Eight days after Bill 54 received royal assent and the signature threshold for a citizen initiative petition was reduced, an independence referendum petition application was made to Elections Alberta.
According to social media posts by Jeffrey Rath, whose law firm is listed as the media contact for the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), Mitch Sylvestre filed an independence referendum petition application with Elections Alberta on behalf of the APP on May 23.
Mitch Sylvestre was unavailable for an interview before the press deadline but committed to speaking with Lakeland This Week at a later date.
In an e-mailed statement, a spokesperson for Elections Alberta said “at this time there are no approved applications. Elections Alberta is legislatively prohibited from commenting on any Citizen Initiative applications we may or may not have received.”
According to the Elections Alberta website, once an application is made, the Chief Electoral Officer may consult with the applicant, provide advice and assistance “as to the form and substance of the proposal,” or seek the opinion of the Court “as to whether the proposal is within the jurisdiction of the legislature.”
Once the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied the applicant has met all requirements, the applicant is notified, and a “Notice of Initiative Petition” is published on the Elections Alberta website for 30 days.
After the publication period, the petition is issued, along with the dates for the signing period and the number of signatures that need to be collected for the petition to be successful.
With the changes made in Bill 54, the threshold for a successful petition was lowered from 20 per cent in two thirds of all ridings to 10 per cent of all voters in the last general election and the time for collecting signatures was extended from 90 days to 120 days.
According to Elections Alberta, until Bill 54 is proclaimed as law, they follow the current legislation, and a petition submitted on May 23 would be bound by the current legislation, meaning the higher number of signatures needed, and 90 days to collect them.
According to the Alberta Prosperity Project’s website, the APP is a non-profit group working towards “Alberta’s independence, whether within or outside Canada.”
Their “road map to sovereignty” includes an Alberta pension plan, financial autonomy, replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force, control over natural resources, and control over immigration.
The current division of powers between federal and provincial governments already gives Alberta control over natural resources within its borders and shared control over immigration.
