Juno News - April 30, 2025


Alberta wants OUT？ Constitutional lawyer explains REFERENDUM changes and path to independence


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

170.06381

Word Count

5,223

Sentence Count

312

Misogynist Sentences

5

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hi, I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show. We had a very optimistic episode
00:00:06.400 for you yesterday. I went through and pointed out why I was hopeful about the election results,
00:00:11.520 why I'm still hopeful for the country and for Canada. Then yesterday afternoon, an absolute
00:00:17.220 bombshell was dropped out of Alberta. It seems like some people in Alberta just don't want to
00:00:23.720 wait. They don't have the same hope and optimism for the country that I myself hold. So we are
00:00:28.220 going to explain it all. I'm going to ask everybody to just quickly like the video. It really helps us
00:00:33.220 with the algorithm. We want to be able to be presented to more Canadians. We want more to
00:00:37.360 Canadians to discover Juno News in our quest to replace the CBC. So help us out by liking this
00:00:43.760 video. Okay. I am pleased to be joined today for this episode by Keith Wilson. Keith is a
00:00:50.280 constitutional lawyer based in St. Albert, Alberta. He gained national attention for representing the
00:00:54.940 Freedom Convoy back when the Public Orders Emergency Commission were reviewing it in 2022. So Keith,
00:01:01.500 thank you for joining us today. Thank you. Okay. So let's just get to the news. It started when
00:01:07.560 Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta, came out the morning after the election and basically just called
00:01:12.960 for a reset in the relationship between the Feds and Alberta and the provinces. So let me read
00:01:19.300 from her ex post here. Okay. So this came out bright and early on Tuesday morning after the election.
00:01:25.860 Premier Smith writes this. She says, I want to congratulate Prime Minister Mark Carney and his
00:01:29.680 minority government election victory last night. I also want to sincerely thank Pierre Polyev for his
00:01:34.760 powerful and principled advocacy. She goes on to thank Polyev for his work and his vision. She goes on,
00:01:41.300 she says, as Premier, I invite the Prime Minister to immediately commence working with our government to
00:01:47.020 reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.
00:01:53.000 A large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our
00:01:58.480 provincial economy, almost unabated for the past 10 years, has been returned to government. As Premier,
00:02:04.320 I will not permit the status quo to continue. Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be
00:02:10.140 strong, prosperous and united. But we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our
00:02:15.520 resources landlocked by Ottawa. In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity
00:02:20.440 to discuss our province's future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province
00:02:26.160 against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward. As Premier,
00:02:31.980 I will facilitate and lead this discussion and process with the sincere hope of securing a prosperous
00:02:38.460 future for our province within a united Canada that respects our province's constitutional rights,
00:02:43.440 facilitates rather than blocks the development and export of our abundant resources and treats us as a valued
00:02:49.700 and respected partner within Confederation. Our government will be holding a special caucus meeting this
00:02:55.140 Friday to discuss this matter further. I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded. Wow, what a strong
00:03:02.740 message from Premier Smith, really just laying it all out, saying we are not going to tolerate being pushed
00:03:08.560 around the way that we were under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. So Keith, what did you make, we'll get to the
00:03:15.040 referendum news and the changes in a minute, but what did you make of Premier Smith's strong comments there?
00:03:20.320 Well, I think she's echoing the sentiment that she's hearing on the ground as she travels the province
00:03:27.520 as and meets with Albertans and meets with business leaders and community leaders, that the frustration
00:03:36.400 level here is at an all time high. Because it's not just that the federal government has engaged in,
00:03:43.040 you know, incompetent decision making the liberal government, they've definitely got five stars for
00:03:49.680 that. But it's deliberate policy, deliberate policy that harms Alberta's economy. It's spectacular. And
00:03:59.680 she sees it, she's an incredibly capable and intelligent leader. She's a data person, if you've spoken with
00:04:08.640 her, she studies numbers, and she sees it, and she hears it from, from the voters of Alberta, and she's
00:04:17.120 echoing their concerns. Well, I think certainly many people in Alberta woke up on Tuesday morning
00:04:22.240 feeling very disappointed about the decision that was made, mostly from people in central Canada.
