following the east shore of Waterton Lake to the Waterton River; thence north-east down stream along the said Waterton River to the point of its intersection with the meridian line between ranges 27 and 28, west of the 4th meridian; thence north along said meridian line between ranges 27 and 28, west of the 4th meridian, produced across the Peigan Indian Reserve to the point of commencement. 1913 CHAPTER 3. An Act to Provide for the Initiation or Approval of (Assented to March 25, 1913.) HIS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Alberta, enacts as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as "The Direct Legislation Act." Title 2. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires, the expression— 1. "Electoral Division" means any electoral division in the province entitled to return a member or members to the Legislative Assembly; 2. "Electors" means all persons whose names appear on the list of electors which would be used at the time of holding of the vote at a general election of members to serve in the Legislative Assembly were such election being then held. Interpretation] 3. The Legislature, with reference to any Act, may Legislature declare that it shall not come into force until the ninetieth coming into may delay force for day after the close of the session during which the same is 90 days passed. petition 4. Any number of electors being not less than ten per Referendum centum in number of the total votes polled at the general provincial election then last held, may address a petition to the Lieutenant Governor in Coumcil (provided that the said petition must be signed by a number of electors in eighty-five per centum of the electoral divisions in the province equal in number in each electoral division to at least 8 per centum of the votes polled in said electoral division at the election then last held for the purpose of electing a member of the Legislative Assembly), praying that any Act or any part of parts of the said Act, the operation of which is deferred under the provisions of section 3 hereof be referred to a vote of the electors. Such petition shall be in form A in the schedule hereto or to the like Operation of Act stayed 90 days Initiative petition Proposed Act by Legislative LieutenantGovernor to issue writ to take vote effect and shall be presented to the clerk of the Executive Council before the ninetieth day after the close of the session of the Legislature at which said Act was passed. 5. When any such petition is presented under the provisions of section 4 hereof the operation of the Act therein referred to shall be and is hereby further deferred until a vote of the electors is taken thereon and the result of such vote finally determined as hereinafter provided. 6. Any number of electors being not less than 20 per centum in number of the total votes polled at the general provincial election then last held may present to the Legislative Assembly, at any time before the expiration of the time for the presenting of petitions to the Legislative Assembly, a petition in the form B in the schedule hereto or to the like effect praying that a proposed Act, a copy of which shall accompany the said petition, be enacted by the Legislature: Provided that the said petition must be signed by a number of electors in eighty-five per centum of the electoral divisions in the province equal in number in each electoral division to at least 8 per centum of the votes polled in said electoral division at the election then last held for the purpose of electing a member of the Legislative Assembly: Provided however that no such proposed Act shall be considered by the Legislative Assembly which provides for any grant or charge upon the public revenue or which is not certified to by the Attorney General as being in his opinion within the legislative jurisdiction of the Legislature of Alberta. 7. Every proposed Act presented to the Legislative Assembly under the provisions of section 6 hereof and which complies with all the requirements of the said section shall, unless it is enacted during the session at which it is presented without amendment or with only such amendments as shall be certified to by the Speaker as not constituting a substantial alteration therein, or as not changing the meaning, intent or effect thereof, be submitted to a vote of the electors as hereinafter provided. 8. The Lieutenant Governor in Council shall after each session of the Legislature issue a writ for the taking of a vote upon all Acts or proposed Acts or part or parts of any Act, if any, upon which a vote may be required under any provision of this Act; such writ shall issue not earlier than three months and not later than ten months after the close of the said session, and the date fixed therein for the taking of the vote shall be not less than twenty-three days and not more than twenty-seven days after the date of the writ, and the said writ shall be returned upon such date as shall be stated therein. dressed to 9. The writ shall be addressed and forwarded by mail by Writ ado the clerk of the Executive Council to the returning officer Returning appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council for each each E.D. electoral