Fact Check: Why would a province ask its voters about the Senate?
Albertans have waited decades for Ottawa to take equalization, pipelines and the tanker ban seriously. Being asked what they want done about it is hardly the scandal.
University of Toronto professor emeritus Grace Skogstad does not see the point of some of the October 19 questions, Global News reports, noting that a question on abolishing the Senate would need the Senate's own approval to go anywhere.
"I don't see why these are referendum questions at all," she told Global News. She added: "The results will be difficult to interpret, in my view."
That's a remarkable objection to a vote that hasn't happened yet. The Constitution gives a province a reason to ask.
Section 46 of the Constitution Act, 1982 says amendment procedures can be initiated by the Senate, the House of Commons "or by the legislative assembly of a province."
Abolishing the Senate is an amendment. In 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it requires the unanimous consent procedure in section 41: Parliament and every province.
So a province that wants the unelected Senate gone has to start the conversation by a resolution of its legislature. Question 7 asks Albertans whether Alberta should work with other provinces to do it. Asking voters first is a political choice, and a defensible one.
True, Alberta cannot abolish the Senate on its own. Nobody said it could.
Premier Danielle Smith hopes yes votes on the first nine questions strengthen her hand with Ottawa, and she is asking the people she answers to before she sits down at the table. Rebel News set out in September which proposals touch the Constitution.
Quebec has been here. In 1995 Quebecers were asked whether Quebec should become sovereign "after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership." The partnership half of that question needed a willing partner.
Quebecers were asked anyway.
Albertans have waited decades for Ottawa to take equalization, pipelines and the tanker ban seriously. Being asked what they want done about it is hardly the scandal.
As for results that are "difficult to interpret": there are 10 questions, nine with a yes or no answer and a tenth with two options.
Albertans don't need a professor's permission to read a ballot.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Editor-in-Chief, Alberta Bureau Chief, member of the board of directors, and host of The Gunn Show at Rebel News. Sheila also serves as President of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. A mother of three and longtime conservative activist, Sheila is the author of bestselling books, including her most recent release, Independence Blueprint: What Alberta Can Learn From Quebec.
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