Alberta Forever Canada petition officially kicks off
Posted Aug 2, 2025 3:09 pm.
Last Updated Aug 3, 2025 7:55 am.
The Alberta Forever Canada petition officially launched in Edmonton, and the clock is ticking on a tight deadline to get enough signatures.
The big question for Albertans this summer: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?
“Alberta should stay in Canada because we’re stronger economically, and with all the threats that are happening outside, we have a better chance of surviving together,” Danny Laurent said in Calgary.
Doug French, another Calgarian, says, “I think Alberta should separate. I think it would be best for all Albertans to become an independent country.
The question, approved by Alberta’s chief electoral officer, is part of the Forever Canadian petition submitted by former Progressive Conservative Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk in June under the old provincial rules of the Citizens’ Initiative Act.
This means it will have less than three months to gather nearly 294,000 signatures from Albertans.
Lukaszuk tells CityNews they are receiving thousands of contacts per day asking where and how to sign up.
“Now we are officially out, we are signing up with Elections Alberta as our signature collectors. Elections Alberta has to accredit them and send them a badge … So anybody who’s collecting signatures legally will have a badge,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were also a couple of counter-protesters at the event.
“We’re basically trying to discuss whether we can achieve our goals within or without Canada,” said counter-protestor Don Bonner.
“Either way, I feel the outcome will be positive for Alberta if we just keeping having this conversation.”
Hundreds of people gathered for the launch of the pro-Canadian initiative, which leaped ahead of the pro-separation referendum question by the Alberta Prosperity Project.
That question, “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?” is being reviewed by the courts for its constitutionality per the newly amended Citizen Initiative Act. It asks potential referendum questions to respect more than 30 sections of the Constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
If allowed to proceed, the pro-separation petition will have more time to collect fewer signatures under the new rules. But under Alberta legislation, there can only be one referendum question on a particular topic.
“So if we have one that’s already been approved, the signatures are obtained within the time limit and verified and validated, then that would reclude, at least according to most readings of the legislature, that would reclude the second referendum on leaving,” said Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams.
If the Forever Canadian petition gathers enough signatures by Oct. 28, it will be brought to the provincial legislature for a possible referendum vote that would happen before the 2027 provincial election.
Meanwhile, the Alberta government said in a statement, “We will not speculate as to what citizen initiative petitions will or will not be successful or those that end going forward to referendums.”
