{"id":104936,"date":"2026-05-21T08:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=104936"},"modified":"2026-05-21T08:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:33:15","slug":"alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jack Farrell Alberta\u2019s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday \u2014 straight into another roadblock. It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta&#8217;s status in Confederation this October. The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two. But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed. The news release even had laudatory quotes from committee chair Brandon Lunty, who is a UCP backbencher. The news release was&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F21%2Falberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jack Farrell Alberta\u2019s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday \u2014 straight into another roadblock. It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta&#8217;s status in Confederation this October. The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two. But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed. The news release even had laudatory quotes from committee chair Brandon Lunty, who is a UCP backbencher. The news release was... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F21%2Falberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jack Farrell Alberta\u2019s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday \u2014 straight into another roadblock. It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta&#8217;s status in Confederation this October. The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two. But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed. The news release even had laudatory quotes from committee chair Brandon Lunty, who is a UCP backbencher. The news release was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1130,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Jack Farrell Alberta\u2019s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday \u2014 straight into another roadblock. It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta&#8217;s status in Confederation this October. The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two. But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed. The news release even had laudatory quotes from committee chair Brandon Lunty, who is a UCP backbencher. The news release was","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock","datePublished":"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/"},"wordCount":1130,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/","name":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-21T12:33:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/alberta-legislature-committee-eyes-separation-vote-as-meeting-hits-bizarre-roadblock\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104937,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104936\/revisions\/104937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}