00:04:27.600 I will say again, I was optimistic. I looked at around Toronto, looked at the 905, looked at some
00:04:32.000 of the, even the seats closer to Toronto. I'm talking about York Centre where Roman Baba was elected.
00:04:36.880 Melissa Lansman elected with 66% of the vote. That's more than Michelle Rempel was elected in
00:04:41.680 Calgary. So there is an appetite for change. There was a bit of a blue wave. It was just a very strange
00:04:45.920 election where the NDP vote completely collapsed. But I think that Premier Smith is really tapping
00:04:51.040 in on this. Now, later in the day, Daniel Smith went on CBC's Power and Politics. I want to play
00:04:56.880 a few of these clips for you here, Keith, because I just think it's so telling the way the CBC is
00:05:01.840 framing the issue, the way that they are openly just defending Mark Carney and his position,
00:05:06.480 pressing Daniel Smith as if they worked for the Prime Minister, as if it was their job
00:05:10.560 to say, this is what the, this is what Carney has said, this is what Prime Minister Carney says,
00:05:15.120 and believes, why aren't you getting on board with it? So first, we'll play this clip where they're
00:05:19.840 asking Premier Smith about her position on pipelines. And she is saying that Canada needs to respect
00:05:25.680 Alberta. We need pipelines. Let's play that clip.
00:05:27.760 ... lost ground as well. What people want is an aspirational government that is going to get
00:05:33.680 things done, that is going to open up new markets so that we're not overly reliant on the United States.
00:05:38.080 And so to think that the old liberal NDP alliance that crushes the aspirations of Alberta and Saskatchewan
00:05:44.160 is going to work on a go forward, I hope he is not of that view. I think that there's a different
00:05:49.920 pathway and I hope he takes it. But he has certainly signaled, Premier, that he says he's a pragmatist.
00:05:56.640 You know, he wants to find ways to move forward. He wants to still pursue a climate agenda,
00:06:02.480 but he says he's not completely beholden to hard and artificial caps, for example,
00:06:07.520 with the emissions cap, which I know is still in the consultation process. And I know you
00:06:11.200 fundamentally disagree with it. My understanding of the prime minister's view is that he believes in
00:06:15.920 it as a policy instrument, but not necessarily with the rigidity of the previous liberal leadership
00:06:22.560 team. A lot of talk about energy corridors. There seems to be alignment at the first minister's table.
00:06:28.240 Are you not in any way more optimistic that your natural resources can find easier paths
00:06:34.480 the markets and you can get better cooperation with the federal government than you've had in the
00:06:37.680 last nine years? Well, I always live in hope. But you saw that the Bloc Québécois' first move
00:06:43.520 as to say they'd partner with Mark Carney as long as he didn't build pipelines.
00:06:47.520 Just allow me to rant for a second here, Keith, because Mark Carney is a radical on the climate.
00:06:52.080 You could argue that he is more left wing and more concerned, you know, pushing this idea of a climate
00:06:58.080 crisis even than Justin Trudeau. But during the election, he decided to moderate his views and
00:07:05.040 run on more of a conservative platform to get rid of the carbon tax. And here you have the CBC
00:07:09.600 grilling Daniel Smith, being like, why don't you just believe him? He's moderate. He's not going
00:07:13.680 to be as bad as Justin Trudeau. And basically just pushing his talking voice is so absurd and ridiculous
00:07:18.240 to me that that is what the CBC does. Now, just to add context to what Premier Smith said,
00:07:23.680 I want to play this quick clip of Yves-Francois Blanchet, the leader of the Bloc Party.
00:07:28.160 And remember, he could potentially hold the balance of power here.
00:07:30.880 The Liberals only got elected in a minority. The NDP have basically been wiped out. I mean,
00:07:34.960 they do have enough seats combined to form a coalition, but so does the Bloc.
00:07:40.480 And here is what the Bloc is saying the day after the election. Please play that clip.
