An Alberta judge says citizen petition signatures calling for a referendum on Alberta’s independence from Canada can be counted and verified.
Alberta Court of Appeal Judge Alice Woolley’s decision was released Monday after she reversed her decision earlier this month on whether to set aside an earlier court decision dismissing an Alberta separatist group’s referendum petition.
At the time of the hearing, Woolley said he had some concerns with parts of the court’s previous ruling.
Jeff Rath, attorney for the Stay Free Alberta petition group, has applied for a delay in the decision so that Elections Alberta can verify the petition signatures.
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The group filed its petition in May and claimed to have collected nearly 302,000 names, but the court’s initial decision was made just days later, before the verification process could begin.
The Stay Free Alberta petition calls for an immediate referendum question regarding the province leaving Canada.
Instead, the Alberta government will hold a referendum this fall asking whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or “should the Government of Alberta initiate the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”
But it is unclear how the court decision might affect the government’s referendum plans.
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