Petition on whether Alberta should remain in Canada approved under old referendum rules
Posted June 30, 2025 3:57 pm.
Last Updated July 1, 2025 9:24 am.
Elections Alberta has approved a former provincial deputy premier’s application for a petition that would make it official policy for the province to remain in Canada, but the new rules that lowered the threshold for citizen-led initiatives won’t apply.
Thomas Lukaszuk, the former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, says he’s undertaking the petition to try and thwart efforts by Alberta separatists looking to get a referendum on leaving Canada.
He says Premier Danielle Smith’s move to lower the threshold for initiating a province-wide referendum is dangerous and opens the door to any number of potential referendum questions, including some that might backfire on her government.
However, the lower threshold for signatures takes effect Friday, so Lukaszuk will still need to collect over 100,000 more signatures to reach the original bar of 294,000.
“This petition will be subject to the current legislation as Bill 54 has not yet been proclaimed,” an email from an Election Alberta spokesperson reads.
“As this is a policy proposal, this means the number of signatures required is 10 per cent of provincial electors on the post-election day list of electors.”
Elections Alberta confirmed the number of electors on the list was 2,939,762, making the required number of signatures for a valid initiative petition 293,976.
Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure said in a statement Monday that Lukaszuk has 30 days to appoint a chief financial officer for his campaign, after which he’ll be able to start gathering signatures. The timeline is also only 90 days, rather than the 120 days in the new rules.
The question being posed is “Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?”
Lukaszuk argues that Alberta’s rules do not allow for two competing petitions on the same issue. “There’s only one petition at a time, so mine precludes theirs,” he said.
Smith has said she wants Alberta to stay in Canada, but says the ball is in the court of the federal government. She says Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to revise or roll back policies she says undercut Alberta’s resource industry.
Recent polls have suggested that support for separatism in Alberta hasn’t reached a majority.
