Overview
- Stay Free Alberta, which delivered boxes of petition sheets Monday to Elections Alberta, says it gathered about 301,000 names—well above the roughly 178,000 needed to force consideration of a referendum question.
- Elections Alberta cannot begin checking the signatures because Justice Shaina Leonard ordered a pause while she weighs a lawsuit from Alberta First Nations who argue a provincial separation vote would breach treaty rights.
- A leaked provincial electors list posted by the Centurion Project spurred an RCMP investigation and a court order that took the public database offline, and officials say they will scan the petition for unique fake names embedded to trace misuse.
- Officials expect a ruling in the coming days that will decide if verification can start, which is required before Premier Danielle Smith can place a separation question on the October referendum slate.
- Polling shows support for independence sits around 20–30 percent across Alberta, and a separate pro‑unity petition had more than 400,000 signatures verified in December.