00:07:44.560 The fact that there's no future for oil and gas, at least in Quebec and probably everywhere,
00:07:52.080 and this has to be said and protected. I have a brand new weapon to do that. Mr. Bonin will be
00:07:59.440 extraordinary carrying that message. So no future for oil and gas in Canada. This is what the leader
00:08:05.680 of the Bloc is saying at this very contentious moment. And so I just go back to the interview
00:08:10.560 with Daniel Smith and David Cochran of the CBC. I'll play the second bit here, where again,
00:08:15.520 the CBC is kind of condescending to Daniel Smith saying, you know, why is Alberta acting this way?
00:08:22.800 And talk to me about the separatist sentiments and the Alberta sovereignty. Daniel Smith has
00:08:27.760 a strong response. Let's play that clip. There's a lot of suspicion that you might want to be a
00:08:32.400 little bit more like Quebec. And when people like Preston Manning were talking about a liberal win,
00:08:36.640 maybe, you know, exacerbating the idea of Alberta separatism. I just wonder what your thoughts are
00:08:43.920 on that. I mean, is this something you would forcefully push back against as the first minister
00:08:48.480 of Alberta, the notion that because the national election didn't go the way a lot of people in your
00:08:53.040 province wanted that it becomes a cause for separation? Well, I have always said that I support
00:08:58.960 Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada. And I think that that is is the viewpoint of many of the
00:09:03.920 of the premiers is that they want the constitution to be respected. They want to be able to have local
00:09:08.320 decision making. They want the environmental process to be at the provincial level. So I'm not
00:09:12.640 alone in that. We have a process in our province where you have citizen initiated referenda. If you
00:09:19.680 have a certain number of signatures on a petition, issues can be put forward. If there is an appetite
00:09:25.040 for for that kind of conversation, that that would be the avenue for it. But it's not something that
00:09:29.040 our government would be putting forward. I believe that we've got to try to be on Team Canada,
00:09:33.280 but my view has always been that Team Canada has to show that they're on Team Alberta, too.
00:09:38.320 So again, David Cochran's line of questioning is basically, well, you guys lost one election,
00:09:42.720 and now you're basically acting like Spobat of Confederation saying that you want to go
00:09:46.560 alone. It wasn't just one election, right? Premier Smith did a great job of outlining
00:09:50.640 how it's been a repeated pattern of disrespect towards Alberta. So I want you to comment on that
00:09:56.480 exchange that we just saw. Well, first of all, I mean, the CBC is the state broadcaster,
00:10:01.760 and they are funded by government. They know who funds them. Their glee on election night was
00:10:08.240 spectacular. Not even attempt at neutrality. So one has to discount anything you hear from the CBC
00:10:17.760 and be cautious that there's sort of a propaganda-type twisting going on. And I think that's what we saw in
00:10:24.080 the line of questioning. And I do agree with Premier Smith's position that she has to recognize her role
00:10:36.160 as a First Minister of Canada, in addition to being the Premier of Alberta, and always put effort into
00:10:43.760 making that relationship work. But, you know, we have a pattern of conduct from Ottawa with federal
00:10:52.320 policies that are intentionally designed to weaken our economy, deprive our kids of jobs, prosperity,
00:11:01.360 revenue for government services. And so many Albertans have come to that conclusion on their own,
00:11:09.360 and are highly motivated now to say enough's enough.
00:11:14.400 It's so interesting. And so I want to get to the changes in the referendum requirements. You can see
00:11:19.040 it was teased a little bit at the end of that interview on CBC. So news came out Tuesday afternoon
00:11:24.240 that Alberta had made changes to the referendum requirements and amendments to something called
00:11:29.760 the Citizens Initiative Act. So I'm going to read from this Western Standard article released last night
00:11:35.280 9 p.m. written by James Snell. He writes, the Alberta government has introduced Bill 54,
00:11:40.080 the Election Statutes Amendment Act on Tuesday, aiming to enhance the integrity and accessibility
00:11:44.880 of provincial elections, while emphasizing referendums several times in its announcement,
00:11:49.360 signaling pushback against the federal liberal government led by Prime Minister
00:11:52.960 Mark Carney. The proposed legislation tabled by Daniel Smith's United Conservative Party government
00:11:57.920 seeks to protect democratic processes, ensure fair and transparent elections, boost public confidence in
00:12:02.880 voting outcomes, according to a government release. The Western Standard asked Smith about the timing
00:12:07.520 of the announcement the day after a federal election, whether she is considering a sovereignty
00:12:12.000 referendum. We were going to introduce the legislation, regardless of the outcome of the election,
00:12:17.280 she said, to hold an independent referendum in Alberta. Currently, the process can be initiated
00:12:23.600 through two primary mechanisms under existing legislation. A petition must collect signatures from
00:12:29.440 approximately 600,000 eligible voters, which is about 20% of Alberta's eligible voters based on the 2019
00:12:35.840 election turnout within a 90-day period. If passed, this new bill will cut the number needed in half down
00:12:43.760 to 10%. So at a press conference yesterday afternoon, Daniel Smith made this announcement. Let's play that clip.
