Too many questions, government-drafted questions, misleading questions, no court review of questions, government spending, flaws in donation and spending rules, lack of foreign interference and disinformation protections and lack of quorum all make the process undemocratic and unfair

Assumption should be that voters who do not vote would have voted “No” on each question, as not voting indicates they are not interested in having the change made that is proposed in the question

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, October 15, 2026

OTTAWA – Today, with voting day for Alberta’s 10 referendums coming up on Monday, October 19th, and advance voting already started, Democracy Watch’s analysis concludes that the process for the referendums is undemocratic and unfair in a dozen key ways.

Democracy Watch’s position is that referendums can be a good complement to Canada’s parliamentary system, and that the barriers to voters initiating a referendum should not be excessively high.  However, as with elections, the referendum process must be structured in very specific ways to be democratic and fair, and the Alberta government has failed in many ways to ensure a democratic and fair process.

In 1991, Democracy Watch’s Co-founder Duff Conacher, PhD (Law), wrote one of the first academic articles analyzing and proposing almost 90 key measures for a democratic, fair referendum process.

“Allowing voters to have their say through referendums doesn’t automatically make the process democratic and fair, and Alberta’s process is undemocratic and unfair in many key ways,” said Conacher.  “Too many questions, government-drafted questions, misleading questions, no court review of the questions, government spending, undemocratic flaws in donation and spending rules, lack of foreign interference and disinformation protections and the lack of a quorum all make Alberta’s referendum process undemocratic and unfair.”

The lack of a quorum means that a low voter turnout on any of the 10 referendum questions will result in essentially no legitimate mandate for government action on the issue addressed by any of the questions.  The assumption should be that voters who do not vote would have voted “No” on each question, as not voting indicates they are not interested in having the change made that is proposed in each question.

In an election under a first-past-the-post system like Canada uses, low voter turnout does not indicate such a clear lack of interest in who wins because voters in any riding that is consistently “safe” for one party (and there are many such ridings) have a rational reason for not voting (whether they are voting for or against the candidate of the party that always wins).

In contrast, in a referendum if a voter wants the “Yes” side to win they have no rational reason for not voting.  And voters who have no interest in the change made that is proposed in a referendum question express their lack of support for the change fairly clearly by not voting on the question.

“Undemocratic and unfair referendums should not be used to manipulate voters and further a government’s agenda, in the same way that using undemocratic and unfair processes in the legislature like omnibus bills and debate closure, and prorogations and snap election calls, should not be used to manipulate members of the legislature and voters in order to further a ruling party’s agenda,” said Conacher.  “The laws that set out the rules for referendum processes at the federal level, and in several provinces, have the same loopholes and flaws as Alberta’s laws, and referendums should not held anywhere in Canada until these loopholes are closed and flaws corrected.”

Click here to see details about the 12 key ways that Alberta’s process for the 10 referendums is undemocratic and unfair, and facilitates foreign interference.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Democratic Voting Systems Campaign, Honesty in Politics Campaign, Money in Politics Campaign, Stop Foreign Interference Campaign and Stop Disinformation and Misinformation Campaign