The Forever Canadian unity bus stopped in Calgary on Saturday morning, where former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk handed out free lawn signs to residents who want the province to remain in Canada, CTV News reported.
Lukaszuk, who leads the group, was at Parkdale United Church as volunteers distributed the signs. He told CTV News the campaign now spans the province through roughly 160 pop-up locations staffed by more than 18,000 volunteers.
“It’s a massive movement,” Lukaszuk said, “and these signs are in really high demand because everybody wants to show their pride in Canada.”
Forever Canadian began as a petition opposing a separation referendum and drew 404,000 verified signatures, according to CTV News. The bus also stopped in Cochrane on Saturday afternoon and is scheduled to visit Red Deer and Sylvan Lake this weekend.
The appearances come as Albertans prepare to vote Oct. 19 on 10 government-initiated referendum questions dealing largely with immigration and constitutional reform. Public attention has centred on the final question, added by Premier Danielle Smith on May 21, which asks whether Alberta should remain a province or whether the provincial government should begin the legal process required to hold a binding referendum on separating from Canada.
Lukaszuk said the group is not defending the current arrangement. “The Forever Canadian movement is not about status quo,” he said. “We too recognize that there is room for improvement, but separation is not the answer.” He said Albertans who wanted to send Ottawa a message have already done so, and called for negotiation and national dialogue instead.
He also tied the vote to the trade dispute with the United States, saying internal disputes would be taken advantage of by external powers and pointing to American references to Canada as a 51st state.
The ground campaign is not the only remain effort launched this week. The federal Conservatives opened a campaign called Conservatives for Canada on Friday to encourage their supporters to vote to stay in the country, The Canadian Press reported. Parkland MP Dane Lloyd was named caucus lead on the campaign.
“We are engaging conservative Albertans with a message, and the message is not that everything’s all right,” Lloyd told The Canadian Press. “We know the status quo needs to change. But our problem is not with Canada.” He said it is critical to engage the roughly 1.4 million Albertans who voted Conservative in the last federal election, noting that turnout in referendums can be very low.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a similar argument in a speech in Calgary on June 8. “We don’t need a different country in Alberta, we need different government policies in Ottawa,” he said.
Elections Alberta is preparing for heavy participation. The agency said this week it has received about 290,000 requests for special ballots and that its polling suggests turnout could reach 85 per cent, The Canadian Press reported. Administering the referendum will require at least 60,000 workers, the agency has said.
The surge in mail-in demand has already moved one deadline. Albertans who want a special ballot must now apply by Sept. 25, two weeks earlier than the original Oct. 9 cutoff. Elections Alberta said the change is intended to avoid a rush of last-minute applications and to ensure ballots can be delivered and returned on time, particularly with the Thanksgiving holiday affecting mail service. Completed special ballots must reach the agency by 5 p.m. on Oct. 16.
Advance voting runs Oct. 13 to 17. Polls suggest the vast majority of Albertans want to remain in Canada, The Canadian Press reported, and that support for separation is concentrated on the political right.
