Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer and co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, posted screenshots of a June 30, 2025 text message he says Premier Danielle Smith sent him by mistake.
The screenshots show a message from a contact labeled “Danielle,” time-stamped 10:50 a.m. It reads, “Told you not to submit before the new rules came in,” and adds that the process must run under the old thresholds. A link to Elections Alberta’s petition page follows, then a line saying she would be curious what “he” does with “yours.” Rath replied that “he” won’t collect the required signatures in 90 days and that the sender obviously meant the text for Thomas Lukaszuk, the former deputy premier who founded the Forever Canadian petition.
According to Rath, Smith answered that she had meant it for him and had told him and “Mitch” to wait for the new rules. The screenshots cut off at “No I meant to send it to.” Rath says Smith never told him to wait and his group was proceeding anyway. He says she texted him regularly before the United Conservative Party’s November 2025 annual meeting.
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Rath claims the text shows Smith working with Lukaszuk to tilt the petition process and the referendum against her own supporters. His post cites no other evidence. He calls Smith “unelectable” whether she is a secret federalist or a secret separatist. His post renders her text as “until the new rules came in”; the screenshot reads “before.”
Lukaszuk applied before the Smith government changed the petition law, so his petition needed about 294,000 signatures within 90 days. The new rules took effect July 4, 2025, cutting the requirement to about 177,000 and extending collection to four months. Mitch Sylvestre, the Alberta Prosperity Project’s CEO, filed the separation question that same day. Lukaszuk said in July 2025 that his lawyers believed the new rules should apply to his petition. Elections Alberta confirmed December 1 that his petition collected 438,568 valid signatures.
No one has independently authenticated the screenshots, and Smith, her office and Lukaszuk have not responded publicly in the reporting at the time of writing.
The Alberta Prosperity Project’s board says it fired Rath, the group’s legal counsel, and Sylvestre for cause on September 14 and removed both as directors on September 24. It announced the decision October 22, three days after the referendum. The notice did not indicate a definite reason and says earlier attempts at a private settlement failed. Rath calls the board’s meetings “imaginary” and says two of its members are not lawfully registered directors. Sylvestre rejects the notice as false.
Read: Alberta Separatist Board Says It Fired Its CEO and Lawyer Five Weeks Before Referendum
Rath is pushing for a leadership review of Smith. Calling a special meeting takes 22 of the party’s 87 local associations, and its annual meeting opens November 27 in Calgary. Smith has ruled out a second separation referendum while she is premier.
Read: Alberta Separatists Target Smith’s UCP Leadership After Referendum Loss
