Right wing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and a bunch of her minions on Tuesday called on the province’s chief electoral officer Gordon McClure to quit fucking around and move get moving on putting the referendum to declare independence from Canada on the ballot, CTV News reports.

“As it is the Government of Alberta that ultimately decides how or if to implement any referendum result, those government decisions will ultimately be subject to constitutional scrutiny,” Smith ally and provincial Justice Minister Mickey Amery wrote Tuesday. “We encourage Elections Alberta to withdraw its court reference and permit Albertans their democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process,” Amery continued, referring to the petition phase prior to a ballot measure.

McClure hasn’t explained if the question, the weighty one of “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?” was referred to the courts because of any specific concerns, only saying Monday that provincial laws require potential referendum questions to respect more than 30 sections of the Constitution.

Sounds like friction. For her part Smith doesn’t actually favor independence but like most conservative politicians who are just in it for the money like Kevin McCarthy and David Cameron she’s always gotta cater to the extremes and let them fuck everything up instead of getting in the way. It’s probably only a matter of time before the Make Alberta Great Again crowd start accusing her of secretly encouraging McClure’s very vaguely-premised resistance to the petition drive.