Post

Eye-rolling news out of today's special committee on the Forever Canadian petition: after hearing Lukaszuk argue for the whole meeting that he doesn't actually want a referendum, the UCP majority of the committee has decided that his petition will be the reason we have a referendum. Oct 19.

The courts have already decided that the opposite referendum, asking if Albertans want to separate, cannot proceed without consulting the First Nations. The government appears to believe that asking the question in reverse gets around this, even though the referendum will provide the same data.

To the hundreds of Albertans who spent all summer volunteering for Lukaszuk in a campaign against a separation referendum, only to end up as the justification for a separation referendum themselves, we can only offer our condolences.

In a further and very funny development, it appears the UCP put out a media release announcing the committee's decision before it had even decided. NDP committee members pointed to the committee's chair himself being quoted in the release. They would like to see this referred to the Legislature.