Forever Canadian movement leader to speak in Calgary

The proponent of the Forever Canadian Petition promoted his movement in front of a packed house in Calgary Wednesday.

The Canadian Club of Calgary hosted Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Alberta deputy premier who led a citizen petition last year asking whether the province should remain part of Canada.

After collecting 438,568 valid signatures — roughly 13.6 per cent of all electors — Lukaszuk says he’s now embarking on the next stage of his movement.

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That will involve about 1,600 volunteers canvassing and sharing information about “what separation would actually mean,” according to Lukaszuk. He says to expect “lots of lawn signs and bumper stickers.”

“This is not about politics,” the former MLA told CTV News. “This is about identifying Albertans and bringing Albertans together to vote on the one singular issue of unity.”

“(This is) probably the biggest campaign this province has ever seen, because of the fact that everything is at stake.”

Elections Alberta verified and approved the petition in December. But despite its submission to the legislative assembly, Premier Danielle Smith said its wording was unclear and required a bipartisan committee to determine the next steps.

The committee, made up of four UCP MLAs and two NDP MLAs, is scheduled to begin its review on April 21.

Lukaszuk told the crowd Wednesday he believes it’s a stall tactic.

“I don’t anticipate this committee is in a hurry to render any decisions,” he said.

Current legislation requires recommendation from that committee to be made within 90 days of its convening.

That means it will have to make its recommendations in the last 10 sitting days of the spring session of the Legislature.

It can either direct the government to hold a provincewide referendum or table a report on the policy proposal.

At least one expert speculates the premier is doing all she can to avoid the topic coming up in an official capacity before the session is done.

“Danielle Smith might be wanting to avoid a vote in the legislature that would expose the separatists in her caucus,” said political scientist Lori Williams. “She doesn’t want (personal MLA views) to become public.”

The premier’s office did not respond to a CTV News request for comment by deadline.