{"id":926441,"date":"2026-10-09T11:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926441\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:02:10","slug":"alberta-premier-unclear-when-asked-to-define-threshold-for-questions-1-to-9-on-referendum-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926441\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta premier unclear when asked to define threshold for questions 1 to 9 on referendum ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith was not clear on Thursday when asked what she considers a strong mandate to move forward on policies about immigration and constitutional issues after Albertans vote in this month\u2019s provincial referendum.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 19, Albertans can vote on five questions about immigration and four questions relating to Canada\u2019s Constitution<\/a>, along with a question added by the provincial government about separatism: whether to stay in Canada or hold a second binding referendum on separating from the country.<\/p>\n

While Smith has said she considers 50 per cent plus one a threshold for the question about separatism<\/a>, she demurred when asked by CBC News at an unrelated news conference on Thursday what she considers a strong mandate or a threshold for the other nine questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to look at what the results are,” she said. “We are very pleased that there\u2019s a lot of interest in participating in this vote.<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that there\u2019s a lot of feedback from Albertans. So we\u2019ll look at the voter turnout and we\u2019ll look at the results and we\u2019ll be able to give you some clear direction on Oct. 20 once we\u2019ve heard from Albertans.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Paperwork for a special mail-in ballot for Alberta\u2019s 2026 referendum is shown. (Nate Luit\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Smith was pressed on why Albertans are not being given a clear definition of what the government considers a strong mandate before they cast their ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people know that I want these nine [proposals] to get an endorsement,” she said. “I don \u2019t want to prejudge the outcome, but I\u2019ve made it pretty clear that I would like to proceed on these nine issues. <\/p>\n

“We heard about it through the Alberta Next Panel, but I want to hear from Albertans to make sure that they agree that this is the right direction to go.”<\/p>\n

At an announcement on April 23 to unveil a new website for the government’s fall referendum questions<\/a>, Smith said her government wants “voters at the ballot box who have considered the facts carefully, and we want a strong mandate to deliver change for Albertans.”<\/p>\n

CBC News asked Smith why the province is not using the benchmark of 50 per cent plus one.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty per cent plus one is normally \u2026 what you would use, sure,\u201d she said on Thursday as her press secretary cut off the CBC News reporter who was attempting to clarify her response.<\/p>\n

The five questions about immigration relate to whether there should be increased provincial control over immigration, whether non-permanent residents should be prohibited from accessing provincially-funded programs, whether non-permanent residents should be restricted for at least 12 months before qualifying for provincially-funded social support programs, whether non-permanent residents should be charged a fee for health care and education and whether proof of citizenship should be required to vote in provincial elections.<\/p>\n

The other questions ask Albertans whether they support amendments to the Constitution so provincial governments select justices, whether there is support to abolish the Senate, whether provinces should opt out of federal programs while keeping the federal funding associated with them and whether provincial laws should be prioritized over federal laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-926441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926441","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=926441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}