{"id":624297,"date":"2026-04-23T23:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624297\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:09:15","slug":"alberta-premier-leaves-door-open-to-pursuing-some-referendum-initiatives-even-with-no-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/624297\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta premier leaves door open to pursuing some referendum initiatives even with \u2018no\u2019 vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want to get a mandate from Albertans,\u201d said Premier Danielle Smith as she provided more details on October\u2019s provincial referendum, which will ask voters\u2019 opinions on a variety of topics from immigration to constitutional issues, at a Thursday morning news conference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Smith announced in February that she will put nine questions to Albertans, including proposals to restrict social services from some immigrants, whether the government of Alberta should push to have the federal Senate abolished, whether the Canadian Constitution should be amended to allow provincial governments to select the justices appointed to provincial King\u2019s Bench and Appeal courts, and if the Constitution should be amended to give provincial laws, that deal with areas of shared constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAlberta Premier Danielle Smith also announced the creation of a new website where Albertans can find out more details on each of the\u00a0 referendum questions.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Asked by reporters if she would \u201caccept the will of the majority, whatever way these questions go,\u201d Smith said, \u201cI\u2019m of the view that you ask people questions that you want to get the answer to so that you can act on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s also the reason why we put questions that we think we already have the majority of Albertans on board with.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, when pressed several times by reporters if her government would respect a \u201cno\u201d outcome on any of the referendum questions, Smith responded with \u201cwe\u2019ll address it at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

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Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

While Smith is hoping for a strong turnout from Albertans, she said her government will not be a bystander during the lead-up to the referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be out actively persuading the public that this is the direction we want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of that campaign, the Alberta government also launched a new website \u2014AlbertaReferendum2026.ca<\/a> \u2014 to allow voters to view the ballot questions along with background about the issues and why the questions are being asked.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:15
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourt pauses Alberta independence petition as First Nations challenge constitutionality\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

One issue that is not on the ballot so far is the issue of Alberta separation.<\/p>\n

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The separatist group Stay Free Alberta is currently collecting signatures on a citizens\u2019 petition calling for a referendum on Alberta\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

It claims it has already surpassed the signature threshold<\/a>, and Smith has said she would put any question on the ballot should proponents get the required number of signatures.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0a recent court challenge launched by several Alberta First Nations, who claim the petition process is a violation of their treaties, has thrown into doubt whether there will be a referendum on Alberta\u2019s independence this fall.<\/a><\/p>\n

In her ruling, Justice Shaina Leonard said the separation proponents can continue to collect signatures on their petition, but the province cannot proceed any further until the First Nations\u2019 constitutional concerns \u2014 and claims they have not been properly consulted \u2014 have been dealt with by the courts.<\/p>\n

Smith said the she expects a court ruling sometime in May.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:47
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlberta legislature committee discusses Forever Canadian petition\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Organizers of another anti-separation petition called \u201cForever Canadian\u201d have collected more than 400,000 signatures from Albertans to keep the province in Canada.<\/p>\n

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That petition is currently being discussed by a committee of the Alberta legislature to decide the next steps.<\/p>\n

Asked if that petition\u2019s question \u2014 \u201cDo you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?\u201d \u2014 might also be on the referendum ballot, Smith said she is waiting for the advice of the committee.<\/p>\n

She says the final list of questions should be available by mid-July.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:45
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlberta premier defends referendum questions\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI want to get a mandate from Albertans,\u201d said Premier Danielle Smith as she provided more details on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25159,53105,43,44,714,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-624297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alberta-referendum","9":"tag-danielle-smith","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}