Forever Canadian Plans Permanent Office After Alberta Referendum

Forever Canadian will establish a permanent Edmonton office after Alberta’s October 19 referendum, Thomas Lukaszuk says, keeping the campaign organization ready to oppose another separatist push while seeking dialogue with some of its supporters.

In an interview with Energi Media’s Markham Hislop, Lukaszuk said the organization is closing its campaign offices in Edmonton and Calgary but will maintain a presence in the provincial capital.

“We’re ready to do a rematch if there is one,” he said of another referendum.

Lukaszuk credited more than 18,000 volunteers with sustaining what he described as an 18 month campaign across the province. He said he had never encountered comparable mobilization in his experience running and managing election campaigns.

He also thanked First Nations for their participation, describing their voter turnout as unprecedented. His account emphasized a coalition that brought people from different political parties together around keeping Alberta in Canada.

Petition Dispute

Lukaszuk sharply disputed Premier Danielle Smith’s effort, as described in the interview, to assign him responsibility for the referendum. He said his petition was filed under the legislative policy provision, rather than the referendum provision.

“I wanted this issue to be resolved with a vote in the legislature,” he said.

According to Lukaszuk, he repeated that position before an all party legislative committee, where UCP members supported proceeding to a referendum. He said Smith ultimately set aside both his petition and the separatist petition and drafted the referendum’s questions herself.

Lukaszuk argued that a legislative vote would have exposed divisions over separatism within the governing caucus. That was his explanation for the government’s decision to proceed with a public vote.

He accused Smith of misrepresenting his campaign and said she should accept responsibility for the referendum. His criticism connected the dispute over the petition to broader concerns about honesty and accountability in provincial leadership.

An Opening For Different Politics

Lukaszuk said conversations during the campaign revealed dissatisfaction with both the UCP and the NDP. Some longtime conservative voters told him they no longer wanted to support the UCP but would not vote NDP, he said. He also encountered NDP supporters reluctant to support either party.

“It seems like Albertans are not happy with their legacy parties and are looking for something different, something more centrist, something more pragmatic,” he said.

He pointed to cooperation inside Forever Canadian as an example of people from different parties working together. Hislop questioned whether fatigue with culture wars would be sufficient to weaken the populist movement influencing Alberta politics.

Lukaszuk said the organization would remain prepared for another referendum, although he hoped Albertans would not face one. He also identified a group of separatist supporters he believes can be reached through constructive discussion: people who wanted to send a political message but are not firmly committed to leaving Canada.

That outreach will be part of his work as Forever Canadian moves beyond the immediate campaign. The permanent office would give the organization a continuing base for the vigilance and constructive public dialogue he described, even as its temporary campaign operation winds down after the referendum.