Independence question the only one that matters: Bruce Pardy
Subhead:Professor Bruce Pardy says that of all the questions on Alberta's referendum ballot, independence is the only one that truly matters.#
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Queen's University law professor Bruce Pardy says nine of the 10 questions on Alberta's referendum ballot are political theatre, and only the last one matters.
Pardy, executive director of Rights Probe, joined Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle on the Oct. 14 Buffalo Roundtable, days ahead of the vote.
Sheila opened on what she called the “weird jingoistic patriotism” of the federalist side, noting the same voices who treated Canadian flags at the trucker convoy as a sign of extremism now insist Albertans put down their provincial flag and pick the maple leaf back up.
Pardy warned against expecting consistency from that crowd. “We believe in consistency, in logic, in facts, in patterns, in coherence... and we believe that they think the same way too. But in fact, they don't care about any of those things,” he said. “Their political ideology is based upon the emotion of the moment.”
The law professor suggested independence-minded Albertans “really shouldn't bother trying” to win those types of people over.
“This attempt to try and reconcile with the rest of Canada is not going to happen,” Pardy said. “You've tried and tried and tried and tried, and it's probably time now to pick a different path.”
Turning to the ballot itself, Pardy broke down the first nine questions: five on policy and four on constitutional amendments.
“The five policy questions are things that lie within the jurisdiction of the provincial government already. They could have done those things already if they'd wanted to,” explained the Rights Probe director. “And the four constitutional questions are questions about amendments that will never happen.”
He compared them to the 2021 equalization referendum, in which a majority of Albertans voted to scrap the program. “What has happened? Nothing,” Pardy said. “The rest of the country, including the federal government, will not entertain changes in the way that those questions suggest.”
“So, here's the ploy,” he continued. A voter reading the first nine questions without context might conclude Alberta can fix its problems inside Confederation. “So, let's vote to stay. That's the game, right? And the only question that counts in this referendum is question 10.”
Pardy also pointed to what he called an irony: the Constitution is nearly impossible to amend on any controversial subject, with one exception.
“Of all the things that are being contemplated, amending the Constitution is essentially impossible except for one, and that one is independence,” he said, citing the Supreme Court's ruling that a clear majority on a clear question triggers a duty to negotiate. “The most extreme choice is the one, in my opinion, that is easiest to achieve in constitutional terms.”
Sheila added that Ottawa has ignored Alberta's elected Senate nominees since Justin Trudeau took office, calling it the one collaborative fix Alberta tried without reopening the Constitution.
Pardy stressed that option two on question 10 guarantees nothing by itself.
“This is not that vote,” he said. But a strong result “will at least create the political pressure on the powers that be to deal with the fact that their population has said we are not happy with the way things are and we want to have a vote.”
The Buffalo Roundtable streams live Wednesdays at 11 a.m. MT / 1 p.m. ET.
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