On blogger Markham Hislop’s YouTube channel, Calgarian political scientist Duane Bratt claimed that the referendum questions on issues from immigration reforms to Senate abolition are something of a backdoor path to separation.

Bratt said of the list of referendum questions, “It sets Alberta either up to the pathway of separation, or it would be a country you wouldn’t recognize anymore, and we’d be separate in all but name.”

The first five questions on Alberta’s referendum deal with asserting more provincial control over immigration. Particularly with non-permanent visitors and the services they may or may not be entitled to. Those are policy issues that fall within provincial jurisdiction and are similar in nature to what Quebec already enjoys. It is arguable that if Alberta doesn’t work to get a handle on the influx of temporary workers and migrants, the province would become unrecognizable indeed.

On questions six through nine, the referendum pitches changes which would require constitutional reforms such as giving provinces the authority to choose their local judges and the abolition of the Senate, along with a policy to give provincial supremacy in policy matters over federal.

Bratt states that the questions ask the impossible of Canada and that Albertans should reject them out of hand. In saying that, Bratt is making the case for choosing the path to independence as he implies that pursuing constitutional reform is futile. It may be nearly impossible to change the constitution in Canada, but it likely would be the only way to maintain long-term national unity. Decentralized democracies such as Switzerland offer some of the most stable countries in the world, while large entities that centralize authority, such as the Soviet Union, inevitably shatter over time.

The questions leading up to Question ten, which asks Albertans if they want to pursue the path to independence, offer citizens one last hope of maintaining the federation. They propose changes that may reduce the consistent and damaging strain between the federal and provincial governments. Rejecting the first nine proposals leads a person to embrace the independence option rather than eschewing it.

The first nine questions in the referendum offer a way to head off a growing independence movement. The tenth question offers the “or else”.