Dr. Margaret Moore has co-published an article on Alberta's referendum in The Walrus.
Right now, a central tenet of how Canadians govern themselves is being contested by Alberta premier Danielle Smith. “Direct democracy is the ultimate form of democracy,” asserts Smith with the self-assurance of a second-year seminar student. Respectfully, we disagree.
Canada, as we all know, is not an ancient Greek city-state; we don’t make decisions about our collective future in the town square. Rather, we are a constitutional, parliamentary democracy. We elect representatives to make law and policy designed to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number in a pluralistic manner. Our electoral system isn’t perfect, and neither is the party system, but it is what we have.
Some might nonetheless find the idea of a referendum romantic: a rare opportunity to capture the public will on a question of great importance. Under the right conditions, direct democracy might live up to that promise. But the ten-question exercise in national sabotage set in motion by the ostensibly federalist United Conservative Party government, set for October 19, hardly qualifies.
The full article is available to read on The Walrus: "Alberta's Referendum Fails Every Democratic Test We Have," 1 October 2026.