Danielle Smith announced Thursday that Albertans will vote this fall on whether the province should remain part of Canada, adding a separation-related question to the province\u2019s Oct. 19 referendum ballot.<\/p>\n
The referendum question asks: \u201cShould 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?\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said the new wording was designed to address both federalist and separatist viewpoints while complying with a recent Court of King\u2019s Bench ruling that struck down a previous independence petition backed by the group Stay Free Alberta.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the court ruled the separatist petition unconstitutional after determining organizers failed to consult First Nations communities.<\/p>\n
During a televised address, Smith emphasized that she personally supports Alberta remaining in Canada and said her government shares that position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI support Alberta remaining in Canada. That is how I would vote on separation in a provincial referendum,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
However, the premier criticized the court ruling, arguing it interfered with the democratic rights of Albertans who supported the original petition.<\/p>\n
Smith explained that a \u201cyes\u201d vote in the upcoming referendum would not trigger Alberta\u2019s separation from Canada, but instead authorize the government to begin legal steps toward a future binding referendum on independence.<\/p>\n
She also said the move could avoid years of court appeals and provide clarity on public opinion surrounding the issue.<\/p>\n
The announcement came just hours after a legislative review committee approved the Forever Canadian petition, which gathered more than 400,000 signatures supporting Alberta remaining in Canada.<\/p>\n
The committee, dominated by members of the governing United Conservative Party, voted in favor of moving forward with the referendum question despite objections from Opposition members.<\/p>\n
Jason Nixon said a premature statement released by the UCP caucus about the referendum recommendation had been issued in error.<\/p>\n
Opposition members from the Alberta New Democratic Party pushed for consultations with First Nations before any referendum proceeds, arguing the government still has a legal duty to consult Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendment was ultimately rejected by committee members from the governing party.<\/p>\n
Opposition MLA Rakhi Pancholi also raised concerns about a recent data breach involving the personal information of more than three million Albertans, arguing the province should delay any referendum until investigations are complete.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Forever Canadian petition organizer Thomas Lukaszuk accused Smith of trying to balance pressure from separatists while protecting her political future.<\/p>\n
With the addition of the separation question, Albertans are now expected to vote on 10 referendum questions this fall, covering issues related to immigration, constitutional powers and provincial jurisdiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Danielle Smith announced Thursday that Albertans will vote this fall on whether the province should remain part of Canada, adding a separation-related question to the province\u2019s Oct. 19 referendum ballot. The referendum question asks: \u201cShould Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":18528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25063,25070,25062,25069,25065,25072,25060,25068,25061,3672,4721,8655,25071,25066,25067,25064],"class_list":["post-18526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-alberta-canada-referendum","tag-alberta-constitutional-referendum","tag-alberta-independence-referendum","tag-alberta-news","tag-alberta-politics","tag-alberta-provincial-referendum","tag-alberta-referendum","tag-alberta-separation-debate","tag-alberta-separation-vote","tag-amat","tag-canada-politics","tag-danielle-smith","tag-first-nations-consultation","tag-forever-canadian-petition","tag-stay-free-alberta","tag-united-conservative-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}