A legislative committee deciding what to do about a pro-Confederation petition descended into procedural chaos at Alberta’s legislature on Wednesday after the governing UCP caucus sent out a news release that presumed the outcome of a vote that hadn’t yet happened.

The news release issued by the UCP caucus said the committee had decided to recommend that the question on the Forever Canadian petition was going to a referendum on Oct. 19. The release quoted Brandon Lunty, UCP MLA and chair of the select special citizen initiative proposal review committee.

However, a vote on the matter hadn’t yet happened in the committee room.

Christina Gray, house leader for the NDP, spoke to the committee on Wednesday and moved a point of privilege, saying concerns about the matter should be heard by Speaker Ric McIver

She also argued that Lunty should recuse himself as committee chair since he was quoted in the news release. 

Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Tara Sawyer are the three UCP members who form the majority on the committee. They voted against an NDP motion to send the matter to McIver. Lunty made no move to recuse himself. 

The meeting ended after NDP members refused to vote in favour of continuing past the meeting’s end time, leaving the vote on the Forever Canadian question in limbo. Lunty has scheduled the next meeting for Thursday at 2 p.m.

Rakhi Pancholi, deputy leader of the NDP, told reporters afterwards that the premature news release suggests to her that the whole process is a sham. 

“So whenever that next meeting is held, it doesn’t even matter anymore because this question has already been decided,” she said.

Nixon said the news release was sent in error by UCP caucus staff who have apologized. He said Lunty did not sign off on his statement in the release.

“Mr. Lunty said very clearly in the meeting that he was unaware that went out,” Nixon said.

“Caucus released a statement making clear that (the release) was not approved and that should not have went out.”

Forever Canadian question

The select special citizen initiative proposal review committee, composed of four UCP MLAs and two NDP MLAs, has been discussing what to do with the Forever Canadian petition launched by former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. 

The petition asks if signatories support the question, “Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?”

Lukaszuk and his volunteers successfully collected more than 400,000 signatures, exceeding the nearly 294,000 required by legislation for a question to be considered for a referendum. 

Lukaszuk has said he wants his question to go to a vote in the legislature, a message he repeated during his first appearance before the committee on Wednesday.

UCP members of the committee challenged Lukaszuk on that point by providing examples from media reports where he suggested his question should go to a referendum.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lukaszuk said he believes the UCP is trying to make it look like he is calling for a referendum.

He said the government’s own Citizen Initiative Act doesn’t give a proponent a choice on how to deal with a successful petition.

“It’s up to the government to decide whether they want to have a referendum or not. They don’t need my permission,” Lukaszuk said.

“But as we saw in this committee, they really were trying hard to get me to answer their question and give them as if it was a permission to have a referendum.”

The committee meeting was the first since Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard issued a decision that voided the competing Stay Free Alberta petition.

That petition asks, “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?”

Leonard found that Alberta’s chief electoral officer should never have approved that petition, and that he failed to consider a previous court decision that found separation violates treaty rights.

Leonard also found that the provincial government failed in its duty to consult with First Nations.

Mitch Sylvestre, who’s leading Stay Free Alberta’s pro-separation push, is appealing Leonard’s decision, and Premier Danielle Smith has said her government plans to as well.

Lukaszuk told CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday that the Forever Canadian question is not binding, as it is a policy question. He said he believes this will anger the Alberta independence proponents, whose question was filed as a constitutional referendum proposal. 

Lukaszuk said Smith could call her own referendum, which she has been reluctant to do so far.

“If the premier wants to be a proponent, and wants to go into history books as the first premier in Alberta who has, by her own choice, put a question on separatism to Alberta referendum, she can do it,” he said. 

“But she doesn’t need me or anyone else to be complicit in that. She can do it by herself.”

Jeff Rath, a lawyer and supporter of Stay Free Alberta, said on social media Wednesday morning that if Smith puts the Forever Canadian question to a vote, “she will be betraying her base in favour of [Prime Minister Mark] Carney.”