A proposed referendum question on whether Alberta should leave Canada is now before the Supreme Court of Canada, and a judge is tasked with determining whether the question violates the Constitution. The Alberta Prosperity Project wants to ask whether they want to become a sovereign nation, and Alberta's Chief Electoral Officer says no.
00:00:00.000And from our perspective, you know, this was an unnecessary delay in allowing to Albertans to have a discussion about this very important issue.
00:00:08.640That delay is in the form of a hearing underway in the court of King's Bench this week to determine if his client's proposed referendum question violates the Constitution.
00:00:17.520The Alberta independence movement just hit a major court problem.
00:00:21.900But here's the plot twist that nobody saw coming.
00:00:24.800This problem is actually waking people up.
00:00:28.780For the first time in years, Albertans are seeing exactly how far the establishment will go to keep them from having a simple vote.
00:00:38.340And instead of scaring people off, it's actually firing them up.
00:00:43.320When the Alberta Prosperity Project walked into that courtroom yesterday, they didn't just show up.
00:00:51.840They made it nearly impossible at this point for anyone to ignore the fact that hundreds of thousands of Albertans want a real say in their future.
00:01:03.060And the moment the left tried to shut that down, it backfired badly.
00:01:07.820Suddenly, people who've never attended a rally or a town hall, never thought about independence, they're all now paying attention.
00:01:40.640We have a courtroom filled with over 20 lawyers, and everybody is arguing over what the meaning of the word proposal means and what the word contravene means.
00:01:51.700He represents Mitch Sylvester with the Alberta Prosperity Project, who in July put forward the question,
00:01:57.000do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?
00:02:01.980There are several interveners arguing the issue, including Council for Elections Alberta.
00:02:06.080It was the chief electoral officer who referred the question to the courts.
00:02:10.440According to Alberta's Citizen Initiative Act, proposed referendum questions must respect sections 1 through 35.1 of the Constitution Act.
00:02:18.580Rath has yet to argue his client side.
00:02:20.940Forever Canadian, a group that formed an opposition, says it's collected more than 450,000 signatures on the question of whether Alberta should stay in Canada.
00:02:29.120That citizen-led petition is in the process of being verified by Elections Alberta.
00:02:33.300And here's another positive angle in all of this.
00:02:36.080The left has accidentally admitted through their own actions that Alberta could leave.
00:02:44.940If independence was so impossible, like they always say, why are they fighting so hard to stop a mere vote?
00:02:54.520Why are lawyers, politicians, activists on the left throwing everything they can and everything they have at blocking a simple referendum?
00:03:03.920Because deep down they know Alberta has leverage, economic, constitutional, and a lot of popular support for independence at this time.
00:03:14.220The CBC story that I read the other day even reveals that these questions might all end up in court, which means that they're legitimate questions and what they're trying to do is stall.
00:03:25.480When a question is legitimate, the vote is inevitable.
00:03:29.880That's the real fear in Ottawa at this time.
00:03:49.420It's a confirmation that Alberta's on the right track and the establishment knows it.
00:03:54.800We just want to get on with gathering signatures and having a referendum on independence.
00:03:58.800Several lawyers representing different First Nations were also granted last-minute intervener status and will have until the beginning of December to submit their positions.
00:04:07.140Rath says a decision is expected before Christmas and doesn't expect the late submissions to impact that timeline.
00:04:12.700It's not legally binding, you know, on the rest of the country.
00:04:18.360It leads to the government of Alberta being able to seek those amendments with the rest of the partners in Confederation.
00:04:25.340But it doesn't immediately cause anything to happen.
00:04:29.760If the Alberta Prosperity Project's question is approved, the group would have four months to collect 177,000 signatures to get the question to ballot.
00:04:55.060Well, Jefferson, King's Bench Justice Colin Feesby ruled a constitutional review will benefit democracy and must happen first.
00:05:02.600The Alberta Prosperity Project wants to ask Albertans whether they want to leave Canada and become a sovereign nation.
00:05:09.260Alberta's chief electoral officer thought simply asking that question might violate Canada's constitution,
00:05:14.400including treaty rights of First Nations.
00:05:17.240Last month, Gordon McClure referred the question to a judge to make that assessment.
00:05:20.880This whole hearing process seems to be asking the question, you know, is asking a question to amend the constitution in and of itself unconstitutional,
00:05:31.620which is, to me, a pretty remarkable position.
00:05:34.000A judicial review into a proposed Alberta referendum question on separation begins today.
00:05:38.940A group called the Alberta Prosperity Project wants to ask the question,
00:05:43.060do you agree the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?
00:05:49.160In the summer, Alberta's chief electoral officer referred the question to the court to determine if it violates the constitution,