The Government of Alberta has commissioned the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy to produce an objective, peer-reviewed economic analysis of provincial separation, after which a separately appointed advisory panel will review that analysis and produce a second, more enthusiastic one.

"We believe deeply in academic independence," said a senior official, explaining that the university's findings would be handed to a hand-selected panel whose job is to determine whether the findings were independent enough. "If the report says separation is economically catastrophic, the panel will examine that conclusion rigorously and at length, until it is no longer the conclusion."

Faculty at the School of Public Policy expressed cautious optimism at the funding, noting that being asked to study a question is, in academic terms, generally preferable to being asked to stop. Several professors privately observed that the structure — commission a study, then commission a panel to grade the study — was itself a fascinating case study in public policy, and offered to write a report about it.

The advisory panel, which will review the university's work before it reaches the public, is composed of individuals selected for their expertise, their judgment, and their availability to agree. Critics noted that placing a political review board between researchers and their published findings is the precise mechanism universities spend an entire first-year ethics course warning students about.

The government clarified that the two-report system was designed for maximum credibility. "A single report is just an opinion," the official said. "But a report, reviewed by a panel, summarized by a communications team, and released the week we'd already planned the announcement — that's rigour."

Asked what would happen if the university's economists and the advisory panel reached different conclusions, the official paused. "Then," he said, "we would of course commission a third body to study why the academics got it wrong."