Multiple groups are launching campaigns urging Albertans to pledge their support to remain in Canada after Premier Danielle Smith’s promise to put a question about separation on the fall ballot.
In a televised address on Thursday, Premier Danielle Smith announced she is putting a new question about separation on the Oct. 19 referendum, but it won’t explicitly address the issue. Former Premier Jason Kenney and former Conservative member of parliament Monte Solberg launched the “Vote to Stay” campaign on Thursday evening following Smith’s address.
In a Thursday press release, the Kenney-Solberg group said the goal of the campaign is to spread information to voters, listen to concerns and get Albertans to pledge their vote against separation.
“This is about engaging Albertans directly and building a movement rooted in facts, respect, and a shared commitment to Alberta’s future within a united Canada,” Solberg said.
Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi urged Albertans to get involved announcing the “For Alberta, For Canada” campaign led by the Alberta NDP. The campaign is aimed at sharing information and updates to volunteers.
“You don’t have to be an NDP supporter to join, but we sure wish you would. But we are doing this on your behalf, because all of us together are not sleepwalking into this referendum. We are here to save Canada,” Nenshi said.
Former deputy premier and Forever Canada proponent Thomas Lukaszuk has also launched a unity campaign to encourage Albertans to vote against separation in the upcoming referendum.
Smith’s question on separation
At a Friday press conference Smith told reporters she has been campaigning for Alberta to remain in Canada. She said she would be voting against separating in the fall referendum.
Smith said between the Forever Canada petition and the Stay Free Alberta petition, 700,000 people wanted a referendum on separation.
“As a government, I think the responsible thing to do is to honour democracy. Let this debate happen over the next five months, and I will do everything I can to convince Albertans that the choice should be to remain,” Smith said.
The additional question, on top of the nine others on the topic of immigration and the constitution will be: 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?
Grace Skogstad, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, said the two-part question lacks clarity on who a binding referendum would apply to if it is pursued. She noted the question does not provide a clear “yes” or “no” answer, which is needed for a referendum question.
She added talks of separation will absolutely impact the provincial economy. At a news conference earlier on Friday, Smith said the government needed to settle the separation debate sooner rather than later. Skogstad said she can understand the logic, especially if it negatively impacts potential investment in Alberta.
“Various people have come out today and said that this is creating uncertainty, and business wants certainty,” Skogstad said.
“These are big infrastructure projects, they’re going to cost billions of dollars, some of them … (some of these) projects are going to roll out over a few years and what I think might well happen is that kind of investment will be held back.”
Question ‘catastrophic’: Knack
Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack is called the question about separation on “catastrophic.”
Knack told reporters on Friday that he had to reassure a large employer that Edmonton was still the right place to invest as the ongoing buzz around separation persists.
“It is a very real risk that we are wasting so much time when we have so many more important issues we need to be working on right now,” Knack said.
In a Friday statement, Chiefs of Treaty No. 8 First Nation reiterated a recent court decision which quashed a pro-independence citizen petition citing the failure to consult First Nations groups. The press release said they will be writing to Prime Minister Mark Carney requesting that the proposed referendum question be reviewed by Parliament.
“Treaty No. 8 was entered into with the Crown long before Alberta became a province,” Grand Chief of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta Trevor Mercredi said.
“These sacred agreements cannot simply be ignored or politically worked around.”
The chiefs of Treaty 8 will be holding a press conference next week to discuss their concerns.
— With files from Eric Bowling
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