T’was the Day Before Fall Sittings End
Looking back at the past six weeks or so, one could easily make the argument that the start of the second session of the thirty-first Legislature may be one of the most controversial in recent memory. In our last issue of The NEWS for 2025, we will take a closer look at the top five Alberta political stories of the year, but we will go a different direction in this issue.
In today’s issue, we want to take a deep dive specifically into the ongoing story about the state of the debate on separatism in our province. With recent legislative amendments and legal decisions released, the next chapter of this battle has begun.
The Pro-Confederation Petition Was Successful
On December 1st, Elections Alberta issued a statement authenticating the success of the Forever Canadian petition organized by former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. According to the data provided by Elections Alberta, the petition collected a total of 438,568 valid signatures.
For reference, the required number of signatures for this petition to be successful was 293,976 (10% of eligible voters on the post-election day List of Electors from the 2023 provincial election).
So, what’s next? According to the act:
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly shall lay the proposal before the Legislative Assembly if it is then sitting, or if it is not then sitting, within 15 days after the commencement of the next sitting.
Within 10 sitting days, the Government shall bring forward a motion to have the proposal referred to a committee of the Legislative Assembly.
Within 90 days if the Assembly is sitting, or within 15 days after the commencement of the next sitting, the committee may either table a report with respect to the policy proposal at the earliest practicable opportunity or table a report recommending the policy proposal be referred to the Lieutenant Governor in Council for the purpose of a referendum.
If a report is tabled recommending a referendum, a referendum must be held on or before the fixed date of the next provincial general election (October 18, 2027).
Given the timelines highlighted above with an understanding that the current sitting period will end this week, we would expect this will not be introduced to the Legislature until MLAs return for the spring sittings in 2026.
While Lukaszuk’s team was organizing and collecting signatures province-wide, a group representing the separatist side of the debate was in court debating the constitutionality of their proposed referendum question. Lead by an organization called the Alberta Prosperity Project, a pro-separation question was referred to the courts by the Chief Electoral Officer pursuant to the Citizen Initiative Act to determine if they had proposed a legal question.
That is where Bill 14 comes in.
The Impacts of Bill 14
The Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, introduced by Justice Minister Mickey Amery, is an omnibus bill that introduces a number of changes including immunity for the Attorney General from proceedings from the Law Society of Alberta, limiting the names of prospective political parties, further oversight on the Alberta Law Foundation, and increasing the number of signatures required for prospective provincial election candidates to deter “longest ballot” protest replicators.
For the purposes of this article, we are going to focus in on the key changes to the Citizen Initiative Act that are introduces in this bill which have the potential to significantly impact the citizen referendum process.
According to the Government of Alberta’s fact sheet on Bill 14, the changes proposed include the removal of the following stipulations:
· Proposals cannot contravene sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982;
· Proposals cannot exceed the jurisdiction of the Legislature;
· Proposals cannot have the same subject/create conflict with the outcome of another petition;
· Proposals cannot be the same or similar as unsuccessful referendum or vote within the past five years;
· Proposals must have unambiguous statement and must meet the requirements of the Act;
· A constitutional question must be factually accurate and stated in the form of a “yes” or “no” question;
· Allows the Chief Electoral Officer to provide advice, assistance, and recommendations to applicants; and
· Allows the Chief Electoral Officer to refer questions to the court.
The legislation does a number of other things we simply don’t have the space to include here, but some of the key new powers in this bill are:
· Discontinuing any court proceedings brought by the Chief Electoral Officer;
· Allow applicants to make new applications within 30 days of amendments coming into force at no cost;
· Require petitioners to file a notice of intent with the Chief Electoral Officer; and
· Shifting many of the removed powers from the Chief Electoral Officer to the Minister of Justice.
Effectively (if this bill passes), the reference of the Alberta Prosperity Project pro-separation question to the court will be discontinued. They will also be empowered to reapply and collect signatures for their proposal notwithstanding the similarity of issue to the Forever Canadian petition which has already received approval.
The Courts Opine on the Proposed Legislative Amendments
On December 5th (the day following the tabling of Bill 14), Justice Colin Feasby of the Court of King’s Bench, released his reasons for decision on Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta v. Sylvestre, 2025 ABKB 712. The decision finds that “the Referendum Proponent’s constitutional referendum proposal contravenes Constitution Act, 1982 ss 1-35.1 because independence would require the replacement of the Canadian constitution, including the identified sections, with a new Alberta constitution. Constitution Act, 1982 guarantees the rights in the Charter.”
Additionally, Justice Feasby included an epilogue to his decision discussing the province’s decision to introduce Bill 14 at the time it did. He offered heavy criticisms of the province’s actions, saying “changing legislation to circumvent a valid legal process commenced by the independent officer of the Legislative Assembly responsible for administering democratic processes is the antithesis of the stable, predictable, and ordered society that the rule of law contemplates, and democracy demands.”
On Premier Danielle Smith’s radio show on Saturday, December 6th, she offered her reasons for the changes introduced in Bill 14. It was her argument that the courts should not act as “gatekeepers” to citizen-initiated referendums. She also challenged the actions of both the Chief Electoral Officer and the courts, suggesting "whether it's the chief electoral officer or the court, they seem to want to approve the ones they like and hold up the ones they don't like, and that's not democracy.”
Justice Feasby seemingly pre-empted these comments from the Premier in the final paragraph of his decision.
“Contrary to the pending JSAA 2025 s 71.1(3), this case cannot be discontinued, and the Court cannot be silenced because the case has been decided. These reasons are delivered despite the anticipated change to the law because reason giving is democratic. This case concerned a matter of importance to the public and these reasons are the product of the significant investment of the diverse group of stakeholders who participated in this proceeding. The public is entitled to the fruits of this process that has been conducted largely at their expense so that if they are asked to vote on Alberta independence, they have a tool that may help them make sense of the legal dimensions of the secession of Alberta from Canada.”