Snowy owls, giant otters, hammerhead sharks considered for greater protection at UN conference

Last week, the organizers behind the Alberta separatist petition said they had collected the 177,732 signatures they needed to force a referendum. While that means that Albertans will likely vote in October on whether they want to remain in Canada, there are a few legal hurdles that could still keep a referendum from happening. Where does the petition stand now? Now that the group behind the separatist petition — called Stay Free Alberta — has said it has the signatures, they will have to go through a verification process with the province’s electoral office. Stay Free has until...