Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who circulated a petition to make it official policy for the province to stay in Canada, says it has more than 456,000 signatures.

The final tally is far greater than the required 294,000 signatures to initiate a possible referendum in Alberta.

The "Forever Canadian" petition started as a counter to separatists who want a referendum on Alberta independence and asks: "Do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?"

"The number of signatures don't surprise me because I know that the vast majority of Albertans are proud Canadians," Lukaszuk told reporters on Tuesday.

"And even though we were working under the old rules, which means truncated period of time, only 90 days, I knew that we will get those signatures."

Lukaszuk has sa

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