Petition was Quashed...
Not the Separation Referendum
A judge quashed Alberta’s separation petition today. Anti-separatists are celebrating. What they haven’t stopped to read is their own petition.
The Forever Canadian petition gathered over 400,000 signatures and went completely unopposed. The Sylvestre independence petition gathered over 300,000.
Together…more than 700,000 Albertans formally entered the democratic record and said they have a position on this question and they want it heard.
When you file a petition to stay in Canada, you’re not asking for the question to go away. You’re asking for your side to win. And you can’t win a question that’s never put to a vote.
Transcripts:
Today we’re going to talk about… the court ruling that stopped Alberta’s separation petition… and why the people celebrating it may have just handed the other side exactly what they needed.
A judge in Edmonton this week quashed the Sylvestre independence petition. The petition had been organized under the Citizen Initiative Act. Justice Leonard found that Bill 14’s transition provisions did not revive or validate the petition after the earlier proposal had already been rejected. On the technical merits of the legislation used — the petition could not stand.
The separatists are frustrated. The anti-separatists are celebrating. And constitutional lawyer Keith Wilson — one of the most respected legal minds on this question in the province — is reading a very different verdict than either side.
Wilson’s read is this. The ruling does not prohibit an Alberta independence referendum. It is technically narrow. What it says is that the Citizen Initiative Act was the wrong mechanism. The correct path — the lawful, binding path — is a Cabinet-initiated referendum under Alberta’s Referendum Act. The ruling also requires the Government to consult with First Nations before the vote, in recognition of Treaty and traditional rights. That is not an obstacle. That is due process.
In Wilson’s words: the ball is now in Premier Smith’s court. The Supreme Court of Canada envisioned exactly this path in the 1998 Reference Case.
Now. Here is where this story turns.
Because what happened in this province over the past months was not one petition. It was two.
The Sylvestre petition — the independence petition — gathered more than three hundred thousand signatures. It was quashed today on technical grounds. Separatists are angry.
The Forever Canadian petition — the anti-separation petition — gathered more than four hundred thousand signatures. It was filed. And it went… completely… unopposed.
Let that land for a moment.
The people who filed the Forever Canadian petition are celebrating today’s ruling. They believe they stopped the referendum. What they may not have considered is what their own petition says to an elected Premier who is now reading the room.
Four hundred thousand Albertans signed a petition saying they want to remain Canadian. Three hundred thousand signed one saying they want independence. Together — more than seven hundred thousand Albertans formally entered the democratic record and said: we have a position on this question and we want it heard.
When you file a petition to stay in Canada, you are not asking for the question to go away. You are asking for your side to win. And you cannot win a question that is never put to a vote.
The anti-separatists, in filing their petition and leaving it unopposed, did not stop the referendum. They made the case for it.
The legal framework for what comes next is already written. It has been for twenty-five years.
The 1998 Supreme Court of Canada reference established that a clear question put to voters — answered by a clear majority — triggers a constitutional obligation on all parties to negotiate in good faith. Not a political choice. A constitutional obligation, as binding as any clause in the founding document of this country.
Parliament codified that ruling in the Clarity Act in the year 2000. Alberta’s Referendum Act gives Cabinet the authority to set the question. The mechanism is complete. The procedure is lawful. The path does not require the Citizen Initiative Act — the path that was used incorrectly and correctly quashed today. It requires Cabinet. It requires the Referendum Act. And it requires a Premier willing to be a Premier to all of her people.
This is the moment Premier Smith holds in her hands.
She does not have to be a separatist to call this referendum. She does not have to believe Alberta should leave. What she has to believe — what seven hundred thousand of her constituents have now formally told her — is that Albertans deserve to answer this question themselves, through a lawful, clear, democratic vote.
The separatists want their vote. The anti-separatists filed a petition and left it unopposed — which means they believe their side wins if the question is put fairly. Both sides are asking for the same thing.
Only one person in Alberta has the legal authority to give it to them.
Before we get to the big picture…
Today’s episode is brought to you by YakkStack — Alberta’s home for honest news, commentary, and the stories legacy media won’t tell you straight. If you haven’t yet subscribed, this is a good day to do it. And… if you’d like to have your business or personal mentions on one of our broadcasts — visit HaVer UpLay dot com and check out our special promotion for YakkStack Subscribers.
Now here’s the big picture.
When you only defend the laws you agree with… you leave yourself at the mercy of the laws you don’t. The Citizen Initiative Act was used. It was challenged. It was quashed. That is the law working as designed.
But the Forever Canadian petition? Filed under the same system. Unopposed. The result is on the record. Four hundred thousand Albertans said they want to stay. Three hundred thousand said they want to leave. The democratic signal from seven hundred thousand people is not ambiguous.
Cabinet holds the Referendum Act. The Referendum Act holds the question. A clear majority answering that question holds the force of Canada’s highest court — the court that said Ottawa must come to the table, not when it chooses, but when Albertans have spoken.
The people celebrating today’s ruling stopped the wrong petition. The one that will matter is the one Premier Smith puts forward under the right law, through the right process, with proper consultation of every voice that has standing — including the First Nations whose Treaty rights are woven into every acre of this province.
Albertans on both sides of this question have done what citizens in a democracy are supposed to do. They organized. They signed. They made their position known through the legitimate channels available to them.
An elected Premier’s job — the whole job — is to give the people their voice. Seven hundred thousand of them have already asked for it.
There is only one path forward that honours all of them.
And Premier Smith… is the only one who can walk it.
The petition was quashed. The show goes on. Seven hundred thousand Albertans have already bought their tickets.
If I had one lick of trust in these bleeding heart judges, especially the females I might get comfort from this believing their are two justices in Canada night, colored justice and white justice. And before someone loses their shit I can give you proof of a half dozen verdicts for horrendous cases when the colored immigrant got a slap on the wrist, I wonder if the judge and the killer celebrate the verdict. Keep doing things like this you judges you give a get out of jail card literally. Enough already
This issue is far from over and this ruling doesn’t mean case closed, far from it, as the old saying goes “ it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” and she isn’t even close to warming up yet, I am not the least bit disappointed, just a minor bump in the road.