‘This is overwhelming’: Alberta separatists praise turnout for petition signing

There was a huge turnout in Red Deer on Wednesday as supporters of Alberta's independence lined up to sign a petition calling for a referendum on Alberta's separation from Canada.

If crowd size is to be believed, the idea of Alberta separating from Canada is gaining momentum as a large crowd of supporters attended a meeting on the proposal in Red Deer Wednesday evening.

The organizers, a group called Stay Free Alberta, are attempting collect enough signatures on a petition calling on the provincial government to hold a referendum on separation.

To be successful, they need to collect about 177,000 signatures by May 2, of which 10 per cent must be eligible voters from the last provincial election.

The signatures must then be validated by the province’s Chief Electoral Officer, before the petition can be presented to the Alberta government.

The media was not allowed into Wednesday’s meeting, not allowed to shoot video of anyone signing the petition and none of the organizers on site would agree to be interviewed.

However, others who spoke off the record claimed some people waited in line for up to three hours to sign the petition.

Anger with the federal government appeared to be the motivation for most of those who did agree to speak with Global News.

“It’s been an abusive relationship for so long. I just think most of us just want out,” said James Dunsmuir. “We’re just tired of being taken advantage of by the east.  A lot of our money goes east and not a lot comes back and we’re not treated very well out east and I think we’d just be better off ruling ourselves.”