EDMONTON — The Forever Canadian petition review committee voted in favour on Thursday of recommending that it trigger a referendum on Alberta remaining in Canada, following a contentious debate stemming from the UCP's premature celebration on Wednesday. The UCP lead Select Special Citizen Initiative Proposal Review Committee passed a motion on Thursday recommending that a referendum be held on a question about Alberta remaining in Canada, after determining that Forever Canadian signatories may have believed that was the petition's intent. "The committee's job is to determine whether or not 400,000 plus Albertans legitimately signed a petition asking for a referendum on whether or not they wanted to remain in Canada," said Minister of Finance Jason Nixon on Wednesday when the motion was first introduced. "There's no doubt that's what took place. There's no doubt those signatures are valid. It is certainly the position of myself and my fellow committee members that those voices need to be respected." Alberta NDP Leader Rakhi Pancholi and MLA Court Ellingson both voted against the motion, and instead opted to submit a minority report recommending that the petition trigger a vote in the legislature. .Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish first proposed the motion on Wednesday after Lukaszuk was given the opportunity to explain the intent behind his petition and why it should trigger a policy vote in the legislature rather than a referendum. "If there has ever been a government determined to an outcome being having a separation referendum in Alberta, I think we have seen, I imagine, everything we could possibly see perfect," said Lukaszuk following the committee meeting on Wednesday. The UCP's plan hit a speed bump on Wednesday, though, after debate over Glubish's motion was interrupted by a premature press release from their caucus, boasting that the motion had already been passed. Alberta NDP MLA Christina Gray immediately called a point of privilege after the incident, and addressing the matter consumed the remainder of the committee's allotted time, leaving them without the opportunity to vote on Glubish's motion during that meeting. The Alberta NDP entered Thursday with an apparent plan to debate the incident further, despite the committee having already accepted the point of privilege and voting against pursuing the matter further. Ellingson, Pancholi, and Gray spent a large portion of the meeting's opening minutes trying to get Committee Chair Brandon Lunty to acknowledge that he was quoted in the premature press release and to step aside from his position on the committee. "I think that there are like questions that a lot of people have that were not dealt with yesterday, and there wasn't an acknowledgement, and I think that it's important that when we're discussing the motion," said Ellingson. Lunty, Nixon, and UCP House Leader Minister Joseph Schow took turns shutting down their attempts to rekindle the debate, with all saying the committee had already handled the matter. "The line of questioning is irrelevant," Nixon said. "What you have ruled on has been ruled on, and they're going out of their way to not obey your ruling, Mr. Chair.""This is going to create disorder inside this committee, and I would ask that you rule firmly and make clear to the members opposite that they need to work on this motion, or let's call the question.".The opposition then turned its attention to First Nations consultation and said Justice Shaina Leonard has already ruled that no question about Alberta staying or leaving Canada can be asked in a referendum without that first happening. "The government can't bypass the duty to consult," Ellingson said. "We heard that from the courts last week, any question that is going out in a referendum is likely to impact Treaty rights, First Nations rights, and we need to take the time to hear what they are thinking about these conversations."Pancholi also brought up the breach of Alberta's List of Electors and its alleged misuse by The Centurion Project, an Alberta independence advocacy group. She said now is not the time to hold a referendum after the leak of such confidential information. "Those are significant investigations," said Pancholi. "We have no indication that those investigations will be complete between now and October, or even in advance of October, so that we can have any certainty that the outcome of any referendum on this issue can be valid or legitimate.".Tensions reached a boiling point late in the meeting when Pancholi took a shot at Lunty, who also received a caucus promotion on Thursday to serve as Chief Government Whip. "I just want to say, congratulations, Mr. Chair, as well, for your promotion and the pay increase that you got," Pancholi said. "You've clearly earned every dollar of that." Schow immediately jumped to Lunty's defence following the comment, calling Pancholi's comments "utterly disrespectful" and saying it is an attempt by her to grandstand before the next NDP leadership race. "I think her constituents would be ashamed of the way that member conducts herself in this chamber and in this committee room right now," said Schow. "Bring into conversation your pay, your role in this caucus, your role in this chair position."Thursday's meeting closed after the members voted on the motion, with Lunty directing that the committee's final report be ready for submission by Tuesday.
