Alberta's Separation Petition Hearings Delayed

0:00Thomas Lukashuk just dropped off Alberta's biggest petition ever, with over 435,000 signatures pushing for the forever. Canada campaigned to keep the province firmly in Canada. He handed it to elections Alberta on October 28, 2025, after gathering those names in just three months. The new Select Special Citizen Initiative proposal review committee finally kicked off its first meeting this week, almost seven months after the petition got verified, chaired by United Conservative Party MLA Brandon Luntie, it's got a UCP majority that shut down a motion from opposition new Democrats to bring. Lukashuk and right away for questions. Lukashuk called his straight up anti-democratic, saying the government is dodging him to protect their separatist supporters. Opposition MLA Rocky Pancholi accused them of stalling on purpose, especially with another separation petition, possibly hitting the ballot soon. The committee wants technical briefings from justice and elections officials, first, before hearing from folks like Lukashuk. No next meeting day yet and is shot down a push to

1:05wrap up by May 7th, eyeing deadlines like June 8th or more likely November 11th for. They report on whether to refer it to cabinet or referendum. Meanwhile, Albertans could face up to nine referendum questions by May 2nd, including that rival separation push that's already claiming enough. Signatures. This tug of war over unity is heating up and we'll see how the committee plays it from here. That's the story for today. Calgary News Today, driven by AI, I'm Corey with the story.