Albertans will go to the polls on Oct. 19 to decide whether the province should have more say over immigration and the appointment of judges.

In the meantime, the Alberta government has introduced legislation to give the province more say over immigration. Additionally, the government has introduced a motion in the legislature seeking constitutional changes to allow the province more say over the appointment of judges.

And while the planned referendum questions would potentially clear the way for the province to go even further than these first steps, it’s still a rather curious case of putting the cart before the horse. What, then, is the point of Referendum Day?

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The rationale for putting these immigration- and constitution-related questions to Albertans is that these issues came up during the Alberta Next process, but that they weren’t issues the UCP campaigned on in the 2023 election. Therefore, a mandate is needed.

On the other hand, critics have accused the government of asking questions on issues where they’ve already decided upon a course of action, and thus the referendums are geared at achieving a desired result.

It’s unclear, then, why the government would choose to both undermine its own rationale and vindicate the critics’ arguments.

If the government has already concluded Alberta will be better off with a greater say in the administration of immigration and the selection of judges, then why are we wasting our time voting on these matters? Next year is an election year, anyway.

It’s not unreasonable to argue that these are issues that have taken on increased importance and warrant a policy response. Moreover, recent polling would suggest Albertans are on board with some of these proposed changes.

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Conversely, it is true the UCP did not campaign on these issues in the last election and, as such, doesn’t have a clear mandate to take action. Mind you, there are plenty of other issues that have come to the forefront over the past three years that were completely absent on the 2023 campaign trail.

Arguably, though — at least on immigration — it goes further than that. Three years ago, the Alberta government was pressing to have greater numbers of newcomers come to the province. In many ways, this is a reversal of previous policy.

But if the government insists on sticking to the narrative that all of this rises to the level of needing a new and specific mandate from Albertans, then why on earth are they not waiting to see if they receive that mandate?

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If, somehow, Albertans were to say ‘no’ to these questions, what then? Are they going to repeal their own legislation and motion? That seems unlikely.

It is interesting how it came to be that these were the issues selected for province-wide referendums. The far more contentious issue of leaving the Canada Pension Plan — a question that could very well go against the government’s preferred option — was conspicuously absent from the nine questions announced for Oct. 19.

The current strategy gives the government months to keep its policy priorities at the forefront and to then bask in its carefully crafted victory. So why now undermine that strategy?

It could also be that these questions are merely excuses to justify the true purpose of Oct. 19, which is a vote on Alberta separation. The separatist group spearheading the petition to that end now claims to have surpassed the required threshold, which everyone expected would likely be the case once the government made that task easier.

If these other questions are just window-dressing, then take them off the ballot. If Oct. 19 is ultimately going to be about whether we remain a part of Canada, then let’s lose the distractions.

But if these questions do matter, then the government should be holding off on legislating in these areas until Albertans have a say.

Rob Breakenridge is a Calgary-based podcaster and writer. He can be found at robbreakenridge.ca and reached at rob.breakenridge@gmail.com

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