Alberta’s government says it will hold a public vote on whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada. According to reports, Premier Danielle Smith frames the measure as a step about whether a referendum should be held, rather than a direct decision on separation. The government indicates the ballot would ask voters to weigh the question of whether it is time to proceed with the binding referendum process, but it would not itself ask voters to leave Canada. ABC News and The Hindu both report that Smith is positioning the vote as a mechanism to determine whether to initiate a further, separate binding referendum. The plan is presented in the context of Alberta’s ongoing political debate over its relationship with the federal government. The sources agree that the government intends the referendum to be binding, but they also stress that the upcoming public vote is not the separation vote. Details on timing and the exact wording of the ballot were not included in the provided summaries.