Latest news with #Lukaszuk
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Petition for referendum to ensure Alberta remains in Canada approved by Elections Alberta
A petition asking people if they believe Alberta should remain in Canada is now rolling out across the province. Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure said in a news release Wednesday that Albertans can now begin signing the petition for the "Alberta Forever Canada" citizen initiative. The petition asks: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada? Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Progressive Conservative deputy premier in Alberta, submitted the petition in June and has made it clear that this initiative is an attempt to foil any plans for Alberta separatism. The Elections Alberta website said Albertans who are eligible to vote can use citizen initiative petitions to have a policy proposal introduced in the legislative assembly or to have a constitutional referendum conducted. However, the signature threshold for Lukaszuk's petition will be higher than any other future citizen initiative petition in the province. Since Lukaszuk's petition was submitted before the signature threshold for citizen-initiated referendums to get to ballots was lowered to 177,000 in early July, his petition will need to collect around 294,000 signatures from eligible voters over a 90-day period. The increased figure represents 10 per cent of the total number of all eligible voters, based on figures from the 2023 provincial election. For the petition, only original physical signatures will be considered valid, and a registered canvasser must witness each signature and swear an affidavit stating to the best of their knowledge the individual who signed was eligible to do so. Lukaszuk's application states that he wanted the petition because he believes the majority of Albertans "are loyal Canadians opposed to any form of separation." "Separation will threaten the Canadian as well as the Alberta economy, the personal wealth of [Albertans], the Canadian citizen rights of Alberta residents, the treaty rights of our First Nations, and have many other serious and negative consequences," Lukaszuk said on his petition application to Election Alberta. A competing pro-separation referendum question is currently before the courts to review its constitutionality. The proposed referendum question, submitted by Alberta resident Mitch Sylvestre, seeks a yes or no answer to the following: "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?" Sylvestre, who submitted the question, is an executive with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group that has been touring the province promoting independence. If approved, this referendum would have 120 days to collect the necessary number of signatures under the new provincial rules.
a day ago
- Politics
Petition for referendum to ensure Alberta remains in Canada approved by Elections Alberta
A petition asking people if they believe Alberta should remain in Canada is now rolling out across the province. Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure said in a news release Wednesday that Albertans can now begin signing the petition for the Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative. The petition asks: Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada? Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Progressive Conservative deputy premier in Alberta, submitted the petition in June and has made it clear that this initiative is an attempt to foil any plans for Alberta separatism. The Elections Alberta website said Albertans who are eligible to vote can use citizen initiative petitions to have a policy proposal introduced in the legislative assembly or to have a constitutional referendum conducted. However, the signature threshold for Lukaszuk's petition will be higher than any other future citizen initiative petition in the province. Since Lukaszuk's petition was submitted before the signature threshold for citizen-initiated referendums to get to ballots was lowered to 177,000 in early July, his petition will need to collect around 294,000 signatures from eligible voters over a 90-day period. The increased figure represents 10 per cent of the total number of all eligible voters, based on figures from the 2023 provincial election. For the petition, only original physical signatures will be considered valid, and a registered canvasser must witness each signature and swear an affidavit stating to the best of their knowledge the individual who signed was eligible to do so. Lukaszuk's application states that he wanted the petition because he believes the majority of Albertans are loyal Canadians opposed to any form of separation. Separation will threaten the Canadian as well as the Alberta economy, the personal wealth of [Albertans], the Canadian citizen rights of Alberta residents, the treaty rights of our First Nations, and have many other serious and negative consequences, Lukaszuk said on his petition application to Election Alberta. A competing pro-separation referendum question is currently before the courts to review its constitutionality. The proposed referendum question, submitted by Alberta resident Mitch Sylvestre, seeks a yes or no answer to the following: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada? Sylvestre, who submitted the question, is an executive with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group that has been touring the province promoting independence. If approved, this referendum would have 120 days to collect the necessary number of signatures under the new provincial rules. Cameron MacCuish (new window) · CBC News · Associate Producer Cameron MacCuish is an associate producer for CBC Edmonton. You can reach him at
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Elections Alberta approves petition seeking referendum on Alberta remaining in Canada
