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With the panel hitting the home stretch on its eighth stop of the summer, the town hall followed a similar script to the previous panels with the audience voting overwhelmingly in favour of the six proposals.

The panel was constructed by Smith to help brainstorm possible referendum questions that aim to find ways to fix Alberta鈥檚 relationship with the federal government. Smith has said referendum questions would be voted on next year.

The six ideas include exiting the Canada Pension Plan for an Alberta plan, replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force and advocating for equalization reform.

In keeping with prior town halls, Smith and the panel鈥檚 partiality toward the proposals were critiqued on a handful of occasions. Some have argued the government鈥檚 survey questions are leading people in the direction of the province鈥檚 preferred outcome.

One audience member said they felt the crowd in Airdrie wasn鈥檛 representative of the rest of Alberta.

鈥淟ook around. This crowd does not look very diverse to me and I would guess there are very few people out here that are under the age of 30.鈥� The comment was met with boos from the crowd.

Panelist Melody Garner-Skiba responded to the comment more than an hour later, saying the panel will listen to those willing to show up or take the survey.

鈥淲e understand that this may not be statistically representative of Alberta as to the demographics and necessarily the viewpoints,鈥� said Garner-Skiba. 鈥淏ut you have another option as well with the survey. We are listening 鈥� If you want us to listen, you have to show up.鈥�

When the audience voted almost entirely in favour of the province exiting the Canada Pension Plan for an Alberta-run pension, host Bruce McAllister remarked that the result was in tow with the previous seven town halls.

鈥淚 will tell you that absolutely every city we went to has been positive on this issue,鈥� said McAllister, also executive director of the premier鈥檚 office.

The province is also conducting online surveys on the proposals, the results of which haven鈥檛 been released.

The crowd also heard rousing applause for suggestions of separation, as have other recent town halls in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

One audience member asked Smith about her estimate in 2023 that Alberta鈥檚 population would reach 10 million by 2050, saying she was 鈥渂ack tracking鈥� on it. Alberta鈥檚 population recently surpassed 5 million people.

McAllister deferred the question, saying inquiries about immigration could be asked later.

The town hall was otherwise a friendly affair for the panel, with numerous people showing support for the province鈥檚 effort to take greater control over its affairs.聽

Smith has contended at several town halls that Alberta has grown to a size where it鈥檚 capable of managing itself with less involvement from Ottawa.聽

She summarized that position near the end of Tuesday's town hall in response to one man's criticism of the province's health-care restructuring, saying the proposals are "all connected" to the broader aim of having enough resources for Alberta to function properly.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason we鈥檙e talking about this. It鈥檚 not money for the sake of money 鈥� we have programs that have become unsustainable with the level of revenues that we get, and that鈥檚 part of the reason why we need to take more control and develop our economy,鈥� Smith said.

The panel is set to reconvene Wednesday in Grande Prairie, followed by the final town hall on Sept. 29 in Calgary.

This report by 春色直播was first published Sept. 15, 2025.