Premier pushes ahead with fall separation referendum

Alberta will hold a referendum on separation this fall, Premier Danielle Smith confirmed Saturday, moving forward despite a court decision that prevented validation of the underlying petition signatures.

Smith said the Oct. 19 referendum will proceed after Stay Free Alberta submitted roughly 300,000 signatures — well above the 177,000 threshold required under the province's new citizen-initiative law. A court blocked Elections Alberta from counting the signatures, but Smith said the province has sufficient evidence the threshold was met.

"I just have to, in good faith, look at that and say they needed to get 177 thousand. They submitted 300 thousand," Smith said during her Saturday radio show.

Smith is also moving forward despite internal pressure. Some separatist members of her UCP caucus, including Jeffrey Rath, have threatened to remove her, saying she's watered down the referendum question. A separate petition opposing the referendum collected about 400,000 signatures.

Smith said she doesn't expect to satisfy everyone. "There's three different groups," she said. "We have laws in the province... so that if citizens manage to get 177,000 signatures on a petition campaign, they're wanting their fellow citizens to have a vote."

The referendum will test whether Albertans want the province to pursue independence from Canada.