2026 Alberta independence referendum

Petition controversy

After Thomas Lukaszuk's petition drive had begun, on May 25, 2025 the Smith government passed an amendment to the Citizen Initiative Act, which greatly lowered the threshold required for a petition to trigger a referendum.

Stay Free Alberta collected signatures on a petition in support of an independence referendum. They claimed the petition had received 300,000 signatures.^[2] However, some questioned the credibility of this petition, once it was revealed that separatist groups had gained access to the Elections Alberta List of Electors, after the personal information of millions of Albertans appeared in an online database operated by the Centurion Project, another separatist group.^[4][5] The leak has led to allegations that the leaked voter data may have been used for the purposes of forging petition signatures.^[6] (As well, news sources reported that some signatures on the referendum had been collected from people outside Alberta.)^[7]

On May 13, 2026, the Court of King's Bench of Alberta struck down the petition after it was argued that the separatist groups had not properly consulted with Indigenous peoples in Alberta, which was considered to be a constitutional requirement given the implications that separation would have on treaty rights.^[8] Danielle Smith criticized the ruling as being undemocratic, and claimed that a Justin Trudeau appointed judge was undermining the democratic will of Albertans. She also claimed that her government was prepared to utilize the notwithstanding clause to prevent the courts from being able to intervene, despite said clause not actually applying to the sections of the constitution that the court had ruled was violated.^[9] After another judge ruled that Elections Alberta should proceed with signature verification for the separatist petition, in case an appeal of the May 13 ruling was successful, the petition was verified as having received almost 223,000 signatures.^[10]

The petition in support of Alberta remaining in Canada organized by Thomas Lukaszuk was verified by Elections Alberta to have received over 400,000 signatures.^[11][12]

Addition of the question

On May 21, 2026, Smith announced in a televised address that a remain/separate question would be added to the nine questions listed for the October vote.^[13] It incorporated the Thomas Lukaszuk's "Alberta Forever Canada" question, and in order to circumvent the court ruling against a vote on separation, the new referendum question also set out that if the leave vote won, it would not compel the government to seek separation from Canada, but instead would open the door to a subsequent referendum on remaining in Canada or independence. Smith argued that this question in the form of an A or B choice respected the wishes of both the separatist groups and the pro-Canada campaigns, although those on both sides of the debate criticized it.

The final question reads (in the style of a "pick one" choice): Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?

Alleged foreign interference

On October 3, 2026, a Globe and Mail investigation found that political operatives tied to the Republican Party were assisting the campaign for Alberta to secede. The investigation also found that when Alberta separatist leaders went to Washington, D.C., to meet with representatives of the United States Department of State, they were offered access to fresh water and royalties on crude oil.^[14] A few days later, Mitch Sylvestre, chief executive officer of the Alberta Prosperity Project, told the Mail that the office of Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner Anton Boegman contacted him and his group.^[15] The premier of British Columbia, David Eby, called the invitation of foreign interference by the separatist movement "treason" and other Canadian lawmakers called for updating Canadian laws on treason and foreign election interference.^[16][17]

Graphical summary

The following table shows responses to the question posed in the 2026 referendum. Polling on whether Alberta should separate from Canada, rather than on whether a future referendum on separation should be held, can be found in the article on Alberta separatism.