Petition pole-vaults over signature goal
By Lethbridge Herald on October 29, 2025.
PHOTO COURTESY CHRIS SPEARMAN
Dozens of volunteers attend the dropping off of Forever Canadian petition signatures Tuesday at the Elections Alberta offices in Edmonton.Kristine Jean
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Albertans have spoken and an overwhelming number – more than 450,000 – want to see Alberta remain part of Canada.
A total of 456,355 signatures were delivered Tuesday morning when the Forever Canadian vehicle pulled into the Elections Alberta parking lot in Edmonton, where 500 supporters had gathered, awaiting their arrival.
Those signatures will now allow the referendum question – “Do you agree Alberta should remain in Canada?”- to be included on a ballot in a provincial referendum.
“People were singing the national anthem and all the boxes were unloaded from the vehicle,” said former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman, who was one of several southern Albertans in attendance when the signatures were delivered. “They were transported into the Elections Alberta building and he brought in the affidavits supporting the signatures.”
The Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative was put forth by former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk in June. The 90-day Forever Canadian campaign, collected more than the required 294,000 signatures across Alberta between July 30 and Oct. 28.
Signatures had to be collected and submitted to the campaign by Oct. 24, which gave organizers four days to count and verify all the signatures, noted Spearman, who worked with the campaign to collect signatures in Lethbridge and Pincher Creek areas.
“We’ve got basically 50 per cent more (signatures) than needed. That’s tremendous,” said Spearman. “When you look at that compared to the number of Albertans who actually voted, it’s huge – it’s a vast majority of voting Albertans.”
Spearman said there was the same level of commitment to Canada from both rural areas and urban centres, with roughly 50 per cent of signatures coming from rural Alberta and smaller urban centres.
Town of Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn was one of those 456,355 signatures and was the first person to sign the Forever Canadian petition in Coaldale when it made a stop in town at the end of August.
Van Rijn said he was very pleased to see the positive response to the Forever Canadian petition and noted the overwhelming number of signatures is “a powerful message from Albertans.”
“It shows the strength of our shared commitment to remaining part of Canada,” said Van Rijn. “When I signed the petition back in August, I knew many Albertans felt the same way I did. These numbers prove it – we are proud to be Forever Canadian.”
Spearman said the petition results are a big win for Albertans who want to see the province remain a united part of Canada.
“It was wonderful to see Albertans of all political stripes signing (the petition). Former premier Ed Stelmach signed, former deputy premier Shirley McClellan, who was Ralph Klein’s deputy premier for quite a few years, signed,” he said. “Conservatives signed, Liberals signed, NDP people signed … It’s tremendous to see Albertans coming together on something. It’s finally a message of unity rather than a message of division.”
In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Elections Alberta confirmed it received the citizen initiative petition with the required signatures, and will verify the petition within the next 60 days, by December 27, 2025.
After completing the petition verification, Elections Alberta will post the results on the Elections Alberta website, no later than January 6, 2026. If the petition is successful, Elections Alberta will submit a copy of the policy proposal to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Elections Alberta said during the 60-day verification process, staff will contact a sample of electors who have signed the petition to verify their information and signatures, using the contact information recorded on the petition signature sheets.
18-17
Any bets that Smith will find a way to reject this petition?
No surprise! That is why a petition to leave Canada would fail! You would never see a referendum to leave Canada get more than 20% in favour at the most!
It is part of the democratic process when you have larger amounts pressing for referendums and that process was shown here and if there is another petition to separate. The Premier has stated multiple times she believes in Alberta remaining in Canada . . . again just last week!
You can try to twist it anyway you want, but many of us know the truth and are fed up with the lies which are politically motivated for one particular party to gain support!
If you have to win an election by spreading lies you have already proven you are not a good leader, but a scoundrel!
I don’t trust our premier to be truthful. That’s based on her track record. Her claim that the Wyant Report exonerated her government when it did nothing of the sort is just the latest of many examples.
One thing you can take to the bank is that for most people past behaviour is one of the best predictors of future behaviours.
This was as much about a collective middle finger to the UCP Govt as anything else.. this along with the threat of the first general strike in Alberta , should make clear , yes , Albertans are angry, we are angry with the mismanagement of our province and making us a laughing stock. We need to run this clown car off the road !