Premier Danielle Smith’s referendum question could get slammed to a halt by Ottawa.

“This is a very dangerous bluff,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday, in a powerful put-down of Smith’s referendum question.

That’s the quote everybody noticed. More consequential was his statement that Ottawa will review Smith’s two-pronged question to see if it conforms to the federal Clarity Act.

“We have an obligation as the federal government to look at the question and determine whether it’s consistent with the Clarity Act,” Carney said in Ottawa.

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“Ultimately, if there are questions around that, questions about the clarity of the question . . . that would be a role for Parliament.

“I’m not saying that’s the case, but we’re just in the process of doing our due diligence.”

Under the act, Parliament can declare a question improper and therefore refuse to deal with it. There could also be legal action to declare the question invalid.

That has already happened twice. Why not now?

Smith seems to think her question is shielded because it only asks if people want a later binding referendum on independence. Legal experts were consulted on how to keep the question out of........

© Calgary Herald