The clock is ticking for the Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative, and the petition spearheaded by former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is rolling out signature collectors in Calgary to reach 290,000 signatures by October. Read More
Former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is rolling out signature collectors for petition
Advertisement 1
Former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is rolling out signature collectors for petition
Article content
The clock is ticking for the Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative, and the petition spearheaded by former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is rolling out signature collectors in Calgary to reach 290,000 signatures by October.
Article content
The campaign for a potential referendum asking whether or not Alberta should remain in Canada launched in Edmonton on Aug. 2. Older legislation in place at the time requires the collection of 293,976 signatures by Oct. 28.
Article content
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Lukaszuk said about 2,000 registered petition signature collectors have been processed.
Article content
Noon News Roundup
Article content
“A good chunk of them are from Calgary,” he said Friday. “What’s happening right now is really neat, because people are starting what I refer to as ‘micro campaigns’ all over the province.”
Article content
Volunteers will attend various events and door knock throughout the city over the next three months.
Article content
“There is a group that will be visiting all the senior homes in Calgary, but (volunteers) have just been receiving their credentials over the last few days, and there will be are a few thousand more that are about to come out,” Lucaszuk said.
Article content
He believes Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is tilting the playing field in favour of separatists to move ahead with their own petition.
Article content
With the lower signature threshold brought in under legislation changes announced July 4, the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project was set to be first in line with its petition, he said.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
“I wasn’t going to fight them at the door on who filed it first, I just filed it sooner under the old rules,” he said. “(Smith) and the APP didn’t expect that. Now she has to deal with my petition, and they have a lot of barriers to proceed with theirs.”
Article content
If the Alberta Prosperity Project petition were to move forward, it would follow new rules which would require around 177,000 signatures in 120 days.
Article content
Article content
“They’re all very miffed because they got what they called ‘snookered’ at their own game, but they didn’t,” he said. “But they didn’t. I just played according to the rules. (…) I took the chance to just to it the hard way.”
Article content
Had the petition been online only, Lukaszuk said it would have well passed its mark.
Article content
“That’s how overwhelming it is for Albertans,” he said. “Everybody wants to sign this petition. Our biggest challenge is getting the petition to people who want to sign it.”
Advertisement 1
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
More information about the petition can be found online or following @LukaszukAB on X and Bluesky.
Article content
Alberta Canada Forever and the APP
Article content
Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt thinks Lukaszuk is well-organized, but the threshold appears to be a little too high.
Article content
“It’s interesting that the government is determining that he needs the higher threshold than a subsequent petition by the APP, which has a lower threshold,” Bratt said. “So, we’ll have to see what is happening there. That’s an awful lot of signatures to gather.”
Article content
Bratt said the petition can garner some enthusiastic supporters because it splits the question, but also has the potential to garner interest from separatists.
Article content
“If you’re a separatist, you’re probably going to sign on the petition as well, simply because all they’re doing is changing the ‘yes’ and the ‘no,’” Bratt said. “The question is quite similar to what the APP is proposing, as what Forever Canada is proposing. They just expect a different answer.”
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Article content
The APP appeared in court on Thursday to oppose the decision by Alberta’s chief electoral officer to gauge the constitutionality of their question by referring it to a judge.
Article content
A final verdict in regards to their petition application will be made on Aug. 14.
Article content
The petition led by Mitch Silvestre looks to ask Albertans: “Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”
Article content
“Because they’re talking about the separation of Canada and they’re talking about treaty rights, (it’s) just the nuance of that, even though they have a slightly different question,” he said.
Article content
Bratt awaits the court’s decision, and how challenges between the government and Election Alberta will unfold.
Article content
Although the question each petition asks are two sides of the same coin, the two processes are slightly different.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
“There is still complexity around this, as well as Lukaszuk’s petition is about a policy change, not a constitutional change,” he said. “This could go to the legislature, and the legislature could determine if this goes to a referendum or the legislature.”
Article content
Despite portraying themselves as a neutral body, Bratt said the petition is on the UCP’s radar.
Article content
“There are clear elements in the UCP that want to separate from Canada,” he said. “Danielle Smith and the Alberta Next Panel is all tied into that, and that’s why they lowered the threshold.
Article content
“It allows Smith to say – I want a sovereign Alberta in the united Canada, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. But she’s making it easier for separatist groups. What she didn’t expect is Thomas Lukaszuk to come in and ask a pro-Canada question.”
Article content
Bratt draws comparisons to this current situation to the 2024 petition by Landon Johnston to recall Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
Article content
“We went through a recall petition not that long ago to get rid of the mayor, and it shows how difficult it is to gather that amount of signatures in a short period of time,” he said. “But we also know the government is planning its own referendum questions out of Alberta Next.
Article content
“So one way or another, there’ll be referendums in Alberta in 2026.”
Article content
Discover more from World Byte News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
