Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to speak about the referendum question she announced

Danielle ian douglas smith takes questions after Alberta breakup referendum proclaimed

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At a time when there’s plenty of global instability and political unknowns, Calgary Chamber of Commerce president Deborah Yedlin says this vote adds one more bit of uncertainty to the mix. 

And she said that might end up hurting the provincial economy. 

“From a business standpoint as we know, uncertainty is the enemy of investment,” Yedlin said. 

She says, in the meantime, businesses might wait on the sidelines – and that could spell trouble at a time when the province is seeking a private backer for a potential new pipeline to the B.C. Coast. 

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi also told supporters gathered in Calgary that the pushback against separatists must be a non-partisan effort.

Referring to the United Kingdom’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union, or Brexit, Nenshi said ensuring a strong turnout in Alberta’s referendum is essential to sending a resounding message to the provincial government that Albertans have little interest in continuing talk of independence. 

Nenshi said many British voters woke up the morning after the Brexit vote feeling regretful they hadn’t cast a ballot.

“We can’t take this for granted,” he said. “We cannot sleepwalk into this. We’ve got to vote, and we’ve got to vote in big, big, big numbers.”

The Alberta NDP has created a federalist campaign website, and is organizing door-knocking campaigns. Nenshi said people do not have to be NDP supporters to participate.

The newly proposed referendum question comes after a Court of King's Bench judge quashed a pro-separatist referendum question from citizen-led petition group Stay Free Alberta.

The judge found that Elections Alberta shouldn’t have approved the petition, as it failed to consider an earlier court ruling that found separation would violate treaty rights. The ruling also said the provincial government, as a representative of the Crown, failed in its duty to consult with First Nations about the petition.

There are multiple treaties covering the province of Alberta, including Treaty 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10.

“End of the day, it's about the future, it's about our children and making sure that they continue to be sovereign, that their rights are still here for them for tomorrow and they can't end — ever — because of the treaty,” he said. 

“That treaty is still living and breathing today.”

Pete also said he expects First Nations around the country to unite against this issue, providing support to each other. 

“We got [First Nations] in every province in Canada. You know how loud that royal roar will be when the time comes? It's gonna be loud and something that she cannot control.”

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called the referendum question on a separatist vote “ridiculous” in French, and says Premier Danielle Smith is only calling the vote to stay in power.

Nenshi spoke to reporters at a hastily organized rally in Calgary’s Confederation Park this morning, flanked by fellow NDP MLAs, Olympic gold medallist Catriona Le May Doan, and supporters dressed in red and white.

He said while the premier expressed sympathy yesterday for Albertans frustrated with federal government policy, Smith was silent on the majority of Albertans who have no appetite for a separatist vote.

“This wasn’t our battle,” he said. “This battle was thrust upon us. But it is the battle of our lives.”

He called a referendum about holding a referendum a “neverendum” that will prolong economic damage in Alberta and fuel political division.

An Alberta political scientist is taking a closer look at the proposed referendum question.

Jared Wesley argues the phrasing skews toward pro-separation.

Premier Smith said the October referendum question will ask, “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?” 

Wesley believes that version of the question makes the case for separation a little easier to argue.

“The remain side has to establish that it’s important Alberta remain in Canada and we should stop talking [about this],” he said, while speaking on Edmonton AM Friday. “The separatists simply need to convince Albertans we need to have another vote.”

“[The argument is] you don’t have to make a decision right now, let’s exercise our democratic rights as Albertans to have a straight up yes or no vote. It buys them more time.”

You can listen to his full interview here.

Poilievre says he and his party will 'fight' for a united Canada

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his Conservatives will reach out to Albertans ahead of a vote on whether the province should hold a binding referendum on secession. 'We want Albertans to understand they can have an even better future in our country,' he said.

On Friday Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said members of his party will campaign over the coming months for a united Canada "through hope" and by pitching an "optimistic vision" of what the country can be. 

"I should just once again point out though how wonderful it was 11 years ago when there were no separatists whatsoever in Alberta, where the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois were wiped off the electoral map and we were a truly united country under the leadership of Prime Minister Harper," Poilieve said during a news conference in Surrey, B.C.  

