Good afternoon, everyone.

So René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau and Danielle Smith walk into a voting booth.

That’s either the start of a very unfunny joke or history smacking us in the face.

When the Alberta Premier announced plans for her new referendum question on Thursday night, which put Confederation in the cross-hairs, she joined Lévesque and Parizeau as the only premiers to ever lead their provinces to an independence vote.

Of course it’s not that simple. The Alberta question is pretty muddy: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

While the second half of the query is more of a referendum on whether to hold a second binding referendum on separation, the first half is clear: Do Albertans want to stay a part of Canada or not?

Smith pointed at the Court of King’s Bench judgment last week as part of the reason why the provincewide vote is needed. In her televised address Thursday, she said the decision by Justice Shaina Leonard to strike down the petition submitted by a separatist organization to get an independence vote was made in error.

“I, as Premier, will not have a legal mistake by a single judge silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Albertans,” she said, disagreeing with the ruling, which said the government must consult with First Nations before an independence vote.

Smith believes that the wording of the question allows the province to sidestep the court’s ruling.

“Because this proposed referendum question does not directly trigger separation, but if successful would ask Alberta’s government to commence the legal process necessary to hold a binding referendum on the matter, the recent court ruling would not be applicable, and the referendum question I outlined could proceed,” she said.

Smith has been vocal in recent months about her feelings about Alberta judges being appointed by Ottawa. It’s in fact the topic of one of the other nine questions on the fall referendum scheduled for Oct. 19.

While the Premier stated clearly that she would vote to stay a part of Canada, it was just over a year ago that she threatened an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if the eventual winner of the 2025 federal election did not advance policies that favoured the oil and gas industry.

Fast forward to today, and we aren’t far from exactly that.

While Smith’s relationship with Ottawa has improved significantly under the leadership of Prime Minister Mark Carney, it’s not perfect. Even after the two leaders signed an energy pact that could see a bitumen pipeline built to the West Coast.

So, Smith will attempt to continue walking the tightrope between strengthening ties with the federal government and appeasing her political base, which has little time for the anti-Alberta policies they feel are dictated by central Canada.

Looking across the country to Quebec again, Lévesque and Parizeau were both unsuccessful in securing a vote that would see their province break free from Confederation. But the consequences of the 1980 and 1995 referendums have been lasting, and likely offer lessons for Alberta.

It remains to be seen if Smith can weather the storm her referendum has caused.

And if the province ever gets a new electoral map drawn (a headache for another day), that question may only be answered next year when Alberta is scheduled to hold a general election.

This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.