Seperation Question

Ballot Question 10 – Remain or Commence the Legal Process to Hold a Binding Referendum on Leaving

Learn More About the Separation Question on the Ballot.

The Alberta government has added the following question to the October 19th referendum ballot:

BALLOT QUESTION 10

Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?

Young woman with brown hair. She is smiling, wearing a white shirt, and looking straight at the camera. She is framed by the provincial outline of Alberta and a red maple leaf.

Voters will be asked to select only one of the following two options:

Option 1: Alberta should remain a province of Canada.
Option 2: The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.

The referendum question does not directly trigger Alberta separating from Canada. However, if the option to begin the process to hold a binding provincial referendum receives support from the majority of Albertans, the government would start the legal processes necessary to hold a binding referendum on separation at a later date.

Alberta's government is asking this question primarily for two reasons.

First, under Alberta's Citizen Initiative law, Albertans are able to request the government hold a referendum on a particular issue if they are able to get 177,732 (10% of previous provincial votes cast in last provincial election) of their fellow Albertans to sign a petition in support within a four month period. In this case, approximately 700,000 Albertans signed one of two citizen initiative petitions supporting questions asking whether Alberta should remain or separate from Canada. Adding this question respects the voices of these hundreds of thousands of Albertans.

Second, a recent court decision found that a binding referendum on separation could not be held in Alberta without first conducting a constitutionally mandated consultation process with First Nations on the potential effects of that question on treaty rights. The Alberta government is appealing this decision as it believes the court has made an error in law, however, until that ruling is successfully appealed or clarified it is still binding law in Alberta and a binding referendum triggering separation is not legally possible.

The Government of Alberta does not wish to wait years through an extended court process before receiving directions from Albertans on whether or not to pursue an issue as important as separation. The government wants Albertans to have the opportunity to debate the issue that hundreds of thousands of Albertans asked for on this issue, have a province-wide vote, and move forward with whatever Albertans decide.

GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA POSITION

The Alberta government is advocating for Albertans to vote on October 19th to remain in Canada and focus our efforts on building a stronger and more sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. Despite the last 10 years of destructive anti-Alberta policies under the Trudeau-Singh coalition government in Ottawa, we have recently made substantial progress on having these federal policies and laws repealed or amended so that Alberta is now able to build new pipelines and export our energy resources on an unprecedented scale. For more information on these recent changes, please read about the Alberta-Ottawa energy agreement, and note the progress on new pipeline projects here.

Obviously, there is still much more work to be done on addressing Albertan's grievances and the government understands and recognizes the deep and legitimate frustrations millions of Albertans feel after years of federal policies and decisions that have harmed our province's economy, industries and way of life. Albertans deserve the opportunity to express those frustrations and debate solutions through this respectful and democratic referendum process.

So please vote on this and the other 9 referendum questions on October 19th. Your vote matters and will help determine the next chapter for our province.

For more information on the government's position on this issue, please take the time to listen to the Premier's Address on this matter.

We will also add more content to this page over the coming months as it becomes available.

See the Immigration Questions See the Constitutional Questions

Seperation Question

Ballot Question 10 – Remain or Commence the Legal Process to Hold a Binding Referendum on Leaving

The Alberta government has added the following question to the October 19th referendum ballot:

BALLOT QUESTION 10

LEARN MORE

GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA POSITION