Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will ask her government to include a question on separation when citizens go to vote on nine other referendum questions this fall.

Premier Smith made the announcement during a pre-recorded televised address to Albertans Thursday evening, saying that 700,000 Albertans have signed petitions asking for a vote on the issue.

“Now, I want to be clear. I support Alberta remaining in Canada,” she said in the address.

“That is how I would vote on separation in a provincial referendum. It is also the position of my government and caucus.”

Smith said that despite this support for remaining in Canada, she was troubled by the recent “erroneous” court decision that she said interferes with the democratic rights of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.

In early May, Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard found that the province didn’t meet its duty to consult with First Nations before moving ahead with a process to affect treaty rights.  First Nations leaders have condemned the province’s move toward separation.

“And I, as Premier, will not have a legal mistake by a single judge silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Albertans,” she said.

“That’s not the Alberta way.”

Smith said that they would be taking the decision to the Alberta Court of Appeal, and even the Supreme Court of Canada, if it’s necessary.

“But this process will take many months and possibly years before being addressed by those higher courts,” she said.

“In the meantime, under our legal system, this troubling court decision is binding law in Alberta until it is successfully appealed.”

That’s why Smith wants to include it in the same referendum where Albertans will consider a host of other policy and constitutional questions.

The question that Albertans will consider will be the following:

“Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

Smith confirmed that this referendum question would not directly trigger separation.

Clear question is key to ending the discussion: Calgary mayor

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas, when asked about the potential contents of Thursday’s address, said that so far, even the prospect of a debate on Alberta separation has been very damaging to Calgary’s economic interests.

“There’s many people sitting on the sidelines right now that are waiting for this question to be resolved,” Farkas told reporters.

“If you had asked me, say, even a year ago, I would have pushed back against the prospect of even holding a referendum. But, at this point, it’s very clear that the provincial government’s approach has allowed this to boil over, but we’re at a point where we need to settle this question once and for all. So, I welcome the question.”

Farkas said that he would be campaigning strongly in favour of Calgary jobs and investment.

“There’s a strong case for Canada to be made when it comes to Calgarians’ prosperity and the job prospects for us here locally,” he said.

The mayor also said that it was important that the question asked in a referendum was a clear and well-defined question.

“It would be even more damaging for Albertans to go to the polls and be asked a question that was otherwise ambiguous, not clear,” Farkas said.

“We need to settle this once and for all and move on from this.”

Given the province’s legislative provisions to pave the way for a separatist petition, the links to the leaked List of Electors, and the Premier’s desire to appeal a court decision on the separatist petition, Farkas was asked if he thought the UCP was a separatist party with a separatist leader.

He said the government has a certain plausible deniability, given efforts by the Premier to work within the confines of Canada. She’s worked with Prime Minister Carney on a carbon pricing and pipeline agreement, even when it came at political cost to both Premier Smith and PM Carney, Farkas said.

“But, you cross a red line when you actively sue to get a separatist question back on the ballot,” he said.

“You cross a red line when you actively sue to undermine (First Nations) treaty rights that we’ve respected in this province for 150 years.”

Albertans will vote on referendum questions on Oct. 19, 2026.