Stay or leave.
For Albertans, that is the question on everyone’s mind heading into Monday’s referendum. All told there are 10 questions on the ballot but none bigger than the question of separation. Should Alberta remain a province in Canada or should they consider separating?
That word ‘consider’ carries a lot of weight. Whatever the results of Monday’s vote, there will be no need to start re-drawing Canada’s maps just yet. The Oct. 19 isn’t the final word on the matter-far from it. This referendum is merely a question as to whether or not the province should begin the process of exploring a separation. It turns out a province simply up and leaving doesn’t just happen overnight. Rather it is a very involved undertaking with several legal hurdles to clear. There’s a lot to consider and the ‘pros’ might just outweigh the ‘cons’ when looking at it from every possible angle. This shouldn’t be looked at as a one issue question.
This reporter was only nine-years-old when Quebecers went to the ballot to determine whether they would cut ties to Canada or not. Much to young to understand it at the time, the main concern was whether or not a passport would be required to visit grandma and grandpa. (Thirty years later we still don’t know if that would have been a requirement or not).
Back to present day, ff the majority of Alberta voters actually choose to begin this process, a whole other vote would need to happen to make sure this is actually what Albertans want.
Hopefully anyone casting a ballot in Wild Rose country is fully aware of the ramifications of their vote. One need only look back to 2016’s Brexit vote across the pond, when the United Kingdom narrowly voted (by a margin of 51.9 per cent) to leave the European Union.
The next day, the most searched term on Google in the UK was ‘what is Brexit?’. A decade later debate still carries on as to whether or not it was a good idea to leave. Public opinion is hard to gauge through polls and it’s far from an exact science, but according to data from YouGov, an estimated 57 per cent of Britons say leaving was a bad idea. However that same data suggests 67 per cent of those who voted to ‘leave’ still stand by their decision.
Getting back to Alberta, all of this might be a moot point. Support to separate is said to have waned significantly over the last couple of months-and there’s question as to how high that support was at the start. Concerns with interference from outside sources-mainly the United States-have begun to surface leading into the final weeks before the vote. Then again, it’s nearly impossible for any major vote to take place these days without evidence (or at least speculation) of attempts to influence from outside the area.
Here in Lennox and Addington, there’s not much residents can do except await the results of the referendum and then access what the decision means to them.
They’ve got a vote of their own to focus on of course, with the municipal election set for Oct. 26. Advance polls are officially underway today in some municipalities. Check the town’s website for the latest on advance poll times, options and locations.
-Adam Prudhomme