Article content Once the campaign is launched, Lukaszuk said to expect volunteers to be at public events across the province over the rest of the summer, listing farmers markets, rodeos, and festivals as examples along with traditional door-knocking. Article content He said he has support from service clubs, religious congregations, ethnic groups, and labour unions while also expecting some candidates for October's municipal elections to also solicit signatures as part of their campaigns. Article content 'We will do everything to make sure that this petition is available to anyone who wants to sign it.' Article content Signatures must be from eligible electors who are required to provide their name and address as well as a physical signature. Article content Those signatures must be gathered and witnessed by registered canvassers who agree to a code of conduct issued by McClure's office. Article content Lukaszuk's petition was approved under the old guidelines that the province has since loosened to require 116,244 fewer signatures in 120 days. Article content Article content 'Profound impact on all Albertans' Article content Earlier this week, Premier Danielle Smith and and Justice Minister Mickey Amery had encouraged McLure to sign off on a rival petition for a separation referendum that seeks to ask: 'Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?' Article content McLure referred that question to the courts for their opinion on if the question violates the Constitution and the federal Clarity Act. The Alberta government's own law which forbids two questions on the same topic, and Lukaszuk's petition was submitted to Elections Alberta first. Article content Although I believe in Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada, Minister @mickeyamery is right. Albertans have a democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process. They shouldn't be slowed down by bureaucratic red tape or court applications. — Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) July 29, 2025 Article content Article content 'We encourage Elections Alberta to withdraw its court reference and permit Albertans their democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process,' Amery posted to social media. Article content In a statement, McLure noted the questions has 'the potential to have profound impact on all Albertans' and rejected the call from Smith and Amery to approve the second petition. Article content 'In seeking the opinion of the court, the Chief Electoral Officer is fulfilling his duty under the Citizen Initiative Act in an independent, neutral and non-partisan manner,' it reads. Article content
Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Elections Alberta approves petition seeking referendum on Alberta remaining in Canada
Article content Once the campaign is launched, Lukaszuk said to expect volunteers to be at public events across the province over the rest of the summer, listing farmers markets, rodeos, and festivals as examples along with traditional door-knocking. Article content He said he has support from service clubs, religious congregations, ethnic groups, and labour unions while also expecting some candidates for October's municipal elections to also solicit signatures as part of their campaigns. Article content 'We will do everything to make sure that this petition is available to anyone who wants to sign it.' Article content Signatures must be from eligible electors who are required to provide their name and address as well as a physical signature. Article content Those signatures must be gathered and witnessed by registered canvassers who agree to a code of conduct issued by McClure's office. Article content Lukaszuk's petition was approved under the old guidelines that the province has since loosened to require 116,244 fewer signatures in 120 days. Article content Article content 'Profound impact on all Albertans' Article content Earlier this week, Premier Danielle Smith and and Justice Minister Mickey Amery had encouraged McLure to sign off on a rival petition for a separation referendum that seeks to ask: 'Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?' Article content McLure referred that question to the courts for their opinion on if the question violates the Constitution and the federal Clarity Act. The Alberta government's own law which forbids two questions on the same topic, and Lukaszuk's petition was submitted to Elections Alberta first. Article content Although I believe in Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada, Minister @mickeyamery is right. Albertans have a democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process. They shouldn't be slowed down by bureaucratic red tape or court applications. — Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) July 29, 2025 Article content Article content 'We encourage Elections Alberta to withdraw its court reference and permit Albertans their democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process,' Amery posted to social media. Article content In a statement, McLure noted the questions has 'the potential to have profound impact on all Albertans' and rejected the call from Smith and Amery to approve the second petition. Article content 'In seeking the opinion of the court, the Chief Electoral Officer is fulfilling his duty under the Citizen Initiative Act in an independent, neutral and non-partisan manner,' it reads. Article content
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
‘Tweet others as you wish to be tweeted' — or not
Editor's Note: Following is the first story in a series on social media roles, effects and strategies in politics and public life, especially at the provincial level in Alberta. A former Alberta cabinet minister and deputy premier, Thomas Lukaszuk regularly comments online — sometimes bitingly — about the news and politics of our times. But he strives to adhere to a doctrine carved into a wooden plaque that somehow came into his possession, perhaps as a gift: 'Tweet others as you wish to be tweeted,' it reminds him. 'I often ask myself: how would I receive the message I'm posting?' says Lukaszuk, the member for Edmonton-Castle Downs from 2001 to 2015 under the old Progressive Conservatives. 'The person it's aimed at should know that I know more than I'm tweeting,' he says. 'That I'm actually holding back, that I'm being kind as I try to get a point across.' Now the CEO and a partner with Canadian Halal Financial Corporation, Lukaszuk is in the news these days for his Forever Canadian campaign and referendum initiative. Forever Canadian aligns him against Albertans who in the past may well have supported the Progressive Conservatives, back when it was the dominant party in a right-leaning province. But even in the stormy waters of Alberta's renewed conversation about separation, Lukaszuk does his best to keep things from being personal or angry. And foul language? That's a hard no in the tiny part of the social media universe Lukaszuk can control — his own image and his own voice. THE STATE OF THE SOCIALS Not so careful or self-restrained are untold millions of others. And their negative effects on elected officials and democracy itself are only starting to be measured and understood — even though by some definitions social media is nearly three decades old. Commentary that's threatening, abusive and often anonymous shows no signs of tapering off. Self-regulation from major players is limited at best and their processes are often opaque. Major platforms have scaled back content controls. Complicating matters is that they limit the data they make available to organizations like the Samara Centre for Democracy, says Alex MacIsaac, senior research coordinator with the organization. 