Separation referendum question faces criticism | CTV News Lethbridge at 5 for May 22, 2026

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:02]Now, on the CTV News at 5, a referendum on a referendum. I will be requesting our government add an additional question to the October 19th referendum vote.

[00:00:11]>> Reaction to a separation question added to the ballots.

[00:00:16]Patio season begins. The return of a program to help Lethbridge restaurants.

[00:00:23]And pomp and circumstance. It's convocation day for Lethbridge Polytechnic.

[00:00:30]Telling your stories. [music] CTV News Lethbridge with Shawn Ferrall.

[00:00:37]Good afternoon. Albertans will be heading to the polls to vote on whether to have a binding separation vote. It's the latest question being added to an already long referendum ballot scheduled for October. Quinn Keenan has more.

[00:00:51]After the court struck down a separation referendum petition, Danielle Smith will be letting Albertans have their say. The question on the ballot will be whether the province should hold a binding separation referendum. The premier says she will campaign to remain within Canada.

[00:01:07]>> 700,000 Albertans signed one petition or another asking for a referendum on this issue. We cannot kick this can down the road. We need to get direction from all Albertans on this matter now, not 3 years from now. Smith claims this was done to appease Albertans who want to see the issue dealt with. The Forever Canadian organization was outraged by the news. They're trying to get their pro-confederation question added to the ballots. Leadership is about making difficult decisions for the good of the country even when they are from time to time not popular with your own political base. Even separatists aren't happy.

[00:01:45]They want a binding referendum instead of questioning if there should be a referendum. Now, some question her leadership of the UCP. Quite frankly, I think it's just going to redouble everybody's efforts to buy UCP memberships, sell UCP memberships, have a special general meeting, and then have all of these issues, including her premiership, revisited.

[00:02:06]>> Alberta's NDP leader says he and his party are ready to rally against separation. He calls it the battle of our lives.

[00:02:15]We will do everything we can. We will use every ounce of energy we have and every blood cells in every one of our bodies saying we are Canadian and we will always be Canadian.

[00:02:29]Locally, Mayor Blaine Hyggen said he believes Alberta is better off staying in Canada. In a statement, he says, "As Mayor of Lethbridge, I believe Alberta's future is strongest as a contributing province within a united Canada.

[00:02:42]Lethbridge thrives when Alberta and Canada work together." Elections Alberta expects the referendum will cost 36.7 million dollars. That's about the same as the 2023 provincial election. Quinn Keenen, CTV News, Lethbridge.

[00:02:59]Elections Alberta says the referendum will require between 34 to 38 million ballots as each question, including a number of immigration questions, will be on separate ballots. Up to 90,000 election workers will be needed to count those ballots with legislation requiring the count to be complete in 48 hours.

[00:03:17]Alberta RCMP continue to investigate the data leak involving nearly 3 million Alberta voters, but there's no timeline for when it will be complete. A separatist group, Centurion Project, is accused of creating a database with illegally obtained voter information.

[00:03:33]Elections Alberta says the list was legally given to the Republican Party of Alberta, but it's not clear yet how the information ended up with the Centurion Project. The list contains the names, addresses, and phone numbers of about 2.9 million voters. Elections Alberta continues its investigation as it is encouraging Albertans to reach out if they have new information about the list being shared.

[00:03:56]Brooks RCMP are asking for help to find three missing teenage boys. They are worried for their well-being and would like to speak with them. They were last seen at 11:00 p.m. in Brooks last night.

[00:04:06]Two of the boys are 14 years old, Hussein and Hassan Adam. The other boy is 13-year-old Omar Adam. Hussein and Hassan are both 5'7", 170 lbs with black hair and brown eyes. Omar is 5'5", 155 lbs with black hair and brown eyes. Call RCMP or Crime Stoppers if you have any information.

