In the home stretch of signature collection, petition originator and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk stopped to rally with volunteers in Medicine Hat.

Lukaszuk has spent the past month on the road, visiting different centres to help collect signatures for the Forever Canadian petition and to rally morale for those who have been hard at work canvassing in their own communities.

He recalled that when beginning his work, many expressed doubt he would be able to get any interest outside Calgary and Edmonton, but this has been far from the case.

“When I started this, I had no idea what I was starting,” said Lukaszuk. “A lot of people were telling me we will probably only get signatures in Edmonton and Calgary. That’s not the case at all.

“As a matter of fact, we received as many signatures in smaller cities and in rural Alberta on a per capita basis as we did in Calgary and Edmonton.”

He estimated that roughly 80 per cent of Albertans are solid Canadians, who, while having issues with other provinces or the federal government, are more than willing to stay within Canada and continue to work to solve any problems as they arise.

He continued that, with roughly one week to go, they are currently on the cusp of the necessary 300,000 signatures. He is cautiously optimistic they will be able to collect the final names they need, as well as what he expects to be an added 10 per cent, to ensure that they still have the necessary number after any ineligible signatures are stricken by Elections Canada.

Overall however, working to collect the needed names has been a very positive experience. He expressed deep gratitude to the volunteers in both Medicine Hat and elsewhere who have been working so hard to bring the petition to residents, as well as everyone who has added their voice to the petition.

“It’s reassuring, because over the last few years, we have lived in such negative times,” said Lukaszuk. “This has somehow emerged into a positive movement that reminds us that we can actually like each other, we can talk to each other and we can have different opinions but still respect each other.”

He anticipates municipal election day will be the best chance for last-minute signatures before the Oct. 28 deadline. Anyone interested in signing before the window of opportunity closes is encouraged to visit forever-canadian.ca/sign-the-petition to find a location, as it cannot be signed online.

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