Former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk spent the last year insisting Albertans needed a referendum on remaining in Canada.

Now, according to a new statement from the Alberta legislature’s Select Special Citizen Initiative Proposal Review Committee, that referendum is moving forward exactly as his campaign demanded.

Committee chair Brandon Lunty announced that the committee has recommended cabinet place a question on the October 19, 2026 provincial referendum ballot “that includes an option for Albertans to vote for Alberta to remain in Canada.”

The committee says Lukaszuk explicitly chose the referendum process when filing the Forever Canada petition with Elections Alberta.

“Mr. Lukaszuk’s application required him to choose how his petition would be decided – either a vote in the Legislature or a referendum – and he explicitly chose a referendum,” the statement reads.

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“The law is also clear: once a citizen initiative reaches the required signature threshold, it proceeds according to that selected path – in this case, to a referendum.”

The release also directly pushes back against recent attempts to suggest Lukaszuk never intended to trigger a referendum campaign.

“This expectation not new,” the committee wrote. “It was promoted from the outset by Mr. Lukaszuk in his launch news release, campaign information, and in multiple media interviews.”

The committee then published a lengthy list of Lukaszuk’s own public statements repeatedly describing his campaign as a referendum effort.

Among them:

“Our referendum question means Albertans can vote YES and affirm their desire to stay Canadian.”

“We will have a referendum in this province.”

“If our question gets approved, I firmly believe that that will be the question on the referendum.”

“The #ForeverCanadian petition and referendum will not be won by money, but they will be won by our love for Canada.”

“We transformed into a referendum campaign force.”

“There will be a referendum.”

“We have to win this referendum.”

The committee also noted Lukaszuk publicly stated: “Yes, I am delighted that she’s using our question as the question that will be on the referendum.”

According to the committee, more than 400,000 Albertans signed the Forever Canada petition, while another reported 301,000 signed the Alberta independence petition.

“Combined with the reported 301,000 who signed the Alberta Independence petition, this means over 700,000 Albertans want – and deserve – the opportunity to have their voices heard in a referendum,” Lunty said.

After spending a year demanding a referendum on Alberta’s future in Canada, Lukaszuk now finds himself confronting the political reality that referendums tend to create exactly the debates they were designed to settle.