Judicial review begins of proposed Alberta separation referendum question

A proposed question on if Alberta should leave Canada is now before the courts to determine if it's constitutional. CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson reports.

A judicial review into a proposed referendum question on Alberta separating from Canada begins Wednesday.

• Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News Edmonton, right at your fingertips

The Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group that has been promoting independence, submitted in July the proposed question: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”

Alberta’s chief electoral officer referred the question to a judge to decide whether it violates the Constitution.

Several interveners are arguing the issue at Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton, including counsel for Elections Alberta.

According to Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act, proposed referendum questions must respect Sections 1 through 35.1 of the Constitution Act.

Several lawyers representing different First Nations were also granted last-minute intervener status and will have until the beginning of December to submit their positions.

The chief electoral officer did not say which, if any, section he is concerned about the proposed question contravening.

Jeffery Rath, the lawyer who represents Mitch Sylvestre – the man who heads up the Alberta Propensity Project – says a decision is expected before Christmas and doesn’t expect the late submissions to have an impact on that timeline.

“We do not believe that anyone’s rights are infringed or engaged by simply having Albertans have a conversation about whether or not we want to become an independent country,” Rath told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“That’s all a referendum is. It’s not legally binding on the rest of the country, it doesn’t automatically affect separation. It leads to the government of Alberta being able to seek those amendments with the rest of the partners in Confederation.”

Following the review, the chief electoral officer will have one month to determine whether it meets other legislated requirements.

Forever Canadian, a group that formed in opposition to the Alberta Propensity Project, says it’s collected more than 450,000 signatures on the question of whether Alberta should stay in Canada. That citizen-led petition is in the process of being verified by Elections Alberta.

If the Alberta Prosperity Project’s question is approved, the group would have four months to collect 177,000 signatures to get the question to ballot.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson and The Canadian Press