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On yesterday’s Buffalo Roundtable, panellists Lise Merle and Cory Morgan reacted to Elections Alberta’s approval of a referendum question focused on Alberta remaining in Canada, based on the “Forever Canadian” petition put forward by former MLA Thomas Lukaszuk. Meanwhile, the Alberta Prosperity Project's (APP) question on separation has been sent to the Court of King's Bench for constitutional review. 

Morgan pointed out that Lukaszuk’s proposed question does not seek to implement any change, and therefore would not qualify as a referendum by definition. However, he warned that its similarity to the question put forward by the APP could undermine the APP’s chances of being accepted.

“No matter which way people vote on that referendum, nothing will change. In other words, it's a poll, and we would be using Alberta electoral resources and money to hold a poll,” he said. “So they're getting all the roadblocks on the APP side while Lukaszuk’s basically troll petition has just gotten a free run.” 

“It does shine a big bright light on the way that the Left will weaponize this in their advantage,” agreed Merle. “And I do think that it says something about the people working at Elections Alberta, that they would accelerate the stay in Canada question and throw hammers at the APP question.” 

“What's happening in Alberta is a mirror image of what happened during Brexit,” Merle went on. “There were four years of legal battles before the Brexit question hit the British people, and they could vote on their independence away from the European Union… That's exactly what's happening [here]. They are lining up the legal battles to kick the can down the field to slow things down.”