How have the rules changed to facilitate the petition for a LEAVE referendum?
The rules have changed significantly:
Reducing the required number of signatures from 587,952 to 177,731.
increasing the length of time to collect signatures from 90 days to 120 days,
increasing the number of days to fundraise from 90 days to 150 days.
Removing the prohibition against bringing a petition that contravenes constitutionally protected rights.
Removing the prohibition against bringing a petition that is substantially similar to another petition.
Background
The rules respecting petitions are set by the Citizen Initiative Act and the regulations under that Act.
The Starting Position (2021)
This legislation first came into effect in 2021, when the United Conservative Party was in power, led by Jason Kenney. At that time, the rules respecting a constitutional petition (like the petition brought by Mitch Sylvestre for a LEAVE referendum) were quite rigorous.
The threshold number of signatures was equal to 20% of the total number of electors entitled to sign the petition. For a constitutional petition brought after the last provincial election in 2023, that meant the petitioner needed to collect 587,952 signatures province-wide.
In addition to this province-wide requirement, the petitioner had to reach the 20% level in at least 2/3 of all electoral divisions. Effectively, that required significant support for the petition in both urban and rural ridings.
The time-period for collecting signatures and for collecting financial contributions was 90 days from the date the petition was approved by the Chief Electoral Officer.
Only individuals could contribute to the petition campaign.
A petition was prohibited if the effect of the proposal would contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or constitutionally protected Indigenous rights.
A petition was also prohibited under certain circumstances if the Chief Electoral Officer determined that the proposal was the same as or substantially similar to another petition proposal. This became important given the similar subject matter (but opposing positions) of the petitions brought first by Thomas Lukaszuk (STAY) and later by Mitch Sylvestre (LEAVE).
Bill 54 (2025)
The goal posts shifted significantly with Bill 54, which was introduced by the United Conservative Party, led by Danielle Smith and came into force on July 4, 2025.
The province-wide threshold was reduced from 20% of all electors to 10% of the number of electors who cast ballots in the last election. As only 60.5% of electors cast ballots in the 2023 election, the province-wide threshold was reduced dramatically from 587,952 signatures to 177,732 signatures.
The requirement to meet the threshold in at least 2/3 of all electoral districts was eliminated, leaving only the province-wide threshold.
The time-period for collecting signatures and collecting financial contributions was increased from 90 days to 120 days.
Contributions were permitted by trade unions, employee organizations, and corporations, in addition to individuals.
The prohibition against the same or substantially similar petitions was revised.
The Chief Electoral Officer was granted the power to ask the opinion of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta on whether a policy proposal contravened the Charter or constitutionally protected Indigenous rights. The first LEAVE petition application was brought under these revised rules. Shortly after receipt of this application, the Chief Electoral Officer referred to the Court the question whether that petition proposal would contravene the Charter or constitutionally protected Indigenous rights. This matter was heard by Justice Feasby.
Bill 14 (2025)
The rules shifted significantly again with Bill 14, introduced on December 4, 2025, in response to concerns that the Court would rule that the LEAVE proposal was unconstitutional and would therefore be barred under the existing legislation.
Bill 14 called for the repeal of the prohibition on unconstitutional petition proposals, allowing them to proceed even if they contravened the Charter or constitutionally protected Indigenous rights. It also called for the discontinuance of the litigation that was before the Court, effectively preventing the Court from making a ruling on the constitutionality of the proposal. It called for an amendment to the Referendum Act to provide that after a referendum had been held, the government would not be required to implement the proposal set out in the referendum if doing so would contravene constitutionally protected rights. In other words, the issue of contravening constitutionally protected rights would not be dealt with at the beginning of the process, but at the end, after the time and expense involved in both the petition and the referendum process.
The day after Bill 14 was introduced into the legislature and before it had been passed into law, Justice Feasby rendered his decision. He found that the LEAVE proposal contravened the Charter and constitutionally protected Indigenous rights. He also found that the attempt by the government to pre-emptively end the court proceedings was contrary to the rule of law and disrespected the administration of justice. On this basis, the Chief Electoral Officer rejected the LEAVE petition on December 8, 2025.
Bill 14 was passed the following week and came into force on December 11, 2025. In addition to allowing petition proposals to proceed even though they contravened constitutionally protected rights, Bill 14 introduced several other important changes.
It introduced a 30-day “notice of intent” period before the submission of a petition proposal, effectively extending the 120-day period for fundraising to as much as 150 days.
It introduced a requirement to provide identification before signing a petition.
It eliminated the prohibition against substantially similar petitions, like the Forever Canadian petition that had already been successful.
It nullified outstanding petitions and permitted applications to be recommenced under these new rules, without the requirement to pay a new fee. The LEAVE petition was recommenced on December 12, 2026, and was approved by the Chief Electoral Officer on December 22, 2026. The new LEAVE petition was issued on January 2, 2026. The waiver of the fee to commence a new application was particularly important. On December 17, 2025, that fee was increased from $500 to $25,000.
Bill 23 (2026)
The goal posts shifted again with the introduction of Bill 23, which came into force on May 1, 2026 with respect to amendments to the Citizen Initiative Act.
It prohibited submission of a notice of intent to apply for a petition within 12 months before or 12 months after the next fixed election date. It terminated applications in process and petition signing periods falling within that window.
It made provision for scrutineers in the process of validating and counting petition signatures.
It repealed the outside date by which a referendum must be held following a successful policy petition (such as the Forever Canadian petition) and by which a referendum must be held following a successful constitutional petition (such as the LEAVE petition).
Analysis:
It’s extremely doubtful a LEAVE petition could have succeeded under the rules initially in place.
It’s unlikely the petitioner could have gathered the 587,952 signatures required for a constitutional referendum or the required number of signatures in 2/3 of all constituencies in the province. The timeframe for his petition would have been shorter, and the sources of contributions would have been more limited. In fact, the second LEAVE petition attracted only 222,597 verified signatures within the extended timeframe and under the revised fundraising rules, far less than the required number under the initial rules.
These barriers were removed by Bill 54, which came into effect on July 4, 2025. The application for the LEAVE petition was filed that same day.
However, further barriers remained. The proposal in the petition contravened both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and constitutionally protected Indigenous rights. The proposal was also substantially similar to the proposal brought by Thomas Lukaszuk, which was certified as successful by the Chief Electoral Officer on December 1, 2025.
The government sought to remove these remaining barriers and to end the existing litigation on constitutional compliance by introducing Bill 14, on December 4, 2025. However, the decision of the court on the LEAVE petition was rendered and the LEAVE petition was rejected by the Chief Electoral Officer before Bill 14 came into effect. (See our post: What did Justice Feasby decide?)
The petitioner attempted to commence a new petition under these new rules, which also allowed them to avoid paying the significantly enhanced fee of $25,000. However, the court found in May 2026 that the LEAVE petition had already been rejected by the Chief Electoral Officer and therefore it could not be reinstated under the new rules. The court also found that the Chief Electoral Officer erred in approving this petition application because the Crown had failed to meet its duty of consultation with Indigenous peoples impacted by this application and because it was unreasonable to approve a petition to do something that was unconstitutional.
So despite the numerous legislative changes which were advantageous to the separatist petitioners, their first petition was rejected by the Chief Electoral Officer on receipt of an opinion by the court and their second petition was quashed by the court. That decision is now under appeal.