00:12:50.560 We are expanding opportunities for Albertans to be involved in direct democracy by making changes to the
00:12:56.960 threshold needed for successful citizens initiatives. The signature collection time for citizens
00:13:02.400 initiatives will be extended from 90 days to 120 days. We are also improving the process by setting the threshold to be
00:13:10.080 10% of the number of eligible voters who participated in the last general election.
00:13:16.400 Wow. So, yes, she says it's unrelated to the fact that the election happened yesterday, but I mean, come on. This is a huge news
00:13:21.920 news that's coming out of Alberta that the premier is making it easier, making it an easier pathway for a referendum
00:13:27.360 on independence. Keith, can you talk to us about the law, the legality of this referendum initiative?
00:13:34.960 Sure. And I think it's really important to understand why we're even talking about the concept of referendum in this
00:13:41.840 discussion, which is Canada is a very unique country in the world in terms of democracies,
00:13:48.640 in that most countries do not have, and by most I mean just about all, do not have a mechanism where
00:13:58.960 legally a region of a country, a province or a state can hold a vote, a referendum, and decide they no longer
00:14:08.480 want to be part of that country. This is exceptionally rare in democracies to have in the constitutional
00:14:16.240 jurisprudence a mechanism for a province in Canada to hold a vote. And of course, it all emanates from the 1998
00:14:25.360 reference case regarding Quebec succession, when Quebec was going to hold a referendum.
00:14:30.960 So that's why we're talking about a referendum, is that Canada has this unique phenomenon at law
00:14:37.920 where a region, namely a province, can hold a referendum. So the question becomes, well, how does any province hold a referendum?
00:14:45.600 Well, interestingly, each provincial legislature gets to decide what referendum laws they're going
00:14:51.600 to have, if any. And Alberta has had a referendum law on the books for a very long time, and it basically
00:14:57.920 says that the cabinet, the provincial cabinet, can decide to hold a referendum on separation or independence.
00:15:05.520 But the Kenney government, under the UCP prior to Premier Smith, brought in legislation for citizen-initiated
00:15:14.960 referendum, where if the citizens assemble sufficient signatures on a petition, essentially, that will compel
00:15:25.600 the government to hold the referendum. So either the people can force the provincial government's hand
00:15:32.640 to compel a referendum on independence, or the cabinet itself can decide to call one.
00:15:38.720 The problem was that under the Citizen Initiative Act, they had two bars. If you wanted to get a
00:15:44.720 policy changed or legislation changed in a particular area, you had one bar, which was 10%. But if you
00:15:50.240 wanted a constitutional amendment, it was higher, it was 20%, had all these other hurdles that you had to
00:15:56.320 overcome. And the government and Premier Smith took the position that she announced yesterday, that there
00:16:02.000 should be one standard. If the citizens decide they want to compel government to act, there should be one
00:16:08.080 standard. So she brought the constitutional standard down to the other standard. The practical effect is that
00:16:14.720 prior to these amendments announced yesterday, in order to force the Alberta government to hold a
00:16:21.280 referendum on separation, we would have had to have, in 90 days, got 600,000 signatures. Now we have 120
00:16:31.840 days to get 177,000. So we've gone from 600,000 signatures down to 177 and the amount of time has gone
00:16:43.040 from 90 days to 120 days. So it's a much, it's a very viable target, I believe.
