Overview

• Alberta’s chief electoral officer referred the proposed secession question to the Court of King’s Bench for a judicial review of its constitutional and treaty compliance.
• Government lawyers told Justice Colin Feasby that under the Citizen Initiative Act the question is not unconstitutional and should be allowed to proceed.
• Mitch Sylvestre of the Alberta Prosperity Project plans to move to strike the referral and end the judicial review before it advances.
• If approved, the secession question would require 177,000 signatures in four months to secure a spot on the ballot.
• A rival pro-unity petition launched under previous rules is seeking nearly 300,000 signatures in 90 days and Indigenous groups including the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation are preparing objections over treaty rights.