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Ten town halls in total were planned with just Calgary remaining. It will be held on September 29.聽

Last week, at in Grande Prairie, 460 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, Smith said she might take action on some of the ideas put forth by the government without any public referendum as early as the spring, after the panel submits a report by the end of the year. “There will be items that we decide: we heard enough, we are going to move them, and we don’t need a referendum,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd, there’s some that might be needed to be put to the people for a decision.鈥�

So what are the ideas that are being put forth? They聽include withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan, more control over immigration, more control over tax collection, replacing the RCMP as a provincial police force, reform of the equalization program and changes to the constitution.

Before any of these ideas are discussed the audience must watch a three minute video on each subject, videos which are heavy on government propaganda about Alberta being shortchanged by the federal government.聽 Of course they are.聽

Members of the audience can then ask a one-minute question of 聽which includes government MLAs, academics, oil and gas executives, business interests, and private citizens.聽 The questions are stick handled by Bruce McCallister executive director of the premier鈥檚 office and a former Wildrose MLA. And judging from the answers given by various panel members, they mostly support the government鈥檚 agenda.

According to a report by Canadian Press fewer than a dozen attendees of the 500 member audience pushed back against Alberta creating its own pension plan in a straw poll聽鈥� despite the fact that a survey conducted by the government shows that 63 per cent of Albertans surveyed are opposed to the idea. What鈥檚 more support may be growing; a poll conducted by Janet Brown聽Trend Research poll from May found only 45 per cent were opposed to an APP with 55 per cent of respondents in support. But even that split wasn鈥檛 evident in Grand Prairie.

In , a small city just north of Calgary,聽the audience voted almost entirely in favour of the province exiting the Canada Pension Plan for an Alberta-run pension. Moderator McAllister then pronounced that the result was in line with other town halls. 鈥淚 will tell you that absolutely every city we went to has been positive on this issue,鈥� he said.聽

Former Lethbridge Mayor David Carpenter was in attendance when the panel hit that city.聽He 聽how skewed the questions were, often holding back key information such as the liability debt to the CPP. He suggested that the majority of attendees were UCP party members. If so, it seems they are trying to manufacture a consensus in Alberta that simply doesn鈥檛 exist.

There is still an on-line Alberta Next panel and the government must assess the information collected in the online survey.聽But it鈥檚 quite astounding how little the approved topics have to do with everyday life in Alberta. What about the cost of living? And health care? Or education 鈥� we are on the verge of a teachers鈥� strike? Vaccination costs?聽 Of course Smith鈥檚 answer to that is: if we got to keep more of our money, if we didn鈥檛 have to submit to Ottawa鈥檚 rules, we could pay for all that.聽

That is highly debatable. But it seems as though the fix is in and the travelling road show will come up with the answers the premier wants. Whether it can persuade the rest of the province to jump on her bandwagon is still up for discussion.