Former Alberta politician Thomas Lukaszuk is a man on a not-so-lonely mission to keep Canada from splitting.
“This has become a full-time job. I’m very passionate about this,” the former Progressive Conservative deputy premier said in Edmonton last week.
As people trickled in and out of a local legion, a table full of volunteers helped them officially put their name to Lukaszuk’s cause.
“When we get to 300,000 signatures, believe it or not, this will be the biggest petition in the history of Canada,” said Lukaszuk.
Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian project needs to collect 294,000 names on a petition to spur a referendum question that would ask if Alberta should make remaining in Canada its official policy.
It needs all those names before the end of October.
It’s also up against a separatist movement that vows to keep up its fight to free Alberta from what it calls a hostile federal government.
The effort itself has become a political hot potato for United Conservative Premier Danielle Smith, who has declined, when asked, to sign on to support Lukaszuk’s petition, despite insisting she supports a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.
Lukaszuk said he isn’t asking Smith to sign her name, but he encourages her to pick a side.
Forever Canadian has so far recruited some 3,000 volunteer signature collectors, along with thousands more helping to organize, Lukaszuk said.
He said the biggest challenge right now isn’t finding Albertans who want to sign the petition — it’s getting that petition to them in order for them to sign.
“And to do that, we need signature collectors,” Lukaszuk said.
On any given day, there are between 20 and 30 Forever Canadian signature-collecting events listed on the organization’s website. They’re being held in dog parks, on driveways, at farmer’s markets, summer festivals, and even a zoo in communities across the province.
Lukaszuk credits the work of volunteers taking their own initiative, like two in Calgary who recently gathered 8,000 signatures in one day.
“Every person in their own community knows their community, and they’re basically telling us how they’re going to do it,” he said. “All we are doing is bringing structure and organization to this very well-organized chaos.”
The attention has meant some people are trying to cash in by selling knock-off T-shirts, Lukaszuk said. He noted anyone being asked to sign a petition should check for credentials.
Lukaszuk said he’s motivated to head off secession from Canada not just because he sees it as “illogical,” but out of patriotism.
“I cherish Canada,” he said.
He’s seen what it looks like when democracy crumbles, having come to Canada from Poland when he was 12.
“There were literally tanks and armoured vehicles right in front of my front door,” he said. “Canada gave my family a second chance.”
Lukaszuk said the Forever Canadian effort is non-partisan. He counts former Alberta Progressive Conservative premier Ed Stelmach and Ian McClelland, a founding member of the Reform Party of Canada, as supporters.
Former Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin was at the recent Edmonton event to offer his endorsement.
Recent polling in Alberta doesn’t put support for separation in majority territory, but separatist organizers remain determined to change hearts and minds.
One prominent effort has yet to get the green light to start a petition campaign.
Earlier this month, Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby said he will hear arguments and rule on whether a referendum question proposing to separate Alberta from Canada is constitutional.
Submitted by the Alberta Prosperity Project, the question seeks to ask: “Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”
Mitch Sylvestre, APP’s chief executive officer, said the court review won’t hamper their efforts.
“It’s only going to present a hurdle for us if it’s denied,” he said in an interview.
“We got out of the gate a little quicker than what we expected. So, now our infrastructure is solidly going to be in place by the time it’s time to collect signatures.”
His group continues to get its message out through events around the province.
“We’re going to go flat out. We’re not going to leave anything on the table,” he said.
A new law from Smith’s United Conservative Party government — that came into effect after Lukaszuk submitted his application to Elections Alberta — significantly lowered the threshold for citizen-led referendum initiatives.
That means if an APP petition is approved by Elections Alberta, they’ll only need about 177,000 signatures. They’ll also have four months to gather them, instead of three.
So far, Sylvestre said about 250,000 Albertans have pledged support online, so they’ll be ready to hit the ground running when it comes time to collect in-person signatures.
He said Lukaszuk’s question won’t change the status quo, and it’s time for Canada to listen more to Alberta’s demands.
“The question needs to be asked,” Sylvestre said.
