Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright says the panel is an opportunity for Albertans to have their say. Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta

By Eli J. Ridder

POLITICS

Referendum panel gives Albertans a chance to ‘steer the ship’: MLA Wright

Jun 27, 2025 | 7:30 PM

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright says a planned summer tour to hear from Albertans on potential referendum topics is a great way for the Alberta government to engage from the bottom-up.

Premier Danielle Smith announces the Alberta Next Panel on June 24, 2025. Courtesy: Government of Alberta

“It’s an avenue for everyday Albertans to come and tell decision makers what’s going to impact them positively or negatively on any topic,” Wright said in a wide-ranging interview from his office this week.

“It’s really giving that opportunity to really challenge the status quo, and taking it and putting it in the hands of grassroots Albertans to be able to kind of steer the ship a bit.”

The Alberta Next panel includes Premier Danielle Smith, business leaders, United Conservative Party backbenchers, an academic, a retired judge and a physician.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

After touring several cities and towns across the province, the panel will recommend ideas and policy proposals that would be put to Albertans in a referendum next year, according to Smith.

The referendum panel is scheduled to come to Medicine Hat on Sept. 2, with registration opening two weeks ahead of the town hall date.

Critics have questioned the validity of the panel and if it will be genuine in its efforts to hear Albertans out.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the premier is wasting time and money by rehashing former premier Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal panel, which toured the province six years ago in search of ways Alberta could gain leverage over Ottawa.

Smith said she doesn’t want to prejudge what ideas or proposals might be considered for a referendum.

She encouraged Albertans to attend the town halls and fill out various the online surveys included on the panel’s homepage.

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright poses for a photo in his Medicine Hat constituency office on June 26, 2025. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

Included among the panel’s topics are whether Alberta should withhold social services from immigrants, create a provincial police force and break off from Canada’s pension plan to create its own.

Dr. Paul Parks, an emergency room physician in Medicine Hat, said those are not the type of debates that are important to Albertans right now.

“Health care and affordability are our top two things that are of interest to Albertans and to people in Medicine Hat,” Parks told CHAT News in an interview Friday.

He explained there are some specific items that could be poised as potential referendum questions in 2026.

Dr. Paul Parks speaks with a reporter. File Photo/CHAT News

“Forcing the government to to publish and post objective patient wait times and metrics around access would be one,” said Parks, a former president of the Alberta Medical Association.

He explained other questions could force the government to be more transparent about its plans for charter surgical facilities, longterm care and continuing care.

“Medicine Hat definitely has quite a senior population,” he said, arguing the province needs to make their health care system goals clear.

“Lots of people are gonna want to access those resources and they may not be there for them when they need it.”

Alberta separatism is another topic that could come up at the panel town halls amid a growing movement calling for the province to leave Canada.

She has previously said a referendum on Alberta separation could also happen next year, though she repeated Tuesday that she wouldn’t initiate one herself and the panel’s mandate is to improve the province’s position in Canada.

The separatist movement has found some support in Medicine Hat.

Former MP LaVar Payne has spoken out in favour of independence movement and over 100 people attended a local town hall featuring speakers encouraging separatism earlier this year.

Wright, like many of his United Conservative colleagues, isn’t looking give up his Canadian citizenship but wants to make sure Alberta is respected by Ottawa.

“I am all for a strong and sovereign Alberta in a united Canada,” Wright said.

“It’s why I voted for the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act back in 2023, it’s why I continue to push forward with building relationship with my federal counterparts to make sure that the grassroots problems we hear through this office are being heard there as well.”

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.