Court ruling has no impact on Alberta Prosperity Project, according to CEO Mitch Sylvestre

Calgary Herald

2 days ago

The CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project said a court ruling on Thursday will have little effect on their efforts to move forward with their independence question.
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The question that the APP and their CEO Mitch Sylvestre seeks to ask in a referendum, 'Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?'
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The question was referred to the courts by the Alberta chief electoral officer Gordon McClure to hear if it violated the Constitution.
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Following an attempt by the APP to strike the referral last week, a decision on Thursday ruled that a full hearing will determine the constitutionality of their question.
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Legal counsel for the APP Jeffrey Rath said the decision was as expected.
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'The Court rarely decides matters on a striking application,' Rath said. 'We look forward to hearing how asking a question about amending the Constitution can be unconstitutional.'
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Although the decision was not in their favour, Sylvestre said it will not have any adverse effects on their end.
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'It actually gives us more time to prepare for the actual referendum itself,' he said.
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He adds that the decision raised concerns from government officials.
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'I've heard concerns from people that are in the current UCP government, MLA's who've called me and said that the purpose of the Citizens Initiative Act is clearly not to get to having people and judges do that,' he said. 'It's supposed to be for people who want to ask questions freely and vote on them, that's the entire purpose of them.'
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The group was certain that their question fell within the Clarity Act and rules set in place by the federal government.
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'The Government of Canada has already put this into the constitution, and there's a very clear path,' he said. 'We're not understanding why we have to go through the whole process.'
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Currently, around 230,000 people have have already pledged to sign their petition.
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Through the new legislation, the petition by the APP would only require 177,000 within 120 days.
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Although they cannot formally roll out their petition, Sylvestre said their group is ready to hit the streets whenever the opportunity arises.
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'We are working to get canvassers in place, and we are very organized,' he said. 'We believe that we are going to have 10,000 volunteers collecting signatures for us, right off the hop.'