00:16:50.000 Well, Keith, I wanted to point this out because this, this was an op-ed published in the Toronto
00:16:57.360 Star on Saturday, two days before the election, just absolutely made my blood boil. The headline
00:17:03.040 says, perhaps it's time Alberta does go it alone and say goodbye to Canada. This article is just
00:17:09.680 dripping with the smug leftist disdain that characterizes some in central Canada. I will say,
00:17:15.520 I don't think this is a common sentiment amongst people in Ontario. I think that again, as I pointed
00:17:21.120 out, there was a blue wave in Ontario. It just wasn't enough. And it didn't sweep in places like
00:17:26.240 Ottawa, where there was a red wave, right? We saw Pierre Polly lose his own seat. But in Toronto,
00:17:30.480 there were a lot of pickups, a lot of seats. This doesn't represent the views of people in Ontario,
00:17:35.760 but it does represent the views of people like, you know, partisan liberals, people who were doing
00:17:41.440 the whole elbows up thing. And I mean, I'll read a little bit of it. I don't want to subject you and
00:17:46.560 our audience to it because it's just so brutal, but it's written by David Olive, who is a columnist
00:17:51.440 at the Toronto Star. So it's not like a guest op-ed written to be provocative. This is someone who works
00:17:55.440 for the Toronto Star, who gets paid, who writes in this paper day in and day out. He writes,
00:17:59.840 Alberta is giving me a headache. The province stands alone in its incurable sense of grievance
00:18:04.640 with the rest of the Federation. Not even a $34 billion expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline built
00:18:09.600 by Ottawa to get Alberta oil to non-US markets for the first time has reduced Alberta's bellyaching.
00:18:15.360 So he basically just says, oh, he goes on, he says, Alberta doesn't do gratitude. It does
00:18:19.920 righteous indignation ad nauseam. So he wants Albertans to thank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and
00:18:26.160 Prime Minister Cardi for, you know, the government bailing out a pipeline that they never wanted that
00:18:32.160 to happen in the first place, that Albertans should be gratitude. So, I mean, this is kind of
00:18:36.640 the sentiment, which I don't blame Albertans for seeing this and saying, yeah, I don't want any of
00:18:40.560 that. I would only caution it to say, this is not representative of most people in Ontario. What
00:18:45.520 did you make of that op-ed? Well, first of all, I mean, I just knocked the easy one off. What was the,
00:18:52.080 until the Liberal policies were brought in, what was the Trans Mountain pipeline going to cost the
00:18:56.640 taxpayer? Zero dollars. Right. Zero dollars. The company was going to build it and starting to go
00:19:04.640 through all the processes. I actually had cases where I represented landowners along the route.
00:19:09.840 And they, the federal government put so many regulatory obstacles in front of them that they
00:19:16.000 said this is no longer a viable project and they walked. And so the government had to step in and take
00:19:21.920 over and mismanaged it in the extreme. And that's why the cost ballooned to 34 billion. It should
00:19:28.160 have cost the taxpayers nothing. That's what was going to happen until the federal liberals screwed
00:19:33.760 it up. But one of the thing, even in the more moderate folks that I've encountered from central and
00:19:42.800 eastern Canada, their lack of understanding of the basic roles and responsibilities of governments and
00:19:49.600 who doesn't pays for what is remarkable. People come after me on Twitter and say,
00:19:53.760 well, how are you going to pay for your healthcare then? Well, we already pay for our healthcare and
00:19:57.920 we net pay at least $20 billion a year to Ottawa that we don't get back. So we'll actually have $20
00:20:03.760 billion laying around in our pocket to maybe spend a little more on healthcare. Thank you very much.
00:20:10.560 People think that the crown land in Alberta means federal crown. It doesn't. The only federal land in
00:20:17.120 Alberta is four national parks, four military bases, and a number of Indian First Nations reserves
00:20:27.120 under the treaties. And when you combine that all together, the First Nations reserves only 1.31% of the
00:20:34.000 land base. And then the federal component is 20. Some people think that the federal government owns
00:20:40.000 the oil and gas here, all owned by the province, the water. The only thing the federal government
00:20:45.200 really has a responsibility for in Alberta is like running a passport office and they can't even do that.
