Thomas Lukaszuk during a stop in Red Deer on Oct. 9, 2025. (rdnewsNOW/Jordan Rein)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19 and Jordan Rein

thomas lukaszuk

‘Forever Canadian’ petition creator says volunteers are reinvigorated ahead of deadline

Oct 9, 2025 | 3:55 PM

The organizer of the Forever Canadian petition, Thomas Lukaszuk, says volunteers were reinvigorated in recent days after confirming they’d hit the 230,000 signature mark.

A former MLA and Alberta deputy premier, Lukaszuk and his big red and white trailer came through central Alberta Thursday en route to Everytown, Alberta.

They need to reach 294,000 signatures by Oct. 28.

“Our volunteers are collecting everywhere. We really don’t know how many extra they’ve collected (since announcing 230,000), but I am reasonably confident we will reach the 300,000 mark,” he said during an interview at his latest Red Deer stop.

That would secure them a referendum question.

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“The support has been overwhelming and rural Alberta has been exceptionally good to us. Red Deer is collecting, on a per capital basis, an amazing number of signatures.”

As he has stated all along, and shown by standing side-by-side with present and former elected officials from across the spectrum, his efforts are proving there is unity across the political landscape among people proud to be Canadian.

“They may be unhappy with one issue or another, and we’ve always had issues with Ottawa, no matter who was the government, but the fact is that separation is not something that, by far, most Albertans want to consider,” he continued.

“I always remind Albertans that the only reason why the Bank of Montreal has its headquarters in Toronto right now, not in Montreal, is because they, like most other large industries, picked up and left Quebec when there was a time of uncertainty.”

He points to Alberta having issues even when Stephen Harper was prime minister, adding Alberta would be mistaken to shoot itself in the foot by going towards separation because it will drive away investment.

“Especially at a time when we’re living in such a turbulent world, where we have to find new alliances, new trading partners, having internal arguments is just not helping us at all. There are processes and ways to negotiate with Ottawa, but this ultimatum card of separatism isn’t helping.”

A schedule of where Lukaszuk and his team will be is at the Forever Canadian website.

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Listen to the Aug. 8, 2025 episode of The Everything Red Deer Podcast, featuring Forever Canadian petition creator Thomas Lukaszuk…