EDMONTON — Stay Free Alberta CEO Mitch Syvelstre told Albertans that his group had secured 301,620 signatures on its petition calling for an Alberta independence referendum as he turned in completed sheets to Elections Alberta officials on Monday. Though unofficial, Stay Free Alberta's total would exceed the required 177,732 signatures to trigger a referendum by 123,888, and Sylvestre says it is because of the hard work of all the canvassers and volunteers who helped them reach their final number. "You guys got us here," Sylestre told a crowd of supporters prior to handing in the sheets. "Understand how important you are and how important you're going to be. You stood in the cold. You got abused. People yelled at you. People yelled at us on the way here." Sylvestre said they consider the over 301,000 signatures official."I don't think there's gonna be 1% attrition on this," Sylvestre told reporters. "Those papers were handled five times. We had to make sure that the canvassers were signed the bottom. We had to make sure everything was on them.".Hundreds of Albertans gathered outside of the Elections Alberta office to watch Sylvester hand in the signed petitions, and rejoiced as they heard the level of support they received."Every last person that signed counted, every last signature, and we all sat through lots of nasty weather, wind, and cold, and snow, and sunshine on the odd day; it was worth every last minute of it," said Mike Schnell, a Stay Free Alberta canvasser who attended the event.Stay Free Alberta's count falls short of Thomas Lukaszuk's Forever Canadian petition by over 136,000 signatures, but Sylvester points out that his group had to go further to verify each signature, and many people were hesitant to sign out of fear of government or social backlash."Some were concerned that having their names recorded can expose them to government penalties or financial consequences, such as frozen bank accounts," Sylevstre wrote in a letter he said he is sending to Premier Danielle Smith."In addition, canvassers frequently faced harassment while carrying out this lawful activity, often without any meaningful consequence, regardless of one's position.".Stay Free Alberta's signature count exceeds the 299,493 votes Mark Carney and the Liberal government received in Alberta during the most recent federal election, underscoring the frustration between Albertans and Ottawa."This process shows that Albertans are engaged, and this is an issue people want to have a say on from all perspectives," Sylvestre wrote in his letter to Smith. "There's been significant interest with discussion and participation demonstrating that this is a matter of province-wide importance.""It also reflects the role of direct democracy, with citizens engaging in the legislative process in a lawful and meaningful way. This effort was about participation in democracy, plain and simple."Stay Free Alberta's petition sits on hold as they and Elections Alberta await a decision by Justice Shaina Leonard, who is determining whether Alberta's Chief Electoral Officer was correct in granting Sylvestre a second petition on Alberta independence after his initial one was dismissed in December.If Leonard allows the petition to move forward, Elections Alberta will begin its own counting and verification process to obtain an official total of the number of Albertans who signed the petition.Elections Alberta's verification process will include additional measures to determine whether names from a copy of Alberta's List of Electors issued to the Republican Party of Alberta ended up on the petition after it was allegedly leaked..Reporters asked Sylvestre on Monday whether Stay Free Alberta had any involvement in the alleged breach of data from Alberta's List of Electors by the independence advocacy group The Centurion Project.Sylvestre said he was approached by The Centurion Project's founder, David Parker, about accessing their database, but he quickly declined."They showed me the app, claiming that it was going to be this wonderful thing," Sylvestre said. "I looked at it for less than a minute, and then I said, 'No, we're not doing this.' And as a consequence of that, it actually fractured our relationship."Sylvestre claimed he and Parker have not talked for "the last couple of weeks."Sylvestre said Monday's events signal the completion of Stay Free Alberta's role in the independence movement, and that he and his team plan to resume operations under the Alberta Prosperity Project banner, which they temporarily shelved to avoid potential petition violations.He said he is unsure whether APP will advocate for an independent Alberta to become a republic or a commonwealth after the referendum, but that they plan to release a document outlining their image for Alberta independence."It's going to be a discussion paper," Sylevestre told reporters. "We're going to have the constitution that we paired as prepared as a discussion paper coming out very shortly."
