An Alberta petition to trigger a referendum on independence from Canada, driven in part by a belief that the government in Ottawa hasn’t done enough to accelerate projects to expand oil production, reached a deadline for signatures on Saturday. | BLOOMBERG

Alberta, the major oil-producing province of Canada, is one step closer to a referendum on independence after leaders of a separatist group said they’ve gathered more than enough signatures to force a vote.

The group, Stay Free Alberta, had until May 2 to collect roughly 178,000 signatures on their petition for a provincewide vote.…