Elections Alberta has given the green light to a citizen initiative petition by the Alberta Prosperity Project to move towards a referendum on Alberta’s independence from Canada. The separatist group has been authorized to start gathering signatures following the approval. The proposed question for the referendum is whether Alberta should secede from Canada to become an independent state.
Previously, the group had submitted a similar referendum question seeking Alberta’s status as a sovereign country, which was deemed unconstitutional by an Alberta judge. However, recent legislative changes have allowed citizen initiatives to proceed without prior constitutional assessment, enabling the group to reapply without additional costs.
Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, expressed confidence in the process and criticized the prior court review as unnecessary. Premier Danielle Smith’s government revised the rules for citizen-initiated referendums through the passage of Bill 14, transferring the authority to refer referendum questions to the courts from the chief electoral office to the justice minister.
In response to the separatist movement, a citizen initiative petition advocating for Alberta to remain within Canada has also gained traction. Former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk leads this initiative, aiming to present the petition’s question in the legislature for a vote by MLAs.
The Ministry of Justice affirmed the province’s commitment to upholding the democratic rights of Albertans to engage in the citizen’s initiative process. With a deadline of four months, the Alberta Prosperity Project must gather close to 178,000 signatures to advance its petition.