Can Alberta break away from Canada? Referendum plan and laws explained | WION Decodes

Canada's Alberta province will conduct a referendum in October this year to ask its citizens whether they want to remain a part of the country or seek independence. This marks a major test for Mark Carney led country in decades as it is being touted as Canada's Brexit moment. Alberta's leader, Premier Danielle Smith, announced the coming vote this week and batted for a unified Canada. Alberta, the oil-rich province of Canada has been harbouring separatist sentiment in past few years and the recent referendum call was triggered after 300,000 people signed a petition asking that a vote be held on the matter. According to reports, Albertans will be asked: “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?” Voters will have a choice of checking two boxes — option A being to remain in Canada and option B being to commence the legal process to hold a binding separation referendum. The referendum will have a five-month campaign period.

Also Read: Alberta separation vote: Mark Carney warns 'dangerous bluff' and Canada's Brexit moment

Why it is happening

There are separatist groups in Alberta who are pushing for country's independence from Canada. Though, the petition signed by 30000 people was blocked by an Alberta court earlier this month, another group led by a former deputy premier of Alberta, Thomas Lukaszuk, collected more than 400,000 signatures for an anti-separation petition called Forever Canadian. This is happening in a province with nearly five million population. The separatist movement is led by Mitch Sylvestre, a gun shop owner from the town of Bonnyville, and Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer based in Calgary. Both Sylvestre and Rath are members of a group called the Alberta Prosperity Project, which argues that the province's economic growth has been hindered by years of Liberal party rule in Ottawa. BBC reported that people joining the movement are fed up of environmental policies that comes in way of resources from the oil-rich province. The separatist sentiment is driven by “western alienation” — a long-standing belief among many in western Canada that federal leaders in Ottawa ignore and underrepresent their interests, though its demands are not uniform.

What does Canadian law say about separation?

Canada’s laws do not allow a province to simply leave the country on its own. The legal framework was created after Quebec’s narrow 1995 independence referendum, when the federal government asked the Supreme Court to clarify whether a province could legally separate from Canada. In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that a province cannot unilaterally secede. However, it said that if a province held a referendum with a “clear question” on separation and received a “clear majority” in favour, then the federal government would be obligated to negotiate. Following that ruling, Canada passed the Clarity Act, which formally laid out the process for any future separation attempt.

What is the Clarity Act?

The Clarity Act gives Canada’s House of Commons the authority to decide whether:

• the referendum question is “clear” enough, and
• the result represents a “clear majority” in favour of separation.

The law does not define an exact percentage for what counts as a clear majority. While some argue that 50 per cent plus one vote should be enough, others — including former minister Stéphane Dion, who drafted the law — say a simple majority may not be sufficient for something as significant as breaking up the country. The Supreme Court also said separation would require negotiations between the federal government and the province seeking independence. Other provinces would likely have to be involved too because secession would affect Canada’s Constitution, economy, borders, resources and political system.

Why would constitutional changes be needed?

Canada’s Constitution does not contain a direct process for a province to leave the federation. That means any separation would require constitutional amendments approved through a broader national process involving provincial legislatures and Ottawa. Legal experts say the impact of one province leaving Canada would affect every other province, making nationwide negotiations unavoidable. Bernard Funston, who participated in the 1998 Supreme Court reference case, was quoted in reports saying that the consequences for the rest of Canada would be “astounding” because separation would impact everything from federal representation to resource sharing and national institutions.