While Canada prepares on Tuesday to blow 158 birthday candles, Alberta plans three days later to formalize the rules, which makes it easier to have a celebration of own independence.
As of Friday, the conservative government united by Prime Minister Danielle Smith is officially lowering the threshold required for citizens to initiate a referendum throughout the province, even in separation.
Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity project, a non -profit group that toured Alberta that promotes independence, said he plans to run for the Alberta elections that same day to start a petition under the new rules.
The group aims to gather 177,000 signatures within 120 days to ask the question on a ballot to voters: Do you agree that the Alberta province will become a sovereign country and will no longer be a province of Canada?
“I would not be surprised if that referendum was held at this time that we could possibly win it,” Sylvesta told the Canadian press.
He said that many shelters are the skeptical prime minister Mark Carney will be able to restore confidence after federal policies for years diverted Alberta resources in other places.
While most of the shelters do not want to separate, the new surveys suggest that a majority in the province think it could happen. CBC Brown Brown Calgary explains the results of the CO research. The online survey was conducted with 1,201 voters between April 27 and 29, 2025. It contains a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points, 19 of 20 times.
At the same time, Thomas Lukaszuk, a former progressive conservative vice president in Alberta, is working to frustrate that separatist effort.
Lukaszuk, now by politics, argues that Alberta rules do not allow two competitive requests on the same issue.
“There is only one request at the same time, so mine prevents his,” he said.
Lukaszuk has already requested to begin a petition under the existing law, which would require 600,000 signatures.
If your request to Alberta elections is approved, it is confident that sufficient Albertans would sign its name so that the provincial government declares that its official policy is to remain within Canada.
Sylvestre said he will present documents for the second time on Friday. He said he believes that Lukaszuk’s request effort could delay the impulse for Alberta’s independence, but believes that he will not gather so many signatures within the old 90 -day threshold.
Recent surveys have suggested that support for separatism in Alberta has not reached the majority territory. But, said Sylvestre, the interest in celebrating an independence referendum is growing with each speaking event they organize.
“The more people listen to the message, the more people will be in favor,” he said.
The main political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, speaks with Chief Tony Alexis of the Sioux Nation of Alexis Nakota on how Alberta’s separation threats violate the rights of the treaties of the first nations and how the government does not go far enough to protect those communities.
Alberta elections has said that each request is evaluated in the order received, but cannot comment on the applications submitted so far.
Legal experts say that a vote to cut ties with Canada would throw the country into unknown waters, which could cause complex negotiations between governments and the first nations.
The Smith government presented the bill quickly after Carney’s electoral victory earlier this year, but said it would have been proposed independently of the result.
In defending his legislation, Smith said that the growing number of inhabitants of careless shelters with the Confederation is right to feel frustrated, and she wants to see more opportunities for direct democracy. For a long time he said that he wants his province to be sovereign in a United Canada.
That is a phrase that Lukaszuk calls meaningless.
“That is as if I said: ‘I’m single within the confines of my marriage,” he said.
When asked earlier this week what his government could do to suffocate separatist aspirations, Smith said it was Ottawa’s responsibility by reversing the policies to reverse.
In recent months, he asked Carney to abolish several federal policies and programs, including a proposal of greenhouse gas emissions, Net Zero Electric Network Regulations and the prohibition of tank trucks on the west coast.
“This is really in the hands of Ottawa,” Smith said Thursday.
Edmonton AM8:51Let’s dig in the history of Alberta separatist movement
From the federal elections, we have seen a growing interest in Alberta’s separatism, with some surveys that support separation in more than one in four lodges. But this is not the first time we see Albertaos take advantage of the idea. The associated producer Sean Newton fell into the history of the political movement, and is here to tell us more.
While Lukaszuk said Smith has the right to negotiate with the federal government, he should not use the threat of secession as a lever.
He said that the UCP referendum legislation is dangerous and could open a Pandora voting question box, including some that can be counterproductive in the Smith government.
