A group campaigning to convince Albertans to reject a future separation vote in this October’s provincial referendum says it expects to distribute more than 100,000 lawn signs promoting their message of national unity.
Thomas Lukaszuk, a former cabinet minister and deputy premier in the old Progressive Conservative government, said Wednesday evening that the Forever Canadian group he established last year has given out more than 60,000 lawn signs already, adding they have requests for another 30,000.
“We can’t print them fast enough,” Lukaszuk told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday night.
He said that they expect the number of lawn signs they’re giving out to surpass 100,000 well before Oct. 19, when the provincial government will ask voters to decide whether they want Alberta to remain in Canada or to start the process for holding a second, binding vote on quitting Confederation.
The campaign period for the referendum officially began three months ago, after Premier Danielle Smith announced the vote.
Since then, several groups have tried to sway public opinion. Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian petition for Alberta to stay in Canada collected more than 400,000 names and called on Smith to avoid a referendum and instead make it provincial policy that separation is off the table.
The Alberta government in late May created a referendum question on separation that Smith said covers sentiments of both petitions, citing Lukaszuk’s signature count and those from the Stay Free Alberta separatists’ petition of 302,000 names to say she thinks enough Albertans want to see the matter decided at the polls.
Organizers for Stay Free Alberta submitted their petition in early May, far surpassing the 178,000 needed to force the province to take action, but saw it quashed by a judge who ruled it was out of line with provincial law and that First Nations needed to be consulted. Another judge ruled in late June that the separatists’ signature verification process should take place while the original ruling was appealed.
Elections Alberta announced in late July that the separatists’ petition was successful, saying nearly 223,000 signatures out of almost 280,000 valid names were counted.
Lukaszuk said on Canada Day that he’s still holding out hope that Smith calls off the referendum.
But in any event, it’s a “moment of awakening” for Albertans.
“There comes a time, for every generation, where we have to stand up for what we stand for and be courageous and not allow negative forces to win simply because of apathy,” he said on July 1.
And on Wednesday, Lukaszuk said his campaign for unity has spread beyond the province’s borders.
“We’re getting lawn sign requests from across Canada,” he said. “This ‘Forever Canadian’ movement has become a little bit of a unifying Canada movement, from Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, everywhere.”
Volunteers handed out lawn signs Wednesday night at a concert in Hawrelak Park, where 2,000 people attended a performance by local singer-songwriter Martin Kerr at the Heritage Amphitheatre in support of the movement.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall and The Canadian Press
