The True Post ( web News)A day after Canada’s Liberals won their fourth consecutive mandate, the Alberta government has introduced a bill that would make it easier to launch referendums, including on separation from Canada.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said, “We will introduce it regardless of the outcome. It just so happens that now is the time when we are back from a week of constituency break.”
Bill 54 proposes a number of changes to Alberta’s electoral rules. Among them is reducing the threshold for citizen-led referendums to 10 per cent of people who voted in the previous election. It would currently take 20 per cent of eligible voters.
The bill would also allow 120 days to collect these signatures – an extension of 90 days.
Although the Premier openly wanted Pierre Poilever’s Conservatives to win, she says she is still not a separatist after Mark Carney’s victory.
“I believe in Alberta’s sovereignty within a united Canada,” Smith said. “However, there is a process of a citizens’ referendum where if citizens want to put a question on the ballot and get enough of their fellow citizens to sign the petition, those questions will be put forward. Again, I don’t want to speculate on what the question might be.”
But the Alberta NDP is accusing the prime minister of being dangerous and cowardly.
Nahid Nenshi said if you’re going to flirt with separatism, demand a referendum. “Just do it and let’s see what Albertans say. And by the way, Premier, when you lose that referendum, please leave politics forever.”
In the lead-up to the federal election, nearly a third of Albertans (30 per cent) told a pollster they would want to secede from Canada if the Liberals were re-elected.
An Alberta Independence rally is being planned at the legislature on Saturday.
The growing list of separatists includes the new leader of Alberta’s Republican Party.
“It’s a dream,” said Thompson, who has covered Alberta politics since the late 1980s. “Alberta is not going to secede, but Alberta politicians have played with it as a way to stoke rhetoric against the federal government, generally the Liberals.
