Reframing the Alberta referendum question: Fight to spare Canadians harmful separatist talk

Former Edmonton MLA and Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk says he has put forward a petition to Elections Alberta about the province staying in Canada.

Rules are rules.

And Thomas Lukaszuk believes if provincial laws are followed, his application to hold a referendum to ask Albertans if they want to stay in Canada and reject the idea of separation will be the only one chosen.

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If that question sounds familiar, it’s because Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party (UCP) has recently introduced legislation that will make holding referenda easier in Alberta by considerably lowering the threshold to allow for citizen-initiated referendums, including whether the province should separate from Canada.

The government’s proposed bill has yet to become law.

Lukaszuk, a former provincial cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Ed Stelmach and Allison Redford, told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday he has already filed an application with Elections Alberta – the non-partisan legislative office that administers elections, by-elections and referenda – to hold a petition on the question of separation.

“If we get enough signatures, which I have no doubt in my mind that we will, we will have a referendum in this province – but not about separating, (rather) about staying in Canada,” Lukaszuk said.

He said the Citizens’ Initiative Act, passed three years ago, is “very clear” that there can be just one question on the subject matter and that there cannot be similar or opposite ones asked on the same subject matter for a period of five years.

“It is my understanding that my application was filed first, so that will be the application that has to be considered,” Lukaszuk said, adding that the act says the elections commissioner “will review applications in the order that they were filed.”

“If the first application filed meets the legal requirements of initiating a citizens’ initiative, then that will be the application that will be processed and will proceed only in the case that the first application is rejected for some technical reasons, then they would go to the second application, but I’m very confident, considering that the strength of our team legal experts, that our application will be meritorious.”

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His application comes as a poll by market research firm Leger earlier this month found 29 per cent of 1,000 Albertans surveyed want the province to separate from Canada.

Smith has said she doesn’t support separation but also hasn’t rebuked the push for a vote on it.

She has argued that Alberta, particularly its oil-and-gas industry, has been undermined for a decade by anti-business policies and laws from the federal Liberals.

While Smith has said she’s working to gain respect for Alberta within a united Canada, she doesn’t want to see the Alberta separatist movement grow into a large, mainstream political party.

The tension is fueled by concerns the west and its energy-rich provinces don’t get their fair share of support from Ottawa. On Tuesday, western business councils pushed for the feds to kickstart the economy, including by ditching a proposed emissions cap.

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Lukaszuk said if his application to ask the question surrounding Alberta separation from Canada is successful, it will end efforts from separatist groups to frame and ask it.

“What it really does is it negates their entire campaign,” he said. “They were shopping around this pro-separatism question and trying to gather support for it. Well, that no longer will be the question.

“They were asking people to vote ‘yes’ to their question. Now, a vote ‘yes’ will mean to stay in Canada and continue to be proud Canadians.”

Lukaszuk said he hopes his question will end separation talk and stop threats to the economy. Business leaders and experts in the province and across Canada have identified the idea of Alberta separation as poison, essentially, to investment.

“I hope that it puts this question to rest, because they won’t be able to ask that question again (for) five years, and if they try to, I will be there again to make sure it doesn’t happen, but also it will minimize the economic damage to Alberta and to Canada,” he said, referencing the flight of businesses from Quebec in the wake of that province’s referendums on separation last century.

“This is beyond political affiliations, religious or ethnic and or other breakdowns at the end of the day. In order for us to have all those debates, we have to be Canadians and it is actually very heartwarming to see how proud Canadians are of being Canadian, particularly in this world that we live in right now.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Geoff Hastings, CTV News Vancouver’s Rob Buffam and The Canadian Press