Alberta’s new referendum rules officially take effect

The number of signatures needed for citizens to initiate a province-wide referendum is dropping. Hannah Lepine reports.

Beginning Friday, the number of signatures needed for citizens to initiate a province-wide referendum is dropping, including on separation.

The new threshold is 177,000 signatures collected within four months.

People who want to stay in Canada and those who want Alberta to leave have already started applying for petitions.

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The Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group promoting independence, plans to launch one under the new rules.

At the same time, Thomas Lukaszuk, former progressive conservative deputy premier, is working to stop that effort.

He argues separation would threaten the Canadian, as well as the Alberta economy, the treaty rights for First Nations, and would have many other negative consequences.

On Monday, Elections Alberta approved Lukaszuk’s application to undertake a petition for the province to declare its official policy is to remain within Canada.

Since Lukaszuk applied before the new rules took effect, he’ll need to collect 600,000 signatures, but he said he’s confident that enough Albertans would sign their name.

Smith’s government introduced Bill 54 quickly after Carney’s election win, but said it would have been proposed regardless of the outcome.

Smith has said she wants Alberta to stay in Canada and is blaming federal policies for the separatist sentiment.

Citizen initiative petitions can be found on the Elections Alberta website.