Elections Alberta issued a statement correcting a series of errors and confusing instructions included in Special Ballot packages that have been mailed to more than 200,000 Albertans ahead of the October 19 referendums. The elections authority also announced the deadline for applying for a mail-in Special Ballot is now September 25 instead of the previously announced October 9.
There has been no shortage of attention on the Alberta separation question that Albertans will be asked on October 19, but a cadre of former and current municipal and provincial politicians have written an op-ed warning of the divisions created by the five referendum questions that frame immigrants as scapegoats for the strain on Alberta’s health care and education systems.
The op-ed published in the province’s Postmedia newspaper was penned by former premier Rachel Notley, former Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman former St. Albert mayor Cathy Heron, former Brooks mayor Barry Morishita, former Slave Lake mayor Karina Pillay, lawyer Avnish Nanda, and current High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass (Premier Smith lives in High River).
The immigration referendum questions were a hot topic at the Edmonton launch of Public Interest Alberta’s referendum campaign at the Beverly Heights Community Hall on September 3. The well-attended event in the packed community hall featured a handful of speakers including PIA executive director Brad Lafortune, comedian Henry Sir, Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan, and Senator Paula Simons (who recently wrote about the “Noxious Nine” in Alberta Views Magazine).
