Calls for Alberta secession gain traction as petition circulates, province moves to ease referendum rules

The Change.org petition calls to frustrated Albertans: “Support the West, all of the west. Saskatchewan! Alberta! B.C! Manitoba! Anyone wanting change! Let your voice be heard.” It states that Alberta’s voice is ignored in Ottawa and warns of deepening crises, including high office vacancy in Calgary, rising unemployment, and a spike in suicides among young men.

“Over 30% of our office space in Calgary is vacant, unemployment on the rise, we are losing over $80 million dollars a day and have lost over $130 Billion dollars to date,” the petition reads. “We deserve better.”

The separatist referendum petition comes as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced Bill 54, a proposal to overhaul referendum rules in the wild rose province. One of the bill’s key provisions would lower the threshold required to force a citizen-led referendum to just 10 percent of voters from the last provincial election — a significant change from the current standard of 20 percent of all eligible voters, according to the Western Standard.

“We were going to introduce it regardless of what the outcome was,” Smith said, referencing the timing of the federal vote and the Liberal win on Monday. “It just so happens that this is the timing now that we’re back from a week of constituency break.”

The bill would also give campaigns 120 days to gather signatures, up from 90. With a United Conservative Party majority in the legislature, Bill 54 is widely expected to pass within months.

Premier Smith insists she does not support separation, even after Prime Minister Carney’s win.

“I believe in Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada,” she said. “However, there is a citizen referenda process that if citizens want to put a question on a ballot and get enough of their fellow citizens to sign that petition, then those questions will be put forward. Again, I don’t want to prejudge what a question might be.”

Polling leading up to the federal election found that around 30 percent of Albertans said they would support separation if the Liberals won again, reports CBC.

Cameron Davies, a former UCP organizer who now leads the Republican Party of Alberta, isn't shying away form pushing for a referendum: “After decades of attempts at reconciliation with the rest of Canada, now is the time to end the abusive and toxic relationship with Ottawa and the east that we find ourselves in today,” he said. Davies plans to host hundreds of town halls to build momentum for separation.

“Hockey and nostalgia doesn’t pay the bills… that hockey and nostalgia, it’s not going to keep Canada together,” Davies said. “Without a reimagined confederation, there will be a strong separatist movement in Alberta.”

Smith had warned during the campaign that a Liberal victory could push Alberta into a “national unity crisis” unless Carney reversed several federal policies affecting oil and gas within six months.

“Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we’ve been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years,” she wrote on social media. Smith has said she will launch a post-election panel to gauge public opinion on what issues Albertans might want to see put to a referendum. Meanwhile, Alberta independence supporters plan to rally at the legislature on Saturday.