[00:04:28]Medicine Hat police are investigating a serious crash. It happened at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and 16th Street Southwest just before 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Police say an eastbound vehicle ran a red light and collided with a westbound vehicle that was turning. The only person in the eastbound vehicle sustained serious injuries and is being treated in hospital. The other driver was not hurt.

[00:04:51]No charges have been laid, but the investigation continues. Medicine Hat police police are asking any witnesses to come forward.

[00:04:58]As the warm weather settles in, patios in Lethbridge are starting to pop up.

[00:05:03]The City of Lethbridge in partnership with the Downtown Business Revitalization Zone are bringing back the patio, parklet, and street vending program. Restaurants and bars can utilize temporary patios and patio furniture throughout the summer to expand seating and bring in added revenue. The Downtown BRZ says patios across the city help add another level of street activation.

[00:05:27]Get more eyes drawn towards your business by having these, you know, bright, colorful patios set up on the sidewalk. I It we get tons of positive feedback on it, and I mean, every year the applications they go quick, right? They So, yeah, it's it's really, really a great program.

[00:05:45]More information on the patio program can be found on the city's website.

[00:05:55]Meteorologist Daniel Savoie is here with our first look at the weather. Daniel, looks like it's going to be a great weekend for sitting on the patio. Yeah, stunning day today in many parts of the far south for a patio. And also yes, throughout the weekend as well. Couple things you do need to know and we'll talk about it through the show here. Uh 17 is the temperature in Pincher Creek.

[00:06:14]Look at that, 20s for Lethbridge. Brooks is at 22 and Medicine Hat also got to the 20 mark for today. Winds are calm as we talked about and the sun is out for the most part. This is the activity going on and we talked about yesterday this development that would happen along the foothills and then track off to the east. It doesn't look like it's going to have enough steam to reach most of Highway 2 and a lot of it will die out before it gets there. But to the far south, we are looking at Fort Macleod, Cardston, Pincher Creek, you have the potential of seeing showers and thunderstorm activity over these next couple of hours. More details coming up.

[00:06:51]>> Thank you very much, Daniel. More than 600 students crossed the stage at Lethbridge Polytechnic today. Two ceremonies took place throughout the day with more than 1,200 students receiving degrees, diplomas, or certificates. The ceremonies featured students from the Centre for Justice and Human Services, Centre for Trades and Technologies, along with the Centre for Health and Wellness, and Centre for Business, Art, and Sciences. The spring convocation also honored this year's valedictorian, agronomy student Paul Skretting.

[00:07:21]It's a big relief. Um it's nice to know that all my hard work paid off and um I would have been happy here if I wasn't valedictorian, but even then it's nice to have some recognition for all the hard work that everybody puts in.

[00:07:34]University of Lethbridge is set to host its spring convocation next Thursday and Friday. Mhm.

[00:07:40]The General Stewart branch of the Legion is helping more veterans access service dogs. They've donated $30,000 to BC and Alberta guide dogs. The organization helps train service dogs for veterans suffering from operational stress injury or PTSD. The dogs are provided to veterans free of charge. They're specially trained to recognize when someone is going through a mental health crisis or needs support. Service dogs like these have helped veterans manage and overcome trauma they received during their service. Without donations from folks like the Legion and their poppy fund, we can't place these amazing life-changing service dogs who really have an outstanding impact on folks in our local communities.

[00:08:26]It takes about $35,000 to train and support a service dog throughout its working life.

[00:08:32]Calgary police say they've arrested a man who is wanted for extortion related crimes. Police say Gagandeep Singh is now in custody. However, they haven't revealed where or how he was arrested.

[00:08:43]They say he was part of a group of individuals who kidnapped a man from Edmonton on May 6th for the purpose of extorting a family in Calgary. Singh was wanted for kidnapping with a firearm, pointing a firearm, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, and common assault.

