LAC LA BICHE - Chris McCullough is determined to see Alberta remain part of Canada.
Concerned about separatist sentiment in the Wildrose province, the Lac La Biche resident became involved with the Forever Canadian campaign, also called Alberta Forever Canada, a province-wide petition that Albertans can sign to show their support for staying in Canada.
“I’m a proud Canadian, and I would rather stay Canadian, and I agree with the history of Canada, and I don’t think any province should be trying to separate because there’s a lot of benefit to being in Canada,” McCullough told Lakeland This Week.
The Forever Canadian initiative is being spearheaded by Thomas Lukaszuk, a former provincial MLA. McCullough heard about the campaign and decided to get involved.
At the end of July, Elections Alberta gave the go-ahead for organizers of the campaign to gather signatures.
Recently, McCullough and a couple of other volunteers from the Lac La Biche area were out in the community meeting with residents and collecting signatures for the petition.
The petition asks the question ‘Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?’
When speaking with Lakeland This Week on Aug. 13, McCullough, who was set up at a table in downtown Lac La Biche, explained that the response from people who stopped by was very positive.
“We’ve had really good conversations with them, and it’s been awesome,” McCullough said.
According to McCullough, the Forever Canadian campaign will be making its way across the province, stopping in communities both large and small, until Oct. 28. The goal is to gather close 300,000 signatures.
McCullough explained she noticed that Lukaszuk had gone forward with asking for a petition before the province’s separatist movement did, as the separatists were waiting for new legislation to be brought forward that lowered the signature thresholds for petitions.
The legislation, Bill 54, which passed into law on May 15, requires 177,000 signatures to trigger a referendum.
According to provincial law, two petitions about the same issue cannot be taking place at the same time. The separatists’ petition and goal of holding a referendum has been sent to the courts to determine if it is constitutional.
“This is a citizen’s initiative petition, and it’s the first one in Alberta, actually,” she said about the Forever Canadian initiative.
Once all the signatures have been collected, the petition will be presented to the provincial government.
According to information from Alberta Forever Canada, the result of a successful petition in this case is either that the government tables a policy proposal that Alberta shall remain in Canada and adopt non-separatism, or the issue is sent to a province-wide referendum.
Speaking about the provincial separatist movement, McCullough said Albertans should not be subject to the whims of what she calls a small minority of the population.
“I don’t believe very many people actually want [to separate],” she said.
Putting together a province-wide separation referendum comes with a substantial price tag, costing as much as $10 million, said McCullough. “So, if we can avoid having a referendum, I would be happy.”
While there have been disputes between Alberta and Ottawa, which has led to some separatist sentiment, McCullough said many people don’t understand the important role the federal government plays.
“People say ‘Oh, the federal government does this, and the federal government does that to us,’ but they’re not looking at the big picture and they’re not looking at the real facts,” she said. “Yes, there is such a thing as western alienation, but at the same time, I don’t think [separating] is the way to solve it.”
Local volunteers and canvassers with the campaign, according to McCullough, will be around Lac La Biche over the next few months. People must sign the petition in person and cannot do so online.
To get more information about the campaign, McCullough says people can reach out to her at [email protected].