00:20:51.360 So it's remarkable to me, the lack of understanding like Nova Scotia has, and I'm not sure on the exact
00:20:59.040 numbers, but I believe it's around $12 billion is their budget. Almost $4 billion of that comes
00:21:05.680 from Alberta. What's going to happen to Nova Scotia when we leave, right? And if we leave.
00:21:11.120 And Ontario is now going to have to pay that money. And the fellow from the Toronto Star won't be so
00:21:18.480 smug at that point. The reality is that Alberta is a tremendous asset to Canada. We fund so much of
00:21:26.560 Canada's activities. We ask so little, and instead we've just been harassed and economically abused. And
00:21:37.200 Carney, who I've been studying for years, is a melding of Gabo and Trudeau on super drive. Like this guy's
00:21:48.720 climate extremism is troubling. And then he's also, if you research his wife, she's a very extreme
00:22:02.560 climate activist as well. So when he gets home, you know, from the cabinet meeting, he's going to be,
00:22:08.800 you know, what did you do to stop the planet from burning up by increasing its average temperature by
00:22:14.240 1.5 degrees Celsius average. So, you know, there's, I have no optimism that Carney's going to
00:22:24.400 change course. He talked about making Canada an energy superpower. And I don't know if you picked
00:22:31.360 up on this, because I sure did. Near the end of the election, somewhere at some scrum, he was pushed on
00:22:37.280 it. And he qualified it by saying, oh, what I meant was a renewable energy superpower. Well, what we've
00:22:46.240 experienced in Alberta, because I track the hourly electricity generation, when we need electricity the
00:22:53.280 most, when it's minus 40 degrees here, there's no solar generation, and there's no wind, they can't run
00:22:59.840 the windmills, they'll break, the hydraulics are frozen, when it gets that cold. The other peaks are in the
00:23:06.400 summer, when it's extremely hot. Well, the wind typically doesn't go, and solar panels don't
00:23:11.440 perform well in high heat. So this idea, and then they have this thing of line loss that they don't
00:23:17.440 understand. When you, as soon as you put electricity down a transmission line, at each mile it goes,
00:23:22.800 or kilometer it goes, there's less of it. Line loss, if you stop and stand under one, you hear buzzing,
00:23:28.080 that's electricity dissipating. So this idea that we're going to be a renewable energy superpower and export
00:23:34.320 this is pure fantasy. It's delusional. That's what it is. It's all delusional.
00:23:40.880 Mark Carney is incredibly radical person, and yet people like David Cochran and the CBC, it's like
00:23:46.160 their job is to defend him and to pretend that he's a moderate person, pretend that he's down the middle
00:23:51.440 of the road and that he will protect all. I can understand the frustration in thinking that if Mark
00:23:55.840 Carney got a majority government or a minority propped up by the block with that no pipelines,
00:24:01.520 no oil and gas mentality, that that is just completely at odds with Alberta. Premier Smith
00:24:07.440 doesn't strike me as a separatist in any way. I think she's tried to make it very clear that she
00:24:12.320 wants Alberta to have more sovereignty, more independence, more respect, but not leading an
00:24:18.080 actual separatist movement. Although it just seems like reading the comments, reading the sentiment from
00:24:22.400 people, even Juneau News followers reading the comments on our work, that there is a large appetite,
00:24:28.240 a large amount of anger against the Laurentian elites, the establishment, the liberals and people
00:24:34.080 like Mark Carney. So Keith, I'm wondering if you can maybe help us see what's going to happen next.
00:24:39.200 I don't want you to make a prediction, but what do you see happening in days and weeks?
