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People browse merchandise at the Whistle Stop Cafe’s Albertans’ Day Rally in Mirror, Alta., on Canada Day.Sarah B. Groot/The Globe and Mail
Alberta independence boosters are planning to rally outside the legislature today ahead of festivities marking the province’s 121st birthday.
Seven weeks away from the province’s separation referendum, the Alberta Prosperity Project says all Albertans are welcome at its “gathering for a province in peril.”
The group filed a petition earlier this year pushing for a referendum question asking if Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada and become an independent state.
Premier Danielle Smith has called a vote for Oct. 19, but her ballot will instead ask Albertans whether the province should remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.
The United Conservative Party premier has said she’s voting for the province to stay, and that hundreds of thousands of Albertans signed petitions in support of either separation or staying in Confederation.
Smith says Alberta could have a binding referendum on secession in early 2027
She said their voices deserve to be heard.
Petitioners on both sides have pushed back against Smith’s approach.
Separatist leader Jeffrey Rath is scheduled to speak at the rally Saturday in Edmonton.
He has accused Smith of betraying separatist UCP members, misleading Albertans and undermining the province’s interests in Ottawa.
Rath, in a social media post Friday, invited Albertans to bring their friends to the event.
“Albertans are rising up against Smith’s appeasement and grovelling to (Prime Minister Mark) Carney and her failure to protect Alberta sovereignty,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, Smith appeared to walk back suggestions she made at recent UCP town halls that she could call a binding referendum as early as next spring. She said she’s still examining how quickly the province could do so.
“We also have legislation that says that you can’t hold a referendum within a year of a general election,” she said Wednesday.
Alberta’s general election is scheduled to be held next October.
While separatist supporters push for Smith to quickly hold a binding vote, others, including Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, have called for the fall referendum to be put off or kiboshed.
Earlier this week, Thomas Lukaszuk, organizer of the pro-federalist Forever Canadian petition to keep Alberta in Canada, called for Smith to defer the vote in light of the trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Lukaszuk said he was writing on behalf of the more than 400,000 Albertans who signed his petition.
“We submit that this is not the time for unnecessary domestic conflict; this is the time for Albertans to stand together with our fellow Canadians and collectively rally against this unprecedented economic threat,” Lukaszuk wrote.
As the referendum nears, many of the two dozen third-party advertisers registered for the referendum will be looking to rally supporters and garner public attention.
The NDP is planning a “Vote for Canada” rally in Calgary, also on Saturday.
Smith is also set to speak at an Alberta Day event in Calgary on Sunday.
Music, barbecues and beer gardens are planned for Sunday across Alberta, including at the legislature, in advance of Alberta Day on Tuesday.
Alberta officially became a Canadian province on Sept. 1, 1905.