'Recent changes in digital platform trust-and-safety approaches indicate that the state of social media will continue to worsen,' MacIsaac says. Several platforms have changed community guidelines to remove user protections, and Samara has also noted layoffs of 'massive portions of their trust-and-safety departments.' Cofounded by Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan in 2007, Samara bills itself as Canada's leading non-partisan organization focused on strengthening and protecting Canadian democracy. Among its initiatives is a machine learning system called SAMbot that sorts tweets during election campaigns. 'The largest challenge we've faced as researchers on this topic is access to social media data,' MacIsaac asserts. 'Major platforms have always been largely uncooperative with civil society's appetite for access to even simple social media data, and in recent years platforms have become even more restrictive in terms of what's accessible and who can access data from them for public interest research.' F-BOMBS AND MORE But it doesn't take long for anyone with the internet and a search engine to find abusive and threatening content attached to major political names. When Lukaszuk tweeted that it's 'time to shut that down' in reference to separatism in Alberta, one commenter responded: 'Canada is a socialist [expletive] and you can [expletive] off.' Another time on X, the former Twitter, Lukaszuk was called 'fascist scum' for saying two Freedom Convoy participants would look good wearing orange, an apparent allusion to prison garb. Meanwhile, sitting members in Lukaszuk's old haunt deal with a barrage of online abuse, regardless of their side of the floor. Adriana LaGrange, who once had a rock thrown through the window of her Red Deer-North constituency office, is a former education minister and now the minister of primary and preventative health services. 'Address the measles crisis, you [expletive] idiot' is a recent X reply to a LaGrange post. Said another X user: 'You are vertically and mentally challenged. Just resign.' What LaGrange's height has to do with anything wasn't made clear. Another comment hints at personal repercussions for LaGrange because of her handling of health care. 'Life has a funny way of evening things out you ghoul.' Replying to a LaGrange tweet about seeking input from health workers on branding a new provincial health corporation, an X user wrote: 'Can you just [expletive] off already grifter? You will go down in history as being the single [expletive] Health Minister in Alberta. What an absolute [expletive] piece of [expletive] human being you are.' LaGrange's office did not respond to multiple Macleod Gazette requests for an interview. In fact no elected members of the UCP agreed to take part in this series, after the paper made requests to specific members and an overall request through the premier's office. A PERSONAL TOLL Nasty comments aren't reserved for members of the ruling party. And members of the LGBTQ-plus community, as well as anyone who stands up for them, always attract spikes in abusive commentary, multiple studies have noted. On Reddit, a legacy post calls Brooks Arcand-Paul a pile of excrement. The member for Edmonton-West Henday, a gay Indigenous man, has also been called a cuck – a derogatory term derived from cuckhold that's taken on a life of its own on the internet. And he's been told on Reddit to 'get stuffed.' Posts like those take a personal toll, says Arcand-Paul, the NDP's critic for Indigenous relations. Threats, dehumanization and expressions of anger can be emotionally devastating, especially when they combine with the ups and downs of their target's personal life. But Arcand-Paul insists he was not naïve about what lay ahead when he decided to run for office. He remembers schoolyard banter in Morinville, near his home community of Alexander First Nation in northcentral Alberta. 'I was not, you know, misled,' says Arcand-Paul, who ran successfully in Alberta's 2023 general election. 'I knew racism and homophobia were omnipresent in interactions, in jokes, in off-the-cuff remarks. But it was never direct. It was never hurtful. And it was never like there was violence attached to it.' Inspired by the rise of Rachel Notley and the NDP on the provincial scene, Arcand-Paul relocated his emerging legal career from Toronto in 2017. The University of Alberta graduate had finished law school in Ontario and articled with the province's Ministry of the Attorney General. Before seeking office in Alberta, he entered private practice. Twice he worked directly as counsel for individual First Nations, one of them his own. One stretch of public derision over a statement he made in the legislature meshed with private pain — a cousin had been shot dead by police — to put him 'in a really dark place,' Arcand-Paul admits. The noise was amplified by mainstream media stories and opinion pieces. So he closed his X account. Today, support staff assist him in monitoring posts and shielding him from the more egregious comments that make the digital rounds. He carefully curates the platforms he does use to protect himself, his friends and his colleagues. Among the people he turned to for advice was Janis Irwin, an NDP colleague more experienced in government and public life. Queer and female, Irwin doesn't shield herself from the digital world, where her feeds are a mix of her private and public personas. 'I love telling other politicians and people getting started, don't do what Janis Irwin does,' quips the provincial member for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, 'because I do my own social media.' Next time: more about individual approaches to social media and the statistical story in Alberta and beyond. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? 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