One of Alberta’s largest unions is calling on the UCP to not waste public dollars by holding a referendum on the Alberta Forever Canadian petition.
Elections Alberta verified the petition earlier this week. The petition received over 453,000 signatures, well over the 294,000 threshold needed for it to be successful.
The petition was led by former Progressive-Conservative politician Thomas Lukaszuk and supported by thousands of volunteers across the province. It asks for a referendum on the question, “Do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?” Just under 14 per cent of all eligible voters in Alberta signed the petition.
Elections law now requires the petition to be brought forward in Parliament, and for the government to form a committee around the proposal. From there, the committee will have two options: either recommend a referendum on the question or hold a vote on the “Alberta Forever Canadian” question in Legislature.
Holding a vote in Legislature is a far simpler process than holding a referendum. Whereas Legislature meets regularly and a vote would be over quickly, a referendum takes time, energy, and money to organize.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has called on the UCP to hold a vote in Legislature on the question rather than putting it to a referendum, stating that a referendum would cost around $11 million.
UCP punted opportunity to prove loyalty to Canada
The CUPE is concerned that Danielle Smith will try to avoid bringing the issue to a vote in Legislature as it “will reveal the fact many UCP MLAs support separatism.”
“We shouldn’t be subjected to an expensive, divisive and harmful referendum just because the alternative is embarrassing to Danielle Smith,” said CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal in a news release.
Uppal’s worry is not without cause, as earlier this month, the UCP passed up an easy opportunity to reject separatism. Three opposition party MLAs put forward a private members’ bill to support Canadian Unity. The bill would have recognized that “Alberta separatism creates investment uncertainty and negatively” and that the government needs to “secure a better deal for Alberta within the federation without leveraging the threat of separatism.”
The UCP shuffled the motion to the bottom of the pile and a vote was never held.
“This motion was an easy opportunity for the UCP to show this to Albertans once and for all, but they missed it by a mile. Instead, they chose to use legislative tactics to bury the motion and avoid taking a stand. Once again, the UCP shows they are out of touch with the shared values of Albertans,” said MLA Rakhi Pancholi of the move.
Party mandate is to support Canadian unity
While Alberta separatists’ own referendum question has remained stalled in court for months as judges analyze its constitutional viability, the question of separatism in the province has certainly not been dead.
Just last week at the UCP convention, separatist Jeffry Rath received a standing ovation when he asked the crowd who was in favour of a “free and independent Alberta.”
Thousands of UCP voters are rallying around this call, so it stands to reason that the party would worry certain MLAs are also in favour of an independent Alberta.
However the UCP party line is that of a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. “That is the work we were elected to do,” Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St Paul MLA told therockies.life/ in an email. He said the party is “taking tangible action to strengthen our economy, secure our energy industry, and ensure Alberta receives a fair deal from Ottawa.”
“We continue to actively negotiate with the federal government on key issues and advance Alberta’s interests on all fronts.”
The CUPE has called on the UCP to prove their commitment to Canada by bringing the question of remaining within Confederation to a vote in parliament.
“Thousands of Albertans worked hard to put this question to rest, and they succeeded – spectacularly,” said Uppal. “Premier Smith should hold a vote in the Legislature, support our country, and stop engaging with the separatist minority.”
