A petition by asking people if they believe that Alberta should remain in Canada is now being implemented throughout the province.
Electoral director Gordon McClure said in a press release on Wednesday that Albertans can now begin to sign the request of the citizen initiative “Alberta Forever Canada”.
The request asks: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former progressive conservative vice president in Alberta, presented the petition in June and has made it clear that this initiative is an attempt to frustrate any plan for Alberta separatism.
The Alberta elections website said that Albertaos who are eligible to vote can use citizen initiative requests to enter a policy proposal introduced in the Legislative Assembly or that a constitutional referendum is carried out.
Lukaszuk said his main objective is to avoid a referendum.
“I will tell you that I am the last one who wants a referendum about Alberta that separates or stays in Canada,” Lukaszuk said.
“We do not need to have a referendum. That is why we present this request very strategically under the flow of policies, not the constitutional current.”
He said his goal is for Smith to call the question of his request in the legislature and that the MLA of Albean vote about it.
However, the signature threshold for Lukaszuk’s request will be higher than any other request for future citizen initiative in the province.
Since Lukaszuk’s request was presented before the signature threshold so that the referendums initiated by citizens were reduced to 177,000 in early July, his request will need to collect around 294,000 signatures of eligible voters for a period of 90 days.
The augmented figure represents 10 percent of the total number of all eligible voters, based on figures from the provincial elections of 2023.
For the request, only the original physical firms will be considered valid, and a registered bar must witness each signature and swear a sworn statement that indicates all their knowledge, the individual who signed was eligible to do so.
Lukaszuk’s request states that he wanted the request because he believes that most of the Alcbertanes “are loyal Canadians opposed to any form of separation.”
“The separation will threaten both the Canadian economy and Alberta’s economy, the personal wealth of [Albertans]Canadian citizen rights of Alberta residents, the rights of the treaty of our first nations, and have many other serious and negative consequences, “Lukaszuk said on his request for request to the Alberta election.
A matter of referendum in favor of competitive separation is currently before the courts to review its constitutionality.
The question of the proposed referendum, presented by the resident of Alberta, Mitch Sylvestre, seeks an answer yes or not to the following: “Do you agree that the province of Alberta will become a sovereign country and will no longer be a province in Canada?”
Sylvestre, who presented the question, is an executive of the Alberta Prosperity project, a non -profit group that has been touring the province that promotes independence.
If approved, this referendum would have 120 days to collect the necessary number of signatures under the new provincial rules.
Lukaszuk said he is not discouraged by the fact that his request will have to gather more signatures in a shorter period of time than the possible pro-separation request.
“The answer … of the Albertaos who say ‘Where is the request? I want to sign it’ is so encouraging. I know that we will not only meet the amount of signatures that are required.”
He said his next steps will now be to meet with the electoral director to iron the rules and logistics of the petition.
Lukaszuk said that anyone interested in helping to collect signatures must communicate with the Forever Canadian online campaign, and the organization will help people who wish to be volunteers to register with the Alberta elections.
He said he is excited to help Albertaos the opportunity to express how connected they are with the rest of Canada.
“This is the first time we can really say not only that we love Canada, but we can put a paper pen and put our name below in a request that shows that we love Canada and want to stay in Canada.”
