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Braid: Pro-Canada question could get the nod in upcoming referendum on Alberta's future

This has become a complicated mess with rule changes, new laws and a general impression that the UCP coddles the separatists

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Albertans will likely vote on a pro-Canada question Oct. 19 — referendum day in Alberta.

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“That’s what the (legislature) committee is looking at right now,” Premier Danielle Smith said at a news conference Thursday.

The premier read out Thomas Lukaszuk’s entire rationale for his Forever Canadian question: “Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?”

Referring to his petition, she said, “We had 450,000 people sign on to this, expecting a referendum.

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“I know that the proponent has changed his mind afterwards, and he just wants it to go to the legislature.

“But that’s what we’re having to talk to Elections Alberta about, to justice officials about, because it does seem to me that this is kind of a legal process initiated in a legal way with precise language.

“Some people signed on a certain expectation, and so we’re just trying to get some direction from the committee on that.”

The direction she expects from the UCP-dominated committee, obviously, is using the Forever Canadian question.

Until now, it seemed unlikely Lukaszuk’s question would be on the ballot.

Most of the talk has been about the separatist question, now mired in a legal challenge.

Also, Lukaszuk had asked for a legislature vote on the question, not a provincewide vote. He still prefers that, he says.

But when told of Smith’s comments, Lukaszuk said, “If she is so afraid to ask this question in a legislature, then, yes, I am delighted that she’s using our question as the question that will be on the referendum.”

The duelling separatist question is: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state?”

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Smith had earlier suggested that would be on the ballot if it passed regulatory hurdles.

But a First Nations challenge has tied up the separatist question in court.

On April 10, a judge issued a one-month stay on Elections Alberta receiving and certifying signatures.

That means that nothing can be counted until after the May 2 deadline for collecting signatures.

The judge’s final decision is yet to come. But she cast doubt on the petition drive by saying First Nations had “provided evidence of harm from lack of consultation and harm to treaty relationships.”

If the judge rules the question unconstitutional, Smith will be in a jam.

She already pulled a separatist question out of court when a judge said it violated the Constitution. She rewrote legislation to allow the question and put it back on the signature market.

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Would the premier dare to do that again, especially when the complainants are a powerful group of First Nations?

Not when the answer to the dilemma is right at hand — the Forever Canadian question.

It’s also a referendum on separation, of course. Separatists can vote No to Alberta staying in Canada.

They will campaign hard to make that happen if the pro-Canada question gets the nod.

The government unleashed powerful movements when it eased referendum laws.

Lukaszuk got 440,000 valid signatures. Separatist organizers say they’ve collected 300,000 or more, although that’s not certain.

In any case, a huge number of Albertans are saying they want a vote on Alberta’s future in Canada.

Smith and company now realize they must get it.

She was asked why the government doesn’t avoid the complications by simply putting a government-sponsored independence question on the ballot.

“Well, because my position is that we should remain in Canada,” she responded.

“That’s the position of our government. We believe we should assert sovereignty within a united Canada.”

This has become a complicated mess with rule changes, new laws and a general impression that the UCP coddles the separatists.

Coincidentally, I asked separatist leader Jeffrey Rath yesterday if he considers forming a separatist party like the Parti Quebecois in Quebec.

“We’ve already got one — the United Conservative Party,” he said.

The pro-Canada referendum question won’t be the worst thing for Smith.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

X and Bluesky: @DonBraid

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