Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Monday that it remains uncertain if a question about Alberta separating from Canada will be on the ballot for the province’s scheduled October referendums, pending an ongoing court challenge and a leak of the province’s voters list.
Uncertainty Over Separation Question
“We’re waiting on a few things,” Smith said to reporters at a news conference Monday. She pointed to the ongoing MLA committee hearings over the future of Thomas Lukaszuk’s “Forever Canadian” petition as well as legal questions around Stay Free Alberta’s separation petition.
“There’s a couple of things that we’re waiting for first, and then we’ll have to decide that as a caucus and cabinet afterwards,” she said. “I think we have to just wait for the process to play out.”
Petitions and Legal Challenges
Lukaszuk’s petition asked: “Do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?” It is before a committee of MLAs who will determine if it will go to a vote in the legislature or if it will be recommended to go to a referendum.
Stay Free Alberta’s petition, fronted by Mitch Sylvestre, asked: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state?”
Sylvestre returned more than 300,000 signatures in support though validation of those signatures remains on hold after two First Nations secured a court injunction temporarily blocking that process last month. A ruling on the future of the petition is expected in the coming days.
Voters List Leak
The recent revelations about the leak of the province’s voter list may also lead to further court challenges and has prompted investigations by police, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Elections Alberta.
Last week, Deputy Premier Mike Ellis described the investigations as “very serious” and said the province was looking at all options in relation to the leaked list.
Coal Mining Petition
Smith said a petition from Corb Lund that calls for a ban on new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is due June 10, and if validated, would also appear on October’s ballot.
“We want to be permissive on the topics that citizens decide to put on the ballot. And if it passes various hurdles, and the signatures get validated, then I have said that it will go on the ballot in the fall.”
Nine Questions to Proceed
She also reiterated that the nine questions on immigration, judicial selection, Senate abolition and asserting provincial jurisdiction will go ahead in October.
“The nine questions that we put forward on the ballot have nothing to do with the current investigation,” she said. “There’s no reason that I can see that we would delay.”
Deputy opposition leader Rakhi Pancholi said the voter list leak throws the integrity of the Stay Free Alberta petition into question.
“There’s no way we can have a referendum right now and feel confident either in its results or in the petition that led to it in the first place,” Pancholi told reporters inside the legislature Monday.
