alberta separatists turned out to be a rather underwhelming disappointment.

For the time being, that petition is moot. For one, it remains stuck in legal limbo pending an appeal of the decision that quashed the petition.

Furthermore, the separatists’ question won’t be on the Oct. 19 referendum ballot. The question that will be asked could potentially render all of this permanently moot.

But we now know what that petition drive managed to produce. We also know, of course, how the anti-separatist Forever Canadian campaign did. And we can also look back and see how confident separatist leaders were about reaching much, much higher numbers.

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Following various changes to Alberta’s citizen initiative legislation, the current petition threshold for triggering a referendum is 177,732 — 10 per cent of the total votes cast in the previous general election.

A court decision last month authorized Elections Alberta........

© Calgary Herald