Hundreds of people lined up Monday at Calgary’s Stampede grounds to sign their names on a petition calling for the Alberta government to hold a referendum on the province’s separation from Canada.
Calgary is the most recent stop for a group called Stay Free Alberta that has been given the OK by Elections Alberta to gather names.
They need almost 178,000 signatures by May, and similar long lines have been seen in recent weeks in other locations.
“I think this is a really strong message to the government of Alberta that Alberta is going to be a free and independent country so they better get their heads around it,” said Jeffrey Rath of Stay Free Alberta.
The push for independence comes amid ongoing suggestions from the U.S. government that perhaps Alberta would like to join its neighbour to the south.
Some of those in the lineup on Monday said they want to join the U.S., while others said no.
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Some say separation might be the only way to fix what they call a toxic relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s opposition New Democrats are calling on all government MLAs to sign a pledge declaring whether or not they support separation.
“We’ve got to take this seriously and we have to stand up on the side of Canada and Team Canada,” said NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi at a news conference in Calgary on Monday.
“We cannot repeat the mistakes of 1995 in Canada, we cannot repeat the mistakes of Brexit, so I’m reaching out to all Albertans, saying let’s stand up for what we really believe in.”
The NDP says the separatism debate is proving harmful to the province’s interests, potentially costing jobs.
The UCP caucus did not say whether they’d sign the pledge, calling it a distraction, and accusing Nenshi of fearmongering.
Premier Danielle Smith has said she supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, a phrase that Nenshi called nonsensical “word salad.”
A new Ipsos poll suggests 29 per cent of Albertans support the province’s separation from Canada, but when faced with the costs and consequences of doing so, only half of those interested in separatism are truly committed to following through.
“I think there are a lot of questions about clarity and even though the question is clearly ‘Do you want to leave?’, the motive for voting yes in this referendum is quite unclear,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
–with files from The Canadian Press.
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