Lukaszuk calls for Forever Canadian committee’s ‘urgency’ as Alberta legislature wraps up mid-May

Thomas Lukaszuk, middle, at a Forever Canadian referendum petition signature pop-up on Edmonton's 124 Street on Aug. 29, 2025.

The Forever Canadian proponent has requested a face-to-face hearing with a legislative committee created to discuss its citizen-led petition ahead of referendum questions that could include Alberta’s separation, but not its unity, should recommendations not be made in time.

Thomas Lukaszuk’s citizen-led petition, which asks whether Alberta should remain part of Canada, amassed more than 400,000 signatures late last year. Elections Alberta verified and approved the petition in December.

Despite the petition being submitted to the legislative assembly, Premier Danielle Smith previously said its wording was unclear and required a bipartisan committee to determine next steps.

That committee, composed of four UCP MLAs and two NDP MLAs, is set to have its first one-hour meeting April 21.

Lukaszuk, in a media release Tuesday, said the group has not heard of any next steps directly. He’s therefore made an ‘urgent’ request for standing and access to the committee in person.

“The clock is ticking,” he said. “Legislation mandates a 90-day window for recommendations, yet the silence is deafening. We cannot allow the aspirations of half a million Albertans to be sidelined.”

Current legislation requires recommendations from a committee to be made within 90 days of its convening. With an April 21 start date, the committee would have to make its recommendations in the last 10 sitting days of the spring session of legislature.

The Alberta NDP previously accused the UCP government of delaying the committee’s review in order to ensure a potential separatist question on an Oct. 19 ballot but slow-roll an anti-separatist one.

“If the legislature is not sitting at that time, (the Forever Canadian report) gets pushed over until the next sitting … if we rise in the legislature before that this report is not going to see the light of day,” Alberta NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi told Alberta Primetime in March.

In an unrelated Tuesday press conference, Smith told reporters the Forever Canadian question was “complex.”

“It was written as a referendum question, and then (Lukaszuk) said he doesn’t want it to go to a referendum,” she said. “I think there’s some lack of clarity.”

She said the government would have to hear from Lukaszuk directly about whether he’d like his question on the Oct. 19 ballot.

“I guess we just have to let the process play out. But any petition that has signatures validated, it’s our intention to put that on the ballot in the fall. The reason Mr. Lukaszuk is different is because there’s been some confusion about whether or not he wants that.”

Lukaszuk had previously told CTV News that the “pro-Canadian question posed by (Forever Canadian) should be on the ballot,” despite his belief that there was “no need for divisive, politically motivated referenda.”

His group’s release also argued the petition fulfilled “stringent conditions” set by the Alberta government which were later changed to lower thresholds for other citizen-led initiatives.

Stay Free Alberta, the group petitioning for Alberta independence, would be eligible for a referendum question in October should it gather enough signatures by May 2. Early reports from canvassers suggest the group may have reached its goal as of Tuesday.

With files from CTV News Calgary’s Sneha Kainth, Alberta Primetime and The Canadian Press