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EDMONTON — A growing number of voices are urging Premier Danielle Smith to settle Alberta’s “Forever Canada” question with a simple vote in the legislature instead of a provincewide referendum, following confirmation that a pro-unity citizen initiative has cleared all legal thresholds.
Elections Alberta verified this week that the “Alberta Forever Canada” petition gathered more than 404,000 valid signatures through statistical sampling, well above the 293,976 required under the Citizen Initiative Act. The petition asks whether Alberta should remain within Canada and was launched by former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk in response to separatist efforts.
Provincial law now requires the government to either hold a legislative vote on the proposal or call a referendum on the question.
CUPE Alberta president Raj Uppal said Smith should choose the legislative option, arguing a referendum would be costly and destabilizing. “We know from the Quebec experience referendums can be very unstable to the economy,” she said. “Businesses flee, people decide not to move here. The money dries up.” She added that Alberta is already facing economic headwinds linked to tariffs imposed by former United States president Donald Trump.
Uppal said a referendum could cost about $11 million and risk deepening divisions. “We shouldn’t be subjected to an expensive, divisive and harmful referendum just because the alternative is embarrassing to Danielle Smith,” she said. “Thousands of Albertans worked hard to put this question to rest, and they succeeded. Premier Smith should hold a vote in the Legislature, support our country, and stop engaging with the separatist minority.”
Lukaszuk said the petition’s success sends a clear message. “Alberta have spoken loud and clear. Nearly half a million Albertans in less than 90 days declared their love and loyalty to Canada,” he said. “She can either do the right thing and call a vote in the legislature and put the issue of separatism to rest, or she can further divide Albertans and cause economic damage to our province by calling a divisive referendum.”
He said the vast majority of residents cannot imagine giving up their Canadian citizenship. Lukaszuk also pointed to last month’s federal-provincial memorandum of understanding on energy development as proof of what cooperation can achieve. “All that goodwill will be destroyed if we have to go through a divisive referendum campaign,” he said.
Under the Act, the Speaker must table the petition within 15 days. The government then has 10 sitting days to refer the proposal to a legislative committee, which has up to 90 sitting days to recommend either accepting the proposal or holding a referendum on or before the next provincial election on October 18, 2027.
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