Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she will actively campaign for the province to remain a part of Canada in the months leading up to the Oct. 19 referendum, but will respect the outcome should Albertans choose to hold a binding referendum on separation.
Smith held a press conference in Calgary on May 22 to answer questions about her televised address from the previous night, when she announced a question would be added to the ballot in the upcoming provincial referendum to gauge voters’ thoughts on staying in Canada.
The question will read, “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?”
Smith said she and her United Conservative Party (UCP) caucus are firmly on the side of remaining in Canada, adding that she plans to hold a number of town hall meetings this summer to convince Albertans that confederation is the right choice.
“I have been clear with Albertans from the start that I support remaining in Canada and that has and will continue to be the position of my government and my caucus,” she said. “I believe Albertans should remain in Canada, and I would ask that all Albertans join me in voting to remain a province of Canada.”
Even though the October vote will not be binding on her government, Smith promised to accept the result.
Should voters favour separation in the referendum, she said that her first action would be to initiate “the legal process to advance it to a binding referendum,” a procedure she acknowledged would take several years.
Smith added the separation question to the ballot after the Court of King’s Bench dismissed a proposed referendum petition regarding Alberta’s separation. The backers of that proposed referendum said they had collected well above the minimum number of signatures needed for it to be considered as a future referendum question. The court cited the lack of proper consultation with First Nations in its decision.
The separatist organization Stay Free Alberta has said it gathered more than 300,000 signatures for its petition. The process of Elections Alberta to validate the signatures was halted after the court’s ruling. Meanwhile, the “Forever Canadian” initiative, led by former Alberta Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk, has collected and validated more than 400,000 signatures from those that want Alberta to remain a part of Canada.
Smith was questioned about the criticism she has faced from both sides of the issue—from one side for entertaining a possible separation vote and from the other for not making the Oct. 19 referendum question binding.
She said Albertans wanting a binding separation referendum in October need to accept that such an option isn’t possible due to the May 13 court decision.
“If the binding stay or leave question had been put on the ballot, it likely would have been struck down by the courts within a matter of weeks, and Elections Alberta would have been legally barred from including the question on the referendum in October entirely,” Smith said.
Disregarding those who want the vote is not viable either, Smith added. She said the province cannot afford to “kick the can down the road” for years by allowing the matter to remain unsettled.
“Just because you acknowledge frustration, it doesn’t mean it goes away if you ignore it,” she said, referring to separatist sentiments.
She told reporters she believes there is sufficient interest to hold the referendum.
“I look at 400,000 people who signed a [petition] saying that they wanted to vote to remain in Canada. And I look at 300,000 people who signed a petition saying the opposite. That’s 700,000 Albertans,” Smith said. “That is 25 percent of all voting age Albertans in the province. Clearly, they want to have this debate.”
The benchmark for resolving the matter in either direction will be a vote of 50 percent in favour plus one, she added.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi also held a press conference in Calgary on May 22, saying the referendum could have negative economic consequences for the province.
“This wasn’t our battle. This battle was thrust upon us, but it is the battle of our lives,” Nenshi said.
“We will do everything we can. We will use every ounce of energy we have, and every blood cell in every one of our bodies saying, ‘We are Canadian, and we will always be Canadian.'”
The Oct. 19 referendum ballot will also include questions related to immigration reform and constitutional issues.
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