Alberta's Constitutional Path to Independence w⧸John Carpay of the JCCF
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Summary
In this episode, we discuss the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling in the case of Quebec s separation from Canada in 1998, and how that ruling applies to Alberta. We also discuss the possibility of Alberta seceding from Canada.
Transcript
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We hear often from people saying that Alberta cannot separate because they will not get enough
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votes to change the constitution. Does this apply differently? How does that work?
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Well, the Supreme Court of Canada released its reference re-Quebec secession in 1998. As you
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mentioned, at that time, the Supreme Court justices were fully aware of the fact that
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generally changing Canada's constitution requires the consent of the federal parliament and seven
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provincial legislatures of seven provinces, which together represent more than 50% of Canada. So
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that's our amending formula, seven provinces plus the federal government. And I believe it has to be
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done within a time period of five years. And so if you wanted to remove section 33, the notwithstanding
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clause from the charter, for example, that could be done. Majority vote of federal parliament and
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majority votes in seven provincial legislatures. And you could say, okay, we're going to get rid
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of the notwithstanding clause. That's the general approach. The Supreme Court of Canada was fully
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aware of that when they issued their ruling in which they said a province, if the majority of the
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people that vote in a referendum in a province vote to leave Canada, neither the federal government nor
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the other nine provinces can force that province to stay. Now they did say that about Quebec, but
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there's nothing, there's nothing in that ruling that does not apply to Alberta. So if there's a
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referendum, it has to be a clear question. Like, do you want to leave Canada? Do you want Alberta to
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cease to be a province of Canada and become an independent country? I mean, there's probably a
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half dozen ways that are clear, okay? If it's a clear question and the majority of voters in a
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referendum vote yes to leave, then the rest of Canada, primarily the federal government, but I'm
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sure they would consult with the other nine premiers, the rest of Canada has to negotiate. And yeah, the
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negotiations would be a lot of hard work, but you know, Slovakia separated from Czechoslovakia, and I'm
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sure there's, you know, lots of hard work involved to negotiate all these various details. You know, the
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Czechs probably had military bases in Slovakia, this and that, they had to negotiate that. You know, when
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Norway separated from Sweden, they used to be one country together. There's just so many examples. So it is
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definitely a lot of hard work, but where there's a will, there's a way. And the moment that more than
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half of Alberta voters vote to leave, then those negotiations are going to get started. And