division. Officer of Officers for general cases 10. Where a vote under the provisions of this Act is pro-appointed vided to be held upon the same day as the polling in a general election election of members to serve in the Legislative Assembly, purposes the returning officers, deputy returning officers, poll clerks certain and other officials appointed for the purposes of the said general election shall act in the same capacity for the purposes of the vote taken under this Act, and the same ballot boxes and polling booths shall be used for the purposes of the said vote as are used for the said election: Provided however that in every such case the ballots for the said vote shall be of a colour different from the ballots of the said election. Publication notice of 11. The clerk of the Executive Council shall forthwith of Act and upon the issue of such writ publish in The Alberta Gazette a writ notice of the same and a copy of the Act or parts of Acts upon which the vote is to be taken. Notice of the vote to be published in all 12. The clerk of the Executive Council shall forthwith after the issue of the said writ cause to be posted up in every be put post-office in the province a notice of the taking of the vote newspapers giving a description of the Act or Acts or parts thereof or of the proposed Act or Acts to be voted upon. in Province Election Act 13. For the purposes of the taking of the said vote all the The Alberta provisions of The Alberta Election Act respecting the election to apply of members of the Legislative Assembly, including the qualification of voters shall subject to the provisions of this Act and of any regulations that may be made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council pursuant hereto apply mutatis mutandis to the conduct of such proceedings. ballot 14. The voting shall be by ballot and each voter shall Vote by indicate his vote by marking it on the ballot in accordance with the directions given therein: Provided that when more than one Act or proposed Act is being voted upon, a separate ballot shall be prepared for each said Act or proposed Act. Schedule "B" 15. The ballot shall be shown in schedule "B" hereto, with Ballot as in such variations as are necessary. shall be 16. The ballots shall be prepared by the Government Prin- Ballot ter and shall be forwarded to the returning officers in suffi- prepared by 39 Government Appointment of agents Agent shall make declaration Agent shall produce cient number for each electoral division by the clerk of the Executive Council together with such forms, notices and instructions as the Lieutenant Governor in Council may prescribe. 17. Every returning officer shall in respect of each Act or proposed Act to be voted upon by writing under his hand, appoint from among the applicants for such appointment or on behalf of persons applying to have such appointments made, two agents to attend at each polling station and to act as scrutineers at the final summing up of the votes on behalf of those desirous of obtaining an affirmative answer to the question and two agents to so attend on behalf of those desirous of obtaining a negative answer, but no such agents shall be entitled to any remuneration from the public treasury. (2) Before any person so appointed enters upon his duties as agent, he shall make and subscribe before the returning officer or any deputy returning officer, a declaration to the effect that he is interested in and desirous of obtaining an affirmative or negative answer, as the case may be, to the question, which declaration may be in the form C in the schedule to this Act. (3) Every person so appointed, before being admitted to appointment the polling station, or to the final summing up of the votes, as the case may be, shall produce to the deputy returning officer his written appointment. In absence of agents, electors may act The Alberta Election Act applied At close of poll, Deputy Returning Officer shall (4) In case no person has been appointed as aforesaid to attend at any polling station, or at the final summing up of the votes, or in the absence of any person so appointed, any electors not exceeding two in the same interest, may upon making and subscribing a declaration to the above effect before the deputy returning officer or the returning officer, as the case may be, be admitted to the polling station or to the final summing up of the votes, as agents on behalf of that interest. (5) Whenever it is provided in The Alberta Election Act that anything may or shall be done in the presence of or by the candidate or his agent, such provision shall, as applied to proceedings under this Act, be taken to refer to agents appointed in the manner aforesaid. 18. At the close of the poll the deputy returning officer, in the presence of such agents as attend, shall with reference to count ballots each Act or part of an Act, count the ballots, placing them in three parcels, namely: affirmative ballots, negative ballots and rejected ballots; shall give to one agent representing the affirmative and to one agent representing the negative a statement showing the number of affirmative and negative yotes respectively and the number of rejected ballots; shall |