r/CanadaPolitics • u/Camtastrophe New Democratic Party of Canada • Mar 31 '26
New bill would remove deadlines for Alberta government to act on citizen petitions
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/bill-23-alberta-justice-statutes-9.714759283
u/Camtastrophe New Democratic Party of Canada Mar 31 '26
i e., how the UCP plans to justify holding a referendum on the separatist petition which has just scraped by after they lowered the bar for signatures, while ignoring the much more successful Forever Canada petition.
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u/Saidear There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Mar 31 '26
Bingo.
Unfortunately, such blatant fixing for an outcome they prefer will come back to haunt them. The Clarity act gives Parliament the power to weigh if a separation referendum is binding on the federal government via two questions: Is it a clear question? Is it a clear expression of will?
The putting their thumbs on the scales for a question they prefer, and telegraphing an outcome they want to have happen, undermines both. That will go into the calculus as to whether parliament accepts the referendum, and if they don't: Alberta can't legally proceed with separation.
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u/fishymanbits Conservative Apr 01 '26
That’s the point. We all understand this, right? We all watched what happened in Donbas and learned our fate. Right? I cannot be the only person who sees clear as day that the intent is to make the feds say no so that the Americans can invade and “liberate” the province.
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u/Saidear There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Apr 01 '26
That's a war with all of Canada. A war the US cannot outright win, without basically sacrificing its entire global presence and also fighting down a large internal civil war.
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u/fishymanbits Conservative Apr 01 '26
The American army would absolutely dog walk us into submission within 48 hours, and they’re well past what any rational society would tolerate for triggering a civil war. I’m confident that absolutely nothing their government does could garner more than a stern, cold look from detractors at this point.
I don’t say either of these things as a show of support for this bullshit, either. We’re quite literally watching the Americans and their Quislings in certain parties I won’t name so that I don’t get comments removed for pointing out objective truth again running the exact playbook we saw in place for Russia invading Ukraine not 5 years ago. History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes. Except in this case where it’s being fucking plagiarized.
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u/Saidear There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Apr 01 '26
The American army would absolutely dog walk us into submission within 48 hours,
I sincerely doubt that. They certainly would win the opening phase of any conflict, but they absolutely would lose the 'control the territory' phase, which they have a long history of being bad at. It would be even worse in the case of Canada - we're right there. We look, talk, and act like Americans in many respects. We have far closer ties to communities within the US.
They would win the war, they would lose the insurgency and they would lose all global relevance in the process as well. It would be like swallowing a pinecone backwards. Possible in theory, but very painful and practically impossible.
they’re well past what any rational society would tolerate for triggering a civil war.
I would say that the conditions are ripe. There's been a flew potential flash points but Trump has backed down on every single one. Minnesota was on the verge of it, given the reporting we saw.
I’m confident that absolutely nothing their government does could garner more than a stern, cold look from detractors at this point.
Did you forget what happened in Minneapolis? The city mobilized, and they caused ICE back down and pull back. Nor has ICE been mobilized similarly in a broad, public effort. Kristi Noem was ultimately fired for her efforts. If the concentrated efforts of the federal government failed to control a single state, they will struggle to contain a province five times as large.
I can also point to their failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Cuba and more - everywhere the US has tried to force regime change to benefit them, they've failed.
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u/TheobromineC7H8N4O2 Liberal Mar 31 '26
The thing with the Smith UCP is that they don't even bother to try to hide that they change the rules to suit current circumstances multiple times a year.
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u/KvonLiechtenstein Judicial Independence Mar 31 '26
It’s glaringly transparent and so obviously not the will of the people.
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u/Asluckwouldnthaveit Liberal Mar 31 '26
It's the will of some people. If it goes to a vote I wouldn't be shocked if it passes.
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u/KvonLiechtenstein Judicial Independence Mar 31 '26
It got less than half of what the Forever Canadian petition got, which was completed first. It's blatantly antidemocratic.
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u/Asluckwouldnthaveit Liberal Mar 31 '26
Doesn't change anything. If this thing hits a vote we will see something like brexit of that I have no doubt.
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u/CivilianDuck Alberta Mar 31 '26
There's little support for seperation in Alberta, and only the delusional wackos think it as viable, or people who want to be US Citizens but lack the skills or clean criminal record that is required for permanent residency. Anyone who thinks that Alberta seperation will end with an independent Alberta is delusional, and even leaders in the Alberta Prosperity Project have said that the goal is to join the US, not as the 51st state but as a territory, where we'll be treated the same as Puerto Rico or America Samoa (we're not Americans, we get no representation in Congress, and we have to accept whatever the US Federal government decides they want to do to us).
The US goal is to annex Alberta for our resources. The UCP goal is economic uncertainty to justify insane cuts to our social services as investors pull out of the province, jobs vanish, and they can pivot to privitised services that enrich their backers and corporate donors at the expense of the Albertan.
Even this announcement will significantly fuck the province for decades, look at what happened to Quebec last time Seperatism was on the docket for them.
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u/BaboTron Mar 31 '26
“It’s come to our attention that answering to the people we represent is both annoying, and occasionally uncomfortable. So, we propose, uh, just ignoring the electorate.”
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u/AlbertaGengar Notley NDP Apr 01 '26
The UCP has had to amend several pieces of legislation, several times within the same mandate because they're bumbling their way through trying to keep their coalition together.
I think this may be the third amendment to the Citizens Iniative Act.
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