Alberta separatists submit thousands of signatures on referendum petition

The group behind a campaign to split Alberta from the rest of Canada will deliver their signatures on Monday.

Alberta separatists submitted thousands of signatures on a petition referendum that would ask Albertans if the province should leave Canada.

Elections Alberta still has to confirm the number of signatures, but Mitch Sylvestre, head of the Stay Free Alberta campaign, said they collected more than 300,000 signatures, well over the 178,000 required.

“It was a lot of work and it was full-time work for four months,” Sylvestre told media at the Elections Alberta office in Edmonton Monday afternoon. “We’re happy with the number.”

Now that the signatures have been submitted, Stay Free Alberta will be dissolved, said Sylvestre, and he will move his efforts back to the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP).

“We put the Alberta Prosperity Project to bed because we didn’t want any conflict of interest or third party violations,” said Sylvestre. “Right now, Stay Free Alberta is done. It succeeded. It accomplished the mission.”

Albertans could see the question on separation on a ballot in October, but an Edmonton judge is anticipated to deliver a ruling on a court challenge of the petition launched by a group of First Nations who say it violates treaty rights.

Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the referendum is “increasingly likely” to go forward, even if the courts order the petition unconstitutional.

“This group has indicated that the premier has the power under the Referendum Act … and there will be pretty intense pressure on her to do so,” said Williams.

Once the signatures have been verified by Elections Alberta, the legislative assembly will review the petition and the government will bring forward a motion to have the proposal referred to a committee.

If the petition moves forward, Albertans could see the question on separation alongside Forever Canadian’s, which would ask if Alberta should remain in Confederation.

Led by former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, the Forever Canadian petition acquired more than 456,000 signatures in late October.

Alleged voter privacy breach

Last week, Elections Alberta disclosed that voter information may have been used inappropriately or distributed by separatist group the Centurion Project.

Sylvestre said founder David Parker showed him the app that sought to connect volunteers with people they know, but had ultimately turned it down because he questioned the legality of it.

He went on to say that turning down the app actually fractured his relationship with the Take Alberta Back founder as well as Cam Davies, head of the Republican Party of Alberta.

“David and I, for the last couple of weeks, haven’t been talking based on the fact that I didn’t want anything to do with that.”

Elections Alberta was granted an injunction to prohibit further use of the data. The Republican Party of Alberta and the Centurion Project are also required to identify every person or entity they shared voter information with.

The agency said it will conduct a “very thorough” petition verification process following the alleged breach.

“We will check for the seeded names from the Republican Party of Alberta’s copy of the list of electors,” said chief electoral officer Gordon McClure in a statement Monday.

The citizen initiative petition verification process was amended on May 1 to determine if any of the seeded names from the Republican Party of Alberta’s list of electors are included in any petition going forward.

“If any seeded names are included, further scrutiny will result,” said Elections Alberta.

The Centurion Project said volunteers were able to use its app to find people they know, but did not have access to emails or phone numbers.

But an Edmonton city councillor said he and his team are helping a woman facing intimate partner violence relocate with her children after her address was leaked in the alleged privacy breach.

Official Opposition and New Democrat leader Naheed Nenshi said the breach affected nearly three million Albertans.

“One of, if not the largest, data breaches in Canadian history,” said Nenshi at a virtual press conference Monday. “The situation is serious … It demands action from this government.”

Nenshi added that, during question period at the legislature, Premier Danielle Smith said the province would not be intervening with Elections Alberta in the investigation.

“We need to know precisely what actions the chief electoral officer is taking … Albertans deserve to know what he is doing.”

Justice minister Mickey Amery said he was confident in Elections Alberta’s ability to conduct the investigation.

“They have a very comprehensive and robust procedure in place to ensure that signatures are legitimate,” said Amery. “They have a 95 per cent or more sampling rate requirement for credibility and reliability, and I think that is a number we can take comfort in.”

Elections Alberta said it is working with RCMP on the investigation into the alleged breach.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg and Sean McClune and The Canadian Press