A petition asking people if they believe Alberta should remain in Canada is now rolling out across the province.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure said in a news release Wednesday that Albertans can now begin signing the petition for the “Alberta Forever Canada” citizen initiative.
The petition asks: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Progressive Conservative deputy premier in Alberta, submitted the petition in June and has made it clear that this initiative is an attempt to foil any plans for Alberta separatism.
The Elections Alberta website said Albertans who are eligible to vote can use citizen initiative petitions to have a policy proposal introduced in the legislative assembly or to have a constitutional referendum conducted.
However, the signature threshold for Lukaszuk’s petition will be higher than any other future citizen initiative petition in the province.
Since Lukaszuk’s petition was submitted before the signature threshold for citizen-initiated referendums to get to ballots was lowered to 177,000 in early July, his petition will need to collect around 294,000 signatures from eligible voters over a 90-day period.
The increased figure represents 10 per cent of the total number of all eligible voters, based on figures from the 2023 provincial election.
For the petition, only original physical signatures will be considered valid, and a registered canvasser must witness each signature and swear an affidavit stating to the best of their knowledge the individual who signed was eligible to do so.
Lukaszuk’s application states that he wanted the petition because he believes the majority of Albertans “are loyal Canadians opposed to any form of separation.”
“Separation will threaten the Canadian as well as the Alberta economy, the personal wealth of [Albertans], the Canadian citizen rights of Alberta residents, the treaty rights of our First Nations, and have many other serious and negative consequences,” Lukaszuk said on his petition application to Election Alberta.
A competing pro-separation referendum question is currently before the courts to review its constitutionality.
The proposed referendum question, submitted by Alberta resident Mitch Sylvestre, seeks a yes or no answer to the following: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”
Sylvestre, who submitted the question, is an executive with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group that has been touring the province promoting independence.
If approved, this referendum would have 120 days to collect the necessary number of signatures under the new provincial rules.
