CALGARY — Alberta is planning to ask residents in an Oct. 19 referendum whether the province should stay in Canada or if there should be a future binding referendum on separation.
It was prompted by two citizen-led petitions.
A petition from the group Forever Canada, asking if Alberta should stay in the country, was verified in December with about 400,000 signatures.
The separatist group Stay Free Alberta, which handed in the other petition in May, said it collected roughly 300,000 names of people who want Alberta to become an independent state. Soon after, a judge quashed the petition, ruling it never should have been issued and that the government neglected its duty to consult First Nations.
United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith says she can’t ignore those who signed the petitions and that the referendum will give Albertans a chance to have their say.
Smith says she’ll be voting for Alberta to stay in Canada and hopes to convince others, but she understands many have resentments with Ottawa over energy and environmental policies.
Here’s what some of those who signed the petitions say about the upcoming referendum:
Sheree Zielke, 70, Edmonton
Zielke, a freelance editor, says she’s a steadfast supporter of Alberta leaving Confederation.
And she’ll be voting to have a binding referendum separation.
She says she signed the Stay Free Alberta petition at a course preparing her to canvas for other signatures. Her official badge never came in the mail, so she turned to sharing information online about separation.
She has faced a plethora of insults about being a separatist, she says, but the remarks no longer rattle her. “I come from the boomer era where we learned ‘sticks and stones.’”
Some have called her a traitor.
“We’re not traitors. We actually love Canada. Many of us have been here for decades, myself included,” she says.
“But we love Alberta first.”
Zielke says she works to correct some of the rhetoric around separation, including that it’s a racist movement. She says there’s a melting pot of nationalities.
For example, immigration in an independent Alberta, she says, ought to retain people who are in Alberta legally, regardless of race, and deport those who are not.
The referendum question faces contention from both sides, she adds, but she thinks it’s reasonable.
“Danielle Smith has her hands tied. She’s done the best she can do within a democratic process.”
Brenda Drew, 63, Calgary
The retired business and municipal communications writer says she’ll be voting for Alberta to stay in Canada.
Drew criticizes the separatist movement as a knee-jerk reaction to qualms with the federal government.
Alberta’s health-care and education sectors need improvement, she says, but not an overhaul in a new country.
Drew understands some anti-Confederation opinions. When she was a university student, she believed Western Canada should form its own country — the premise for a group most well-known as Wexit.
“But I don’t think separating from Canada is the answer. I think maybe working towards a better solution is the answer.”
She says her opinion on separatism shifted as she grew older. She has travelled plenty and better appreciates Canada because of it.
While in Egypt, for example, she noticed it had more poverty and wasn’t as clean as Canada.
She also believes Alberta going it alone would be financially unrealistic.
“The separatists think we’re in terrible shape now, so I think we’d be even worse if we went ahead and did the separation.”
Eldon Siemens, 42, Calgary
Siemens, a security systems technician, is among those in the independence movement who find the referendum question meaningless.
It’s “designed to appease kind of everyone while accomplishing nothing,” he says.
Regardless, he says he’ll be marking his ballot for another referendum. And his goal is to convince others to do the same.
Siemens says he believes the federal government is unconstitutionally meddling in Alberta health care and education, and that the legal system is deeply flawed.
He says he follows the same belief as his grandfather, who was in favour of separation, too.
What would an independent Alberta look like? Siemens says that could be solidified in the transition following a successful binding referendum.
He thinks an independent Alberta wouldn’t abandon the Canada Pension Plan and that First Nation treaties could remain unchanged or be renegotiated.
It’s hard to find people willing to have a clear conversation about separation, he says, because some are so vehemently opposed.
“The arguments we receive is that you can’t do it and you’re not allowed to do it and you’re not able.”
No one has given a good reason for Alberta to stay, he says.
He thinks a proposed pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, part of a recent energy deal between Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney, won’t come to fruition.
Paula Krawiec, 56, Spruce Grove
The school transportation worker is a Forever Canadian regional lead for the area west of Edmonton and helped canvas for the group’s petition.
Beyond work, Krawiec says her days are spent aiding the cause, including handing out lawn signs at distribution pop-ups.
She says she’ll be voting for Alberta to stay.
“I understand there are some woes with the (federal) government. But for me, personally, what makes Canada a whole is the people.”
Krawiec moved to Fort McMurray, Alta., from Newfoundland fresh out of high school. She later married an Alberta man and made the province home.
She says the referendum question is “a waste of time … a waste of money — taxpayer money,” which could be better spent on health care and education.
And she says the debate over separation is having a negative effect on life in the province. It’s hurting the economy by deterring investors, and it’s driving a wedge between families.
“I find it actually pretty sad, because not everybody will agree. But whether you agree or disagree, you shouldn’t dissolve over it.”
Colleen Campbell, 70, Red Deer
The retired health food store manager and ski instructor doesn’t like the referendum question and says the premier might lose her job over it.
The question just kicks the issue of separation down the road, says Campbell.
She says she’ll be voting for a binding referendum on secession.
“The (United Conservative Party) base wants separation,” she says. “So if (Smith) wants to remain the premier, she better quit stalling.”
Campbell says the judge had no right to quash the separatist petition calling for a clear question on leaving Confederation.
She has many issues with the federal government, including with its equalization program, which gives money to provinces with lower revenues.
Federal elections are also decided before votes are counted in the western provinces, Campbell says.
She believes that an independent Alberta will be better for her children and grandchildren, with an improved constitution and better policing.
Some extreme groups have discussed taking up arms to fight for separation, she says, but she shuts down that talk when she hears it.
Melissa Craig, 38, Calgary
The middle school teacher calls the referendum question “pretty ridiculous,” but says she’ll still be casting a ballot — to stay in Canada.
Craig isn’t new to petitions. She’s among the 28 Albertans who launched recall petitions against legislature members in the last several months. All those petitions, including Craig’s campaign against cabinet minister Rajan Sawhney, were unsuccessful.
She thinks the province is sneaking the separation question on the referendum, even though signatures on the separatist group’s petition haven’t been verified.
Craig wants the question and the entire referendum scrapped.
Nine other questions announced for the referendum ask about immigration policy and constitutional concerns.
The UCP should make separation part of their election platform, Craig says. The next provincial election is set for October 2027.
“We don’t need to have this extra vote. Just call an early election and run with this stuff.”
The premier has said the referendum questions are important enough to get direction on, so that the province can move toward implementation.
Craig says some members of her family have different opinions on Alberta staying in Canada. But they quietly agree to disagree.
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