00:24:44.320 What's going to happen from a legal perspective? And do you think this movement is going to take off
00:24:48.160 from here? So, you know, first of all, I'm fortunate to have known Premier Smith prior to her being
00:24:56.080 Premier. I first met her and worked with her 20-some years ago, maybe 27 years ago when she was the
00:25:02.720 executive director of a property rights institute in Alberta. And I've gotten to know her and fundamentally,
00:25:09.520 she believes in democracy and she believes in grassroots democracy in the sense that the people
00:25:15.440 should decide that she's the leader of the people, but the people should set the direction. So I think
00:25:22.640 that's what you're seeing here with increasing the tools that citizens have to give direction to their
00:25:29.600 government. In terms of next steps, the legislation sets out a very rigid informal process for citizen
00:25:38.880 initiated petition. And it's not just any piece of paper. It's not just any website. There will be no
00:25:45.200 digital. It's going to have to be actual forms that are obtained from our chief electoral office
00:25:52.800 and sanctioned and approved with a clear question. And specific forms will be issued in an
00:25:58.960 organization. Organizations will then go out and try and secure the signature, the address and the phone
00:26:05.040 number and the name of the individual and get the sufficient number. I think that process is going to
00:26:10.560 start fairly soon. And I'm optimistic that that number will be achieved. And then what will happen
00:26:18.160 is if we do surpass the 177,000 mark, then the government will be obligated to schedule and hold a
00:26:28.320 referendum. We do have municipal elections previously scheduled that are going to occur in October of this
00:26:35.280 year as to whether the timing would line up to hold the provincial referendum on separation at that time.
00:26:41.760 I don't know too early to tell. And then on top. So, so that would then.
00:26:46.480 Wow. That's, that's coming up fast. And, and so would it just be a simple majority, like 50 plus one or.
00:26:53.280 Yeah. So how that works. Candace is under the Supreme Court of Canada ruling codified in the Federal
00:27:00.400 Clarity Act is that the referendum. So let's just say for argument's sake that things do move that
00:27:07.920 quickly. And there is a provincial referendum on separation in Alberta in October in conjunction
00:27:13.440 with our municipal elections province wide. What would then happen is if that, if that
00:27:19.200 passed in the affirmative with a clear majority of Albertans on a clear question,
00:27:26.720 then it triggers a positive legal duty on the federal government, the provincial governments,
00:27:32.800 and First Nations to enter into negotiations with Alberta as to the terms of Alberta leaving
00:27:39.440 Confederation. No one can sit it out. No one has a veto. They can't just say, well, I'm not coming.
00:27:47.200 The First Nations can't say no way. We're not interested. They have to participate. That's
00:27:52.320 what the law is in Canada, as confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada. And the details will be
00:27:59.120 worked on. It may be for the First Nations that they decide they want to keep their lands federal,
00:28:05.040 and there'll be these little enclaves and continue to be ruled and administered by Ottawa. But that
00:28:09.920 hasn't worked out so well for them either for many of them. They may want to be, and Alberta could step
00:28:16.320 into the shoes in the treaties and honour them, or they may want to negotiate a whole new relationship.
00:28:21.440 That would all be on the table. And part of that agreement would include each province agreeing to
00:28:27.440 amend, to issue, pass a resolution in their legislature confirming the terms of separation
00:28:34.320 and succession, which would then meet the requirements for amending the constitution. That is a step.
00:28:39.280 And, but then we've got the wild card. Donald J. Trump, real estate mogul, likes to acquire things.
00:28:49.680 We, you know, Alberta has the third largest reserves of oil and gas. We have all,
00:28:54.240 most of our cattle that's produced all goes to the United States. A lot of agricultural products go to
00:28:59.840 the United States. We have a north-south trade, not an east-west trade, in terms of our economy.
00:29:05.360 Um, he could be stepping in at various times as he tends to, and he may make some kind of offer that
00:29:13.440 will completely, um, change the dynamic of the, of the, of the sentiment in Alberta,
00:29:20.240 as well as the negotiations with the rest of Canada. Wow. Unbelievable. What an interesting time
00:29:27.120 for our country, for Alberta, for the future of Canada. Keith, really appreciate your time. We're
00:29:32.160 going to have to have you on frequently to help us, uh, understand and have updates on this as it
00:29:36.480 goes. Appreciate your time today. Thank you very much. Right. That's Keith Wilson,
00:29:40.640 a constitutional lawyer based in Alberta. Folks, this is all the time we have for today. Thank you
00:29:44.880 so much for tuning in. We'll be back again tomorrow with all the news. I'm Candace Malcolm. This is the
00:29:48.240 Candace Malcolm show. Thank you and God bless. You're watching Juneau News, Canada's fastest
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