[00:08:59]A proposed AI data center for Alberta by Canadian business mogul Kevin O'Leary was scrutinized at a virtual town hall last night. This AI-generated promotional video shows the concept of what the data center campus could look like. The plan is to build it south of Grand Prairie in three phases. The first phase would be about 10 square kilometers in size and cost 12 billion dollars. Public Interest Alberta hosted the virtual town hall to warn the public about the potential impact the development could have on water, wildlife, agriculture, and energy costs.

[00:09:32]One activist against the project previously worked as a scientist in the oil and gas industry. This site was once supposed to be a hydrogen plant. There was This was actually a part of the UCP platform, but it died off because the water usage made the projects impossible. So again, I think we're outside of the realm of what is possible. The area also declared agricultural disaster last year.

[00:09:56]An in-person town hall hosted by Kevin O'Leary's company is scheduled for June 4th in Grand Prairie.

[00:10:03]The Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival is underway in Medicine Hat, and we have some beautiful images to show you. CTV viewer Rick Balao snapped these shots of numerous balloons filling the sky earlier this morning. Rick called these photos Land and Sky. He took them from his farm about a half a kilometer south of city limits. Another flight is scheduled for earlier this evening around 6:00 p.m. followed by the Friday night balloon glow around 8:30. Both events are planned for Kin Coulee Park.

[00:10:32]More events are planned tomorrow and Sunday. All balloon activities remain weather dependent. Check riseupmh.ca for scheduling details.

[00:10:42]Fire trucks, garbage trucks, excavators, and more will be on display at this year's Big Truck Petting Zoo in Lethbridge. A variety of public operations equipment will be set up for residents to take a look at, sit inside, and chat with the people that operate them daily. The fire department and Lethbridge police will also be on site with their equipment. The free event runs tomorrow from 10:00 to 3:00 at the Lethbridge Public Library's Crossing Branch.

[00:11:09]New screening is happening at Canada's major ports of entry. It's all part of an effort to prevent the spread of Ebola. We'll explain what's happening coming up.

[00:11:24]Okay, SkyWatch Weather Cam. This is facing northwest. There is some activity going on directly to the west, absolutely. We may see a little bit of that activity in Lethbridge. Less of a chance for it to make its way all the way to Lethbridge, but Cardston, Pincher Creek, Fort Macleod, we're likely to see this on and off over these next few hours. I'll show you the radar in just a second. All right, just looking at temperatures, 18° in Calgary, but 20 Lethbridge and Milk River, 21 in Medicine Hat, and 23 in Brooks. So, we have a lot of warmth already out there.

[00:11:57]And if you think it's hot now, just wait till you see where it gets this weekend and early next week.

[00:12:02]Look at this. Calm winds. We talked about the winds being calm today. Kind of rare. 41 was the max in Pincher Creek. Everywhere else, we didn't even have a gust register so far today. All right, here's a look at the radar, and we talked about this development along the foothills, right along the mountains.

[00:12:18]And there is some thunderstorm development, as you can see by the lightning strikes here. Now, we do have high pressure in place, so it will keep a lot of this off to the west of Highway 2. But, some of it will maybe make its way a little bit bit a few isolated showers along Highway 2. Where we have a greater chance of seeing any sort of activity is just south of Lethbridge.

[00:12:39]So, Fort Macleod and down through Cardston is our greater chance of seeing any of this activity over these next few hours.

[00:12:48]When we look at Crowsnest and Milk River, couple isolated showers there as well, but that's starting to die out, too. Okay, let's look at the futurecast.

[00:12:56]And as we head through this evening, yes, we have this development, but it can we also have high pressure in place, it's going to keep a lot of it out and have a lot of it fizzle out really quick. So, it will develop and fizzle out as it tracks to the east real quick.

[00:13:09]All right, then as then we get to the midnight hour, you can see there's nothing to talk about. Let's fast forward through tomorrow. Lots of sunshine in all of southern Alberta for the morning hours, early afternoon.

[00:13:20]Clouds increasing though late in the day, as usual. We will get more development again, a little bit of instability, showers, and non-severe thunderstorms, but this will be developing east this time of Highway 2.

