Alberta lawmakers recommend October vote on remaining in Canada

CALGARY, Canada - An Alberta legislative committee recommended on Thursday that the oil-rich province should proceed with a referendum on whether it wants to remain part of Canada, a move which could pose a major challenge for Prime Minister Mark Carney.

A decision on whether to include the question along with other measures on a planned ballot in October will be made by the province's government. Premier Danielle Smith is scheduled to hold a prime-time address later on Thursday.

The recommendation comes after months of campaigning by a vocal group of separatists who want a referendum on leaving Canada in spite of polling that has consistently shown separation is supported by only about one-third of the province's voters.

If included, it would be the first time in Canadian history that a province outside of Quebec has put the question of separation to the public. It promises to be divisive not only within Alberta but more broadly in Canada, as Carney attempts to lead a united Canadian front as he grapples with U.S. tariffs.

Carney has rolled back several of his predecessor's environmental measures that angered many Albertans who argued they undermined the province's oil and gas industry.

Any ballot measure could still face legal challenges and the federal government has not indicated how it would react.

The question of national unity is highly sensitive in Canada, particularly in the wake of a referendum in Quebec in 1995 that only just failed to back independence for the province.

After that vote, the federal government pushed through legislation giving parliament the final say over the wording of any province's proposed referendum and laying down conditions that must be met before Ottawa would open talks on independence.

Separatists delivered a petition to Elections Alberta earlier this month that they said had over 300,000 signatures — more than enough to trigger a vote on leaving Canada under provincial law.

They were dealt a setback last week, however, when a provincial court ruled in favor of a First Nations bid to halt the referendum petition. But Smith, who has stopped short of publicly supporting independence, promised to appeal against the judge's decision, saying it infringed on the rights of citizens to speak out about important issues.

With the separatist petition halted, her party moved on Thursday to recommend that a referendum be held instead on a different petition which declares that Alberta should remain a province of Canada. That petition garnered more than 400,000 signatures.

The petition's proponent, Thomas Lukaszuk, said it had been meant to prevent a referendum and that if Smith's government chooses to now put his question on remaining in Canada on a ballot, it would be acting without his endorsement.

Smith had previously reduced the number of signatures required to prompt a citizen-led referendum by half, leading her opponents to accuse her of unnecessarily fanning the flames of separatism. — Reuters