A ‘distraction,’ ‘gaslighting’: Both sides of Alberta’s separation debate say they’re displeased with upcoming referendum

Protestors against the Alberta separation movement and organizers of the Alberta independence petition are 'unhappy' with the direction the province is taking.

The Alberta government’s plan to hold a referendum on nine immigration and constitution-related questions in October is being met with displeasure in both separatist and anti-separatist camps of the province.

Protestors were gathered outside the legislature in Edmonton on Saturday in frigid temperatures to rally against what they said was the province’s move toward separation.

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“Smith talks about a sovereign Alberta within Canada, but she’s waffling,” said Terry Pearson outside the legislature Saturday.

Late this week, Premier Danielle Smith announced an October referendum which would ask Albertans nine questions, four of which are related to the Canadian Constitution.

They would ask whether Alberta should work with other provinces to see the federal senate abolished and grant provincial authority in three areas.

Another participant at the legislature, Andrea Pheasey, said she’d like to see the Forever Canadian petition become one of the top questions added to the Alberta government’s referendum in October.

“Do we want to remain in Canada? The answer to the Forever Canadian question (is) yes, we do. And they had well over the mandatory number of signatures. So that’s the question, and the others, I think, are a distraction,” she said.

The Forever Canadian petition, which asked Albertans whether the province should stay part of Canada, was headed by Thomas Lukaszuk and approved by Elections Alberta as a potential referendum question in December.

Smith confirmed Friday that the government may expand its Oct. 19 referendum to include any citizens initiative petitions that met the required signatures by their deadlines and, on her Saturday morning radio show, said her government would be forming a committee to determine whether the Forever Canadian petition would be on the ballot or put to a vote in legislature.

Angering both sides, says separatist head

Mitch Sylvestre, the proponent for separatist group Stay Free Alberta, told CTV News Edmonton he would not be pleased should his own petition see the same fate.

“Our question is a constitutional question … You can’t muddy our question up with nine questions,” he said.

Jeffrey Rath, legal counsel for Stay Free Alberta, said Smith’s referendum was “undermining the independence movement.”

“None of us believe what she’s doing. We think she’s gaslighting … We are not going to be happy if they try to bury a clean, standalone question on independence in a bunch of other silly, ‘What’s next?’ panel questions,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Saturday.

“She’s accomplishing the rarest of all political feats, which is to deliberately anger everybody on both sides of the issue equally.”

A group of Alberta separatists were in Arizona on Saturday canvassing among Canadian snowbirds. Sylvestre said that event was borne out of interest from Albertans visiting the state right now.

“There are people taking this very seriously. People on holidays in the south, in the sun, that are Albertans, feel that they want to have some input into this process, and that’s what they’re doing,” he said.

Stay Free Alberta’s petition needs 177,732 signatures by the beginning of May in order to be brought before the legislature.

Constitutional questions

Gerard Kennedy, an associate law professor at the University of Alberta, said a referendum vote itself would not change the Constitution.

“The referendum will not be legally binding. In and of itself, the referendum at most will enable the premier to enter into negotiations with the federal government, and probably almost certainly actually other provinces, to try to get a constitutional amendment, to get some of these proposals across the board,” he said.

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Other members of the legal community have expressed concern over the implications of a referendum that would seek to make such changes to the Constitution, a feat rarely accomplished through history.

Smith told reporters on Friday that the government was looking for a mandate from Albertans and would do what it could to follow through on the results of the October referendum.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg and CTV News Calgary