[00:13:33]So, today it's to the west of Highway 2, tomorrow it's east of Highway 2.

[00:13:38]That likely starts late in the afternoon, around 4:00 p.m. and then we'll track off. So, by by the time we get into the evening hours, so 8:00 p.m., that's when it looks like it will arrive in the Medicine Hat area. Again, it's nothing really significant. We do have a lot of heat, but we also have enough stability in place that these likely won't get to more severe criteria when we're talking thunderstorms, but they will come, some of these cells will come with some downpours, some lightning, and some small-size hail. Sunday just looks like this, some sunshine, some cloudy periods, so more stable on Sunday. East Kootenay, thunderstorms and showers possible right into the midnight hour, a low of 7. 23° is the high for tomorrow, and again, that risk of thunderstorms arrives later in the day once again.

[00:14:20]Thunderstorms possible tonight in Crowsnest Pass, but tomorrow, we're just looking at mainly sunny skies, gusts out of the west 50 km/h, and a high of 21°.

[00:14:30]Medicine Hat, we are looking at 7 overnight, quiet tonight, quiet for all of tomorrow as well, a good amount of sunshine, a high of 26. And then showers are likely, as I showed you, around that 8:00 p.m. hour. Okay, Lethbridge, isolated showers, yeah, we could see a little bit of that in Lethbridge over these next few hours. 5 overnight and 25 is our high for tomorrow with mainly sunny skies. And again, east of Lethbridge is where we're going to see any sort of isolated shower or thunderstorm development late day tomorrow. Look at Sunday, partly cloudy skies, 24, 27 to kick off next week.

[00:15:11]Enhanced [music] screening of another kind is now in effect at Canadian airports as an outbreak of Ebola continues to spread. The World Health Organization is warning infections are rising in Central Africa, but the global risk remains low. CTV's Heather Wright reports on what we heard today from Canada's chief public health officer.

[00:15:31]Passengers arriving at major ports of entry in Canada will now be asked about their travel history and any symptoms that could be related to Ebola as the virus continues to spread rapidly in parts of Africa. Our officers are designated as screening officers under the Quarantine Act and are well trained in the event that a traveler displays um any symptoms of illness. During a news conference this afternoon, Canada's top doctor gave an update on what she called a serious and evolving situation, including whether Canada will issue any travel restrictions on countries where the virus is circulating. It's important that we look at how effective things like travel bans are. We need to be looking at whether or not there is any evidence that the outbreak is escaping the area that it's currently concentrated. Dr. Joss Reimer says travel bans are ultimately a decision of cabinet and while the Public Health Agency of Canada provides advice, Reimer would not say whether she would recommend any travel restrictions.

[00:16:26]Experts reiterate that the risk to Canadians remains low. So, I think for sure there's a heightened attention to the virus and it's potential for spread through travel, but the risk to places outside endemic regions are very very low. On Monday, American officials suspended entry into the United States for 30 days for travelers without a US passport who have recently been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda. That ban forced a Detroit-bound Air France flight to divert to Montreal because a passenger from the DRC boarded the plane in error. They were assessed by a Public Health Agency of Canada quarantine officer, found not to have had have any symptoms, and have since returned to their point of origin. A person in Ontario who returned from Ethiopia with symptoms consistent with a range of illnesses was tested for Ebola out of an abundance of caution. Those tests have come back negative and health officials are asking any passengers returning from the affected regions to monitor their symptoms for at least 21 days.

[00:17:27]Heather Wright, CTV News, Toronto.

[00:17:30]Thousands of volleyball athletes are converging on Alberta. Coming up, why Volleyball Canada chose a major convention center as the site of its national championships.

[00:17:44]The Brooks Bandits will have a shot tonight to be back-to-back champions of the BCHL. The Bandits are coming off a 2-1 overtime victory against the Nanaimo Clippers. The Bandits now lead the series 3-1 [music] with the chance to take the BCHL title tonight on home ice.

