What Next? Is it Just the End of the Beginning? with Darrell Bricker

So now what? The votes have been cast and counted and there will be no separation referendum in Alberta. Danielle Smith will continue to face attacks from both wings of her party… the separatists think she sold them out… the federalists think she caused a risky and unnecessary vote. It was also costly for everyone in the province so… was it worth it, and I don’t just mean the cash outlay. PMMC says the vote is decisive – but is it? Even on Q10 – the vote on staying or going – those who lost are not likely to undergo a radical change of heart, although there has been some immediate reflection on the problems with their leave campaign. Still, that aggrieved sentiment remains something that needs both managing and resolving. But the results of the other 9 questions also need to be addressed. They are non-binding, some were far from clear and no one really wants to re-open the constitution for endless battles that are always political, not constitutional.

But Darrell Bricker, the Chair of IPSOS, a global polling firm says they put the 9 questions to every other province and it turns out most Canadians share Alberta’s concerns over immigration, who decides who gets to come and stay, who pays for the impact on health and education and whether citizenship should be a prerequisite for voting. I am over- simplifying the questions, and many propose the need for new laws etc., but what struck me was how much the ideas resonated across the country. There are divisions of responsibility already spelled out in the constitution, but the lines have long blurred because Ottawa has used cash to cross those lines and the provinces have willingly taken the money- but in the process they have ceded some territory.

So, for a hot take on what happened and what comes next… take a Listen to Darrell Bricker on No Nonsense. He says we are just at the end of the beginning of the political machinations that will unfold in the wake of the vote in Alberta.

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