Naheed Nenshi speaks in Calgary on June 22, 2024. The Alberta NDP leader says Premier Danielle Smith needs to get on with it and call a referendum on independence and put the issue to rest once and for all.--CP FILE PHOTO
@MedicineHatNews
Alberta’s opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith is doing a dangerous “dance” with separatists in the province and should put the question of Alberta’s place in Confederation to a vote.
Naheed Nenshi told a press conferences in Edmonton that he’s confident voters would reject suggestions that Alberta should leave Canada. A ‘No” vote would also force Smith to move past her hard stance against Ottawa to benefit the province, he argued.
“Right now there is a tiny majority of Albertans who are setting the agenda,” Nenshi said. “I’ve got no problem going to Albertans and seeing what they really think.”
Earlier this month the News was first to report that a group including retired Medicine Hat MP LaVar Payne was pushing for an independence vote and vowed to lead direct talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on the issue.
Backdropped against larger trade disputes and overtures from Trump that Canada should become a state, Smith told the News that if there was sufficient appetite for a referendum the proper avenue for it was via a citizen’s initiative.
On Tuesday, the UCP introduced rule changes to lower requirements to successfully apply for a ballot question.
Nenshi said the change is “clearly” designed to get an independence question before voters.
“If you want a referendum on the ballot, put a referendum on the ballot,” said Nenshi, whose party launched a dedicated website Wednesday and said an educational campaign will be rolled in May.
“Albertans need to understand this is serious,” he said.
That would suit former Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, who says he long supported a vote, likely in two years, as a way to gain better bargaining stance with Ottawa on several fronts, including equalization, energy development and provincial jurisdiction.
“She absolutely should,” put it to a ballot, said Barnes. “It’s clear (Albertans) have very little political power in this country after four elections in a row with no change.
“We need to put to Ottawa that Albertans want a fair deal. Hey, we’re happy to stay in Canada, but how about some fairness? The reward would be worth the risk.”
Former Medicine Hat city councillor Bill Cocks considers himself a federalist and a monarchist, and says there is some political danger of lending credibility to the idea by having wider formal debate.
“I think there are very few Albertans who want to see separation into something independent, or god forbid part of the United States,” he said Wednesday. “That segment of population is insignificant, but once you start discussing it, it gives it a viability that wasn’t there.”
He is also critical of Smith’s stance with Ottawa, and said a renewed interest across the country to build energy projects and export routes should be grasped.
“Let’s start working to make things better and stop the dramatics,” said Cocks.
During the federal election and again this week Smith re-iterated a list of grievances that she said the next prime minister would have to address. She has said she would give the federal government six months before evaluating their performance and considering next steps.
“We’ll have a conservation over the next six months, and I don’t want to prejudge the outcome,”
Smith said at a press availability on Tuesday.
“I made it clear what (Prime Minister Mark Carney) needs to do to reset the relationship with Alberta. What we’ve put on the table is very reasonable and very much in sync with becoming an energy super power and finding new markets. The ball is in his court to respond to that.”
Smith said Tuesday the introduction of the elections bill was delayed until after the election by constituency week in the legislature from April 21 until Monday.
“We were going to introduce it regardless of the outcome of the election (on Monday),” she said at a press conference.
Changes would reduce the number of signatures needed to force a referendum by three quarters, dropping support on a constitutional question from about 600,000 signatures to 175,000, based on percentages of eligible voters. The time period to gather signatures would also be extended to 120 days, rather than 90 presently.
Albertans are next scheduled to go to the polls in October 2025 in municipal elections across the province, when the province would typically hold plebiscites or referendums. They asked about support for equalization and daylight saving time in 2021.
