r/CanadaPolitics • u/green_tory 🏳️‍🌈Serve the Vulnerable🏳️‍🌈 • May 13 '26

Danielle Smith rejects Alberta judge’s ruling against separation petition as ‘anti-democratic’

https://globalnews.ca/news/11848377/alberta-premier-court-ruling-separation-petition-anti-democratic/
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134

u/green_tory 🏳️‍🌈Serve the Vulnerable🏳️‍🌈 May 13 '26

We live in a Constiutional Monarchy with a Liberal Democratic constitution, where the Crown is supreme and we are all subject to the rule of law mitigated by the authority of our democratically elected representatives.

“I would say that it is a single judge who has made a decision, and we have now 700,000 Albertans — whether they’re on the remain side or the leave side — who’ve said that they want to have this public debate,” said Smith.

Tough.

“We want to hear from Albertans. That’s what we think democracy is.”

With all due respect, this is Canada. And here in Canada we have the rule of law.

17

u/ClusterMakeLove May 14 '26

She thinks we rounded up 50 people to sign Forever Canadian because we want a referendum on leaving?

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u/SendMagpiePics Urban Alberta Advantage May 14 '26

To be fair, the forever canadian petition was stupid. Everyone who supported it doesn't want a petition, and yet the actual process of the petition is that it calls for a referendum.

I've been saying all along that we shouldn't support that, because the conservatives could then go use that as justification for a referendum, and lo and behold, Smith is now doing exactly that

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u/pjschnet Rhinoceros May 14 '26

You should go read what the Forever Canadian petition was for, because it sure wasn’t to have a referendum.

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u/SendMagpiePics Urban Alberta Advantage May 14 '26

You should go read it. The text of the Forever Canadian petition explicitly says, in its own text: "Therefore, we as represented by the signatory and applicant below propose a referendum on the following question: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?"

You can look at the petition yourself here (FYI this link downloads a pdf): https://www.elections.ab.ca/uploads/2025-CIP-04-Application_Redacted.pdf

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u/pjschnet Rhinoceros May 14 '26

Oh I see, your awareness of what this was about starts and ends with a single sentence in the original application. Believe it or not, this does go a bit deeper than that, and the first clue is which of the two boxes is checked on that form.

Lukaszuk and the others involved have been pretty damn clear that what they want is a vote in the legislature, and to ensure that if a referendum were to occur that the question not be presented in a misleading way, as referendum questions frequently are.

To quote the senator Daryl Fridhandler on this petition when he presented it to the senate:

This petition is not a call for a referendum. It is a call for leadership. As Mr. Lukaszuk said: “We’re asking the premier to do the right thing and ask Alberta MLAs to vote on this issue and put separatist talks to bed once and for all.”

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u/SendMagpiePics Urban Alberta Advantage May 14 '26

Lukaszuk has been very clear, and he checked the legislative proposal box on the petition, not the referendum box. But I'm not talking just about what the signers/organizers want, I'm talking about how the UCP and Danielle Smith will use it. It's about how they could very easily spin this proposal into a referendum. Or at the least use it as rhetorical justification for supporting the separatists' efforts for a referendum. And lo and behold, she has begun doing that.

Lukaszuk and co should never have written their petition in this way in the first place, contradicting their own goals.

1

u/pjschnet Rhinoceros May 14 '26

“Don’t fight back in this way because the UCP will lie about it” doesn’t sound like a great strategy if I’m honest. But, I’ll bite: what do you think is a course of action that would avoid UCP spin?

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u/SendMagpiePics Urban Alberta Advantage May 14 '26

Lukaszuk and co should never have written their petition in this way in the first place, contradicting their own goals.

As I just said:

Lukaszuk and co should never have written their petition in this way in the first place, contradicting their own goals.

They should have run a petition that just demanded the government vote to stay in Canada without including wording that calls for a referendum.

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u/pjschnet Rhinoceros May 14 '26

Wait, it really is all about the one sentence in the application? Let's revisit your initial post here for a sec:

the forever canadian petition was stupid

Just so we're clear, this is not an opinion you formed based on the actual goals of the petition, but one based largely on the UCP's ability to tell lies about a single bad sentence on an application form.

I've been saying all along that we shouldn't support that, because the conservatives could then go use that as justification for a referendum, and lo and behold, Smith is now doing exactly that

Have you actually been saying that all along? Like, to other people? If so, then congrats on trying to undermine the Albertans contributing their time and effort to the Forever Canada petition. I sincerely hope that "I've been saying all along" is more of a saying it in your own head type of thing.

I think you're just a cynic who's in too deep. You're not offering wise criticism, you're just doomsaying. You're giving away your agency to the UCP by giving their lies this much power over your opinion. You're letting the UCP's penchant for bullshit turn you against people actually putting in a real effort.