Dozens of Albertans gathered outside of the Elections Alberta office in Edmonton for the final count of signatures for the “Alberta Forever Canada Petition.”

Thomas Lukaszuk, former Progressive Conservative deputy premier and the citizen initiative lead, announced Monday that 456,388 signatures were collected to move forward on the referendum question of “do you agree that Albertans should remain in Canada?”

“Albertans have said that they don’t want anything to do with separatism, and they are asking our premier to do the right thing,” Lukaszuk said.

“Friends, when this started, my goal was to reach the required number of signatures, but I never imagined that this will turn into a movement.”

Lukaszuk said he is asking Premier Danielle Smith to ask Alberta MLAs to vote on the issue and

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