I remember where I was on Oct. 30, 1995. I was sitting in the student lounge of the Faculté Saint-Jean, the francophone campus of the University of Alberta, waiting to see if my country would break up due to the Quebec referendum on separating from Canada.
Some of my fellow classmates had just returned from Montreal, where they joined 100,000 fellow citizens in a show of love to plead for Quebecers to vote “no” in the referendum on sovereignty.
We stepped back from the brink then, by the narrowest of margins – less than one per cent. The relief in our little lounge was palpable. I hoped I would never have to go through that anxiety again, though I feared I might.
I certainly never thought that if I did go through it again, it would be here in Alberta.
Premier Danielle Smith, in introducing Bill 54 into the legislature, has moved the goalposts for citizen-led petitions in a way that makes a vote on Alberta separation more likely.
Under the current citizen initiative legislation, a petition for a constitutional change (which, by Alberta law, would trigger a referendum) would require as many signatures as 20 per cent of all the people who voted in the last provincial election – and also at least 20 per cent of all the people who voted in the last election in two thirds of the individual ridings in the province – in a 90-day period.
Now that Bill 54 has formally become law, a constitutional petition (like one on separation) will only require as many signatures as 10 per cent of the voters in the last election across the province (no per-riding requirement) to go to a vote, and those gathering signatures will get 120 days to collect them.
You can take the premier at her word that she is personally opposed to separation. You can agree with the pundits who say she’s merely taking these steps to make a tool out of voter frustration to gain concessions from Ottawa, or to placate the base (or fringe) of her party.
But whatever her beliefs and her motives, her actions make separation more possible.
Calling referenda on fundamental questions like national unity (or in this case, moving the goalposts to allow them to be called for) is fraught with risk. It puts wheels in motion that can’t necessarily be stopped – especially in an era of misinformation and disinformation.
Just ask David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, what can happen when you propose a referendum on a subject you don’t believe in just to placate your base. The aftermath of the UK’s narrow 2016 vote to leave the European Union, commonly known as Brexit, has been years of political and economic turmoil, even before Covid.
But complaining about the premier’s actions is useless. Those who want to stay Canadian need to take their own action – and coincidentally, the premier’s just made it easier to do that.
Yes, it is now easier for separatists to force a vote on Alberta leaving Canada. But it will also be easier for those opposed (both to separation and to the premier’s actions) to push against separating, and perhaps do even more.
They could, for instance, launch a petition to amend the constitution requiring that any vote to separate from Canada requires a supermajority of two thirds. Or they could petition to change the electoral system from first past the post to proportional representation. Or to put term limits on how long someone can serve as premier. Who knows?
That’s what can happen when you move goalposts – sometimes they keep moving on you.
