With just over a month to go before Albertans vote on their province’s future in Canada, the man heading a prominent unity organization says people are just as passionate about the cause as ever.
“We’ve been all over the eastern part of the province,” said Thomas Lukaszuk, former Alberta MLA and deputy premier. “That’s all I do, I’m on the road five days a week.”
Lukaszuk has been travelling all over the province in recent days, having stopped in Cold Lake, Vegreville, and Lloydminster, before returning to Edmonton, where the Forever Canadian campaign is based.
Lukaszuk was also in Banff, where he met with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who spent his formative years in Alberta.
“Wonderful meeting with him, and then he met with our volunteers. He thanked all the volunteers across the province for the great work they’re doing, just promoting Canadian unity,” said Lukaszuk.
The stop in Vegreville also brought another special guest, former premier Ed Stelmach, who previously represented the Vegreville area in the Alberta legislature.
Lukaszuk, who was an MLA in Stelmach’s government and deputy premier in the succeeding Redford government, said it was good to have his old boss join him on the road.
“When he comes out, people take a lot of comfort in knowing a former Progressive Conservative premier is behind unity and supporting Canadian unity in these very difficult times,” said Lukaszuk. “People love him, he’s Steady Eddie.”
This from Lukaszuk comes as polling continues to show that a strong majority of Albertans are committed to staying in Canada in the upcoming referendum on Oct. 19.
The question about Alberta’s future in Confederation is just one of 10 questions being posed to the electorate, with the other nine focusing on constitutional and immigration reform.
Lukaszuk’s words also come as the province’s independently commissioned report on the economic effects of separation was released. The report details that an independent Alberta could see a GDP increase of 3.4 per cent, if all goes perfectly. However, the difficult scenario highlighted in the report shows Alberta could see a significant decrease in its GDP, a 16.4 per cent drop over a 20-year period.
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David Boles, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette.