Danielle Smith's Disingenuous Alberta Independence Referendum Question

 

Last Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced  the province would vote on if they wanted to have a referendum on whether to remain in Canada or become independent.

The vote is set for October 19th.

The problem, of course, is the deliberate ambiguity of the question:

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?

Now let's compare that question to one of the other questions on the referendum ballot:

Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King's Bench and Appeal courts?

The latter question is a singular question which will elicit a yes or no response. On this question, Albertans will either say want the Canadian Constitution amended to allow the provinces to select justices to the provincial courts or they will say no.

As to the question of independence, however, there are two questions being asked. The first question asks if Alberta should remain a province of Canada while the second asks if Alberta should hold a province wide referendum regarding separation. But Albertans are being asked to give a single yes or no answer to two separate and distinct questions.

If Smith was being honest, then she would have cut the portion which reads "Should Alberta remain a province of Canada". But this is Danielle Smith we are talking about. The last thing she wants is a clear question. 

For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called it "a very dangerous bluff" likening the situation to Brexit. Of course, Carney has a first-hand account of Brexit as he was Governor of the Bank of England at the time of the vote.

As I pointed out over a year ago after Carney became Prime Minister, Smith is claiming to be pro-Canada, yet she is the one raising the notion of an independent Alberta while leading the charge to allow the conditions for independence to come to pass. Smith is playing a dangerous game and could utterly care less. Indeed, a provincial court deemed Smith's referendum plans null and void as they failed to consult First Nations as it would violate their Treaty rights. Clearly, this ruling means nothing to her.

What could further complicate matters is the Quebec election which due to take place two weeks before the Alberta referendum. Currently, the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois is running neck and neck with the Liberals with the governing Coalition Avenir Quebec running a distant third. Should the PQ be elected then we could see the specter of another Quebec referendum which might also encourage a similar vote in Alberta and possibly other provinces such as Saskatchewan. This could prove to be Carney's bête noire. 

At a time when Canada needs to stand strong against Trump's tariffs and his desire for a 51st state, the last thing Canada needs is a bunch of provincial independence referendums. These separatist movements play right into Trump's hands while weakening Canada in the process. Nothing good can come of it for Canadians.