‘Unity Bus’ will travel across rural Alberta for signatures to keep province in Canada

Former MLA Thomas Lukaszuk is drumming up support in rural Alberta for his petition to make the UCP declare staying in Canada as its official policy.

A red and white ‘Unity Bus’ adorned with maple leaves will be hitting the highways of rural Alberta in an effort to collect enough signatures for a petition to keep the province in Canada.

The Forever Canadian initiative is looking to get nearly 300,000 signatures from Albertans before Oct. 28.

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Through the petition, group founder and former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is trying to get the Government of Alberta to declare remaining in Canada its official policy.

“We have to get to the magical number of 300,000 signatures, and in order to reach that number, we have to hit rural Alberta,” Lukaszuk told CTV News Edmonton.

While some have told Lukaszuk that he’ll have a hard time getting support in rural areas, he says everyone deserves a chance to participate in the petition.

“Some of the most patriotic Canadians are Alberta farmers and food producers who have been farming in Alberta for over 100 years … they want to participate,” he said. “In order to give them a chance, we will be driving to them and giving them that opportunity.”

The group has 8,000 volunteers who have signed up to canvas over the last two months to get signatures.

Volunteer Judy Kotylak said she’s proud to have gotten just over 1,200 signatures so far.

“I’m finding that I just simply have to find people who are looking for us, and they’re all over the place,” said Kotylak. “It really makes you feel that Canada is really coming together.”

The petition is considered a response to the Alberta Prosperity Project, which earlier this year applied to hold a vote on whether the province should leave Canada.

The application is currently before the courts after chief electoral officer Gordon McClure referred it to a judge to determine whether it goes against the Constitution.

Premier Danielle Smith and her justice minister urged Elections Alberta to approve Alberta Prosperity Project’s petition.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach