Premier Smith's Alberta Next panel town hall tour arrives in Grande Prairie

Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Grande Prairie tonight to brainstorm potential referendum questions aimed at wrenching more political control from Ottawa.

The panel has been greeted by supportive crowds throughout its summer town hall tour around the province. It has often been cheered on in its proposals, including withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan and withholding social services from some immigrants.

But some have called the tour cynical wedge politics, saying it employs questionable survey methods to craft a predetermined anti-Ottawa outcome. And the panel has at times given fodder to separatists who say its policy ideas only bolster their argument to abandon Confederation.

It will host a final in-person town hall in Calgary at the end of the month.