Thomas Lukaszuk, the former deputy premier who founded the Forever Canadian petition, accused Premier Danielle Smith of helping separatists with their petition and posted screenshots of the text that Jeffrey Rath released this week.
Lukaszuk began with a denial on X, writing that Smith “was never in any form of contact” with him. In a follow-up post, he said a United Conservative Party cabinet minister called him in June 2025 to say Smith planned to relax the petition rules for separatists, which is why he filed first under the existing rules. He then told Smith that her minister’s leak was true and that the minister is still in cabinet. “You collaborated with Jeff Rath and Mitch Sylvestre and helped with their separatist petition,” he wrote.
He did not say who the minister was and did not cite any evidence beyond the screenshots. Smith and her office have not publicly responded at the time of writing.
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The screenshots show a June 30, 2025 message from a contact labeled “Danielle” that reads, “Told you not to submit before the new rules came in,” and adds that the process must run under the old thresholds. A second line says she would be curious what “he” does with “yours.” Rath replied that “he” will not collect the required signatures in 90 days and that the sender obviously meant the text for Lukaszuk. Rath reads that as proof Smith was working with Lukaszuk, while Lukaszuk reads the same text as proof she helped Rath and Sylvestre.
Read: Rath Posts Screenshots of Text He Says Danielle Smith Meant for Lukaszuk on Petition Rules
Elections Alberta approved Lukaszuk’s application June 30, 2025, the day of the text. He filed under the old rules, which required about 294,000 signatures in 90 days. The new rules, in force July 4, lowered that to about 177,000 over 120 days. Sylvestre, then CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, filed the separation question that day. Lukaszuk’s petition went on to draw 438,568 valid signatures, according to Elections Alberta.
Read: Alberta Separation Referendum Question Approved by Elections Agency
The dispute also touches Question 10 on the referendum. Smith has said Lukaszuk’s petition pushed her to put the separation question on the ballot, a claim CTV has been fact-checking, but Lukaszuk says the question is the premier’s, not his.