[00:17:59]Puck drop is set for 7:00. If the Clippers come out on top, game six will be on Sunday in Nanaimo.

[00:18:07]The Montreal Canadiens had a statement win in game one of the NHL East final last night. to second of the playoffs.

[00:18:14]>> [cheering] >> NOW, A GREAT OPPORTUNITY AND THE CANADIENS TIE IT.

[00:18:19]IT WAS A quick start to game one against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes scored 30 seconds into the game, but Montreal would respond just 30 seconds after that and wouldn't look back. They would score four goals within about 11 minutes on their way to a 6-2 win.

[00:18:38]Last night was Carolina's first loss during these playoffs. Habs fans were rejoicing and are hoping for three more Canadiens wins. Game two goes tomorrow night. Tonight, Colorado plays Vegas with the Golden Knights leading the West final one game to none.

[00:18:54]One of Canada's biggest youth team sporting events has come to Alberta.

[00:18:58]Volleyball Canada's 2026 Youth National Championships will take place at the Centre in Calgary. 22,000 athletes from across the country are competing in divisions from U14 to U18. There will be nearly 1,500 teams and 56 volleyball courts inside the convention center.

[00:19:16]Officials say the facility is just what they asked for. There's very few places in our country that we can bring a an event of this size and scale to, and the expansion here at the Centre has now put Calgary on the map as being one of those locations that's even capable of handling the size and scale of this event.

[00:19:35]Organizers estimate the event, which runs over three weekends, will have an estimated local economic impact of $68 million.

[00:19:44]About 20,000 people are expected to hit the streets this weekend for the Calgary Marathon. Organizers say registration is up 15% surpassing last year's record of 17,300 participants. The 5K and 10K run are tomorrow. Sunday is when the half and full marathon distances will be run.

[00:20:04]Drivers should prepare for significant road closures along the routes for both days. The marathon weekend is also expected to raise nearly $1 million for local charities.

[00:20:15]Calgary is revving up for a major motorsports debut this summer. The FIM World Supercross Championship is being held at McMahon Stadium for the first time. It's happening August 8th and tickets go on sale today. The Calgary stop will open the 2026 World Championship season. Organizers say a custom-built Supercross track will transform McMahon into a high-speed dirt racing event.

[00:20:41]A new Star Wars movie will keep movie theaters busy this weekend. Still [music] to come, some fans are truly dedicated wanting to be among the first to see the new film.

[00:20:54]Here is an up-close encounter with nature. A wild burglar broke into a house in Quebec much to the surprise of those in the home at the time. The moose broke through a window to get inside. It did eventually get out but not before breaking a few more things around the house.

[00:21:11]Fans from all over the galaxy were counting down the hours until the premiere of the newest Star Wars film. A few diehards camped out at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood all week. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened last night in many theaters. Fans say it's all about experiencing a common interest with people they've come to know over the years. The movie is what brings the community together to be around each other, to talk about what's happened since the last time we were all together. It's been what, 6 or 7 years since we have been able to do this. And so it's kind of just like a friend reunion.

[00:21:48]The Mandalorian and Grogu is expected to bring in more than $80 million over the US Memorial Day long weekend. The movie is playing in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat theaters now.

[00:21:58]Soccer and Star Wars fans will unite at ATCO Field in Spruce Meadows in Calgary this weekend. On Sunday, Cavalry FC players will wear Star Wars warm-up jerseys before taking the pitch. It's in honor of the new Mandalorian and Grogu movie. The jerseys are up for auction online with every item player-worn and autographed. Proceeds from the auction will support the Leg Up Foundation helping grow grassroots soccer opportunities for young players in the community. Bidding closes Monday night.

[00:22:29]Thank you very much for sharing this time with us this afternoon. Now, here's the early edition of the CTV National News.