EDMONTON— Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi refused to consider what it would mean if Albertans voted against remaining in Canada, moments after saying Premier Danielle Smith may cave to party pressure on Alberta independence, regardless of referendum results. "Well, it won't happen," said Nenshi on Tuesday, referring to Albertans voting against remaining in Canada. "I mean, that's a hypothetical that won't happen. No survey is showing that." A legislative committee held its first meeting on Tuesday to decide whether Thomas Lukaszuk's Forever Canadian legislative policy proposal petition should lead to a vote in the legislature, as he claims he intended, or to a referendum.If the committee deems a referendum is needed, then the proposed question would ask Albertans, "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" .Nenshi's comments came in response to the Western Standard asking him... "Say Lukaszuk's question does end up on a referendum. And we'll say it's a big if, but if the vote came back as a 'No,' and Albertans voted, 'No, we don't want Alberta to remain in Canada.' What would that say to you?"After shutting down the idea of Albertans voting against remaining in Canada, Nenshi turned his focus to squashing any vote on whether Alberta stays or leaves."The challenge here is that Mr. Lukaszk has been very clear that he doesn't want a referendum," Nenshi said. "He just wants a vote in the House.""All he wants is the UCP MLAs to say whether or not they believe in Canada and whether or not they are separatists, and they are so scared to do that. They're looking for every opportunity to not actually say where they stand. Their constituents will hold them to account for that."The Western Standard's question came shortly after Nenshi pointed to Smith's decision to implement permanent daylight saving time as evidence that she has no problem ignoring referendum results, and may do so again regarding Alberta independence."So this should actually alarm all of us, because if the separatism vote fails, let's say, but the Premier is feeling pressure from her separatist base, she may go forward with it anyway, and that should scare Albertans," Nenshi said..Nenshi shutting down the idea of Albertans voting against remaining in Canada runs starkly counter to his constant reminders that no one thought Brexit would succeed, and that the Quebec separatists came within inches of victory in 1995."In 1995, Canadians woke up about two weeks before that referendum and said, 'Oh, man, we're going to lose our country. We got to do something.' and we came within a sliver of losing our country," Nenshi said on April 10 when the NDP unveiled their For Alberta, For Canada campaign against independence."We're not repeating that mistake. We're not repeating the mistake of the people who thought Brexit would never pass. We're getting out there now. We're mobilizing people. We're showing them how, and where, and when to vote, and we're helping them talk to their neighbours."Projected support for Alberta independence varies; however, a Pollara survey published in April showed 27% suppot among respondents, which was a five-year high for their polling.A Mainstreet Research poll commissioned by the Western Standard found that 34% of respondents in February would have voted in favour of Alberta independence.