(The PQ formed government from 2012-2014 before it was reduced to Official Opposition in the National Assembly. The Bloc's demise during that period has largely been attributed to the rise of Jack Layton's NDP.)

Poilievre said Harper "understood that it's the job of the prime minister to unite the country and that if the country is not united, that too is the responsibility of the prime minister."

"We really should look at the situation in both Quebec and Alberta and ask ourselves how the prime minister is doing," he said.

On Thursday, the mayors of Alberta's two largest cities reacted to the government’s approach toward the independence-related petitions and the referendum.

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack issued a statement yesterday evening, after Smith’s address, saying moving forward with a referendum to possibly hold another referendum doesn’t help on issues like affordability, health care and education, and it wastes taxpayers’ money.

“It is a distraction from the issues facing everyday Albertans,” Knack said in the statement.

“I will be fighting against this separation referendum, and I encourage all Edmontonians to not be complacent,” he said.

Before Smith’s address, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas criticized the government for planning to appeal a decision from a Court of King’s Bench judge that voided the approval of the Stay Free Alberta petition, which asks a pro-separation question.

“You cross a red line when you actively sue to undermine treaty rights that we’ve respected in this province for 150 years,” Farkas said.

But he said he welcomes the chance to vote, and added that he will campaign strongly in favour of staying in Canada.

He also urged the premier to present a clear question.

I’m Iman Janmohamed, a reporter who's been following this story from Edmonton.

Smith’s proposed question is a referendum to have a referendum, said Gerard Kennedy, a law professor at the University of Alberta.

“She's explicitly stating that a vote to start this process is not a vote to leave. It's merely a vote to go through the legal preambles to ultimately having a potentially binding referendum,” he said. 

Kennedy sees this referendum question as a way for the province to learn more about public opinion on the separation issue. 

If Albertans ask the province to start the process of putting a true separation question on the ballot, it would have no legal effect due to the court decision that quashed putting a separation question on the ballot in the first place, he said. 

Instead, it would have a “moral effect,” Kennedy said, as a pro-separatist answer could give her legitimacy — or be used as a bargaining chip – in negotiations and when establishing her government’s mandate.

As we wait to hear from the premier today, and Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, there are still details we don’t know.

Those outstanding questions include the format of the ballot – whether it will be a yes or no question, or laid out like a multiple choice selection.

We don’t know what kind of support Smith and her cabinet would need to get for holding a binding referendum on separation to consider calling that referendum, or the timing of when Alberta might hold such a referendum.

Smith said she believed the route she’s chosen would ensure the October question doesn’t run afoul of Leonard’s ruling. Do some lawyers see it differently? Might Indigenous groups or communities try to challenge the referendum question in court, anyway?

Alberta’s Referendum Act allows for both constitutional and non-constitutional questions. Only the results of constitutional questions are considered binding on the government that called the question. Does Smith consider the result of this vote to be binding?

We’ll also be watching to see how the phrasing of the question affects support for Smith among members of her United Conservative Party. Many of the groups advocating for an independence vote want a binding constitutional vote on independence. And polling has suggested that more than half of Albertans who describe themselves as UCP voters say they’d vote for separation.

Hello, I’m Janet French, a provincial affairs reporter who covers Alberta politics from Edmonton.

To recap what we know so far, the question Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced in a recorded video address Thursday night that Albertans will vote in October on whether to hold a binding referendum on separating from Canada.

The question Alberta’s premier announced in her video address will be added to nine other referendum questions on immigration policy and constitutional matters that Smith had already slated for provincial votes on Oct. 19.

Smith’s decision follows a court ruling last week in which Justice Shaina Leonard declared a pro-Alberta independence citizen initiative petition to be invalid. Leonard’s ruling said the Alberta government failed in its duty to consult First Nations before the chief electoral officer issued the pro-separation petition.

The premier’s announcement also came on the same day an all-party legislative committee – albeit, a divided one – opted to recommend the federalist Forever Canadian citizen petition be put to Albertans in a referendum.

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