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Eye-rolling news out of today's special committee on the Forever Canadian petition: after hearing Lukaszuk argue for the whole meeting that he doesn't actually want a referendum, the UCP majority of the committee has decided that his petition will be the reason we have a referendum. Oct 19.

This outcome may not have been so likely if the Forever Canadian petition campaign had not advertised itself as a campaign for a referendum, but it very plainly did, for reasons that are still unclear. Did Lukaszuk just tick the box with the lower vote threshold?

The courts have already decided that the opposite referendum, asking if Albertans want to separate, cannot proceed without consulting the First Nations. The government appears to believe that asking the question in reverse gets around this, even though the referendum will provide the same data.

In a further and very funny development, it appears the UCP put out a media release announcing the committee's decision before it had even decided. NDP committee members pointed to the committee's chair himself being quoted in the release. They would like to see this referred to the Legislature.

After recess, the committee held a vote to decide whether to refer this up to the Legislature to a vote. (NDP and Lukaszuk really want this, UCP absolutely does not.) But the vote was 3-2 defeated by the UCP majority.