EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — A petition to separate Alberta from Canada has opened, in the province’s first major step towards independence.
In a January 2 press release, Alberta Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure issued “A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence,” a citizen initiative petition gathering support for Alberta to separate itself from Canada.
“Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?” the petition, put forward by the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), asks Albertans.
The referendum is the province’s first major step towards separating from Canada. In order for the movement to succeed, the petition must gather 177,732 signatures between January 3 to May 2, 2026, representing 10 percent of the total votes cast in the 2023 provincial general election.
Smith’s United Conservative government earlier this year passed Bill 54, which sets the groundwork for possible independence referendums by making such votes easier to trigger. The bill lowered the signature threshold from 600,000 to 177,000.
If the signatures are gathered, it will compel the provincial government to conduct a provincial referendum. All Albertans would be asked to vote on the province’s separatism on or before the next provincial election.
If more than 50 percent of the province is in favor of separating, Alberta would begin formal negotiations with the federal government.
Discussion of Alberta’s potential separation from Canada picked up in April, after Prime Minister Mark Carney won the spring election and secured another Liberal government.
Since then, many Albertans have felt that the province’s conservative values are dismissed by the Liberal government in favor of their woke and “green” agenda. Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, in October, thousands of Albertans marched upon the province’s capital of Edmonton, calling for the province to immediately secede from Canada.
Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith does not support a fully independent Alberta. However, she does advocate for the province to have more autonomy from Ottawa.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Smith said her conservative government will allow but not support a citizen-led referendum on independence.
Despite not advocating for an outright separate Alberta, Smith’s government has not stood still when it comes to increasing provincial autonomy.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Smith’s government introduced a new law to protect “constitutional rights” that would allow it to essentially ignore International Agreements, including those by the World Health Organization (WHO), signed by the federal Liberal government.