Former Globe journalist Tamsin McMahon led a team in California that won a Pulitzer Prize

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...