Alberta separatists argue for stay of referendum petition court ruling

Jeffrey Rath appeared before an Alberta appeal court judge on Thursday, seeking to restart the signature verification process.

A judge has reserved her decision on whether to set aside a ruling that quashed an Alberta separatist group’s referendum petition, saying she has concerns with parts of the decision.

The ruling last month found the Stay Free Alberta petition shouldn’t have been issued and Premier Danielle Smith’s government neglected its duty to consult First Nations.

Jeffery Rath, the lawyer for Stay Free Alberta, says Elections Alberta should be allowed to verify more than 300,000 signatures collected in support of a proposed referendum on separation.

Rath told the Alberta Court of Appeal on Thursday a lower-court ruling by Justice Shaina Leonard stopped the petition process before the government had an opportunity to consider the verified results or consult First Nations.

The hearing is examining whether Leonard’s ruling should be stayed while an appeal proceeds.

Rath said approximately 301,620 signatures were submitted, and the group wants Elections Alberta to verify them and report the total to the provincial government.

“We wanted to count the signatures; we wanted to tell the attorney general how many verified signatures there are, and that’s it,” Rath told the court.

“The rights of the people—the statutory rights of people that signed the petition—are wasting by the day.”

Rath argued collecting and counting signatures does not itself infringe on treaty rights and a referendum would only express the political will of Albertans.

“If the government doesn’t want to proceed with something, it doesn’t have to proceed with something,” Rath said.

“Then, it becomes a political issue for that government if it wants to stand for election and face an electorate where it’s deliberately thwarted the will of the people.”

Rath maintains the government would retain the ability to change the question or decide how to respond.

Justice Alice Woolley said she has concerns about several parts of Leonard’s earlier ruling, including findings a referendum result would bind the government and the chief electoral officer could decide questions of law.

However, Woolley repeatedly questioned whether the pro-separatist group would suffer irreparable harm if the verification process remained on hold until the appeal were decided.

She also noted Leonard did not decide whether the Citizens Initiative Act or the proposed separation question are constitutional.

Woolley said Stay Free Alberta could succeed on other grounds of appeal but still lose if the constitutional issue is ultimately decided against it.

The justice also questioned whether a limited stay could allow Elections Alberta to verify the signatures and report the results while preventing the process from advancing to a referendum.

The Alberta government, which is also appealing Leonard’s ruling, and First Nations respondents were expected to address Woolley’s questions later in the hearing.

The provincial government is also appealing Leonard’s decision.

Smith cited the ruling, as well as the separatist petition and a pro-Canada petition with 404,000 verified signatures, as the reason she decided to put a separation question on the province’s Oct. 19 referendum.

That question asks Albertans whether they want to remain in Canada or hold a second, binding vote on separation in the future.

With files from The Canadian Press