Alberta Votes to Stay in Canada, Rejecting Separation Path
Unofficial results showed about three-quarters of Albertans voting to remain in Canada in Monday's referendum. CBC projected the remain side had won before the counting was done.
Alberta voted to stay in Canada on Monday. The CBC projected late Monday night that voters rejected the proposal to begin the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation, calling the result before the count was finished.
Unofficial results posted by Elections Alberta showed about three-quarters of ballots counted backed remaining a province of Canada, with about one-quarter voting to begin the process toward a separation vote. More than a million votes had been counted by early Tuesday, and the count was still underway.
It was the last question on the ballot. Question 10 asked: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?” The vote was non-binding. Premier Danielle Smith announced it in May.
Monday’s vote was the first plebiscite of its kind in Canada since the 1995 Quebec referendum. The results ran late. About 106 polling stations opened late on Monday, and no results could be released until every station had closed. The last one, Edmonton’s Westminster School, shut its doors at 10 p.m. Mountain time, two hours after polls were scheduled to close. Question 10 was counted first at every station.
Turnout was heavy. Roughly 1.4 million Albertans had already cast advance or special ballots before referendum day, and some polling stations ran out of ballots. In Maskwacis, Elections Alberta sent couriers with more. One polling station in an area home to the Siksika Nation stayed open past 10 p.m. so everyone in line could vote.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the result means “Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition.” He called Canada “so much greater than the sum of its parts.” Carney, who grew up in Alberta, had called the referendum a “dangerous bluff” and urged voters to reject it.
Smith said late Monday she was “very pleased” with the result, adding that Albertans had voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada. She has cautioned against “demonizing” independence supporters. Thomas Lukaszuk, the former Alberta politician who founded the pro-unity Forever Canadian movement, told a cheering crowd: “Canada is not up for grabs.”
Separatists said the vote was not the end. “Tonight isn’t the finish line. We’ve awoken something in this province and that spirit isn’t going anywhere,” said Mitch Sylvestre of the Alberta Prosperity Project. Keith Wilson of Let Alberta Decide said the attention the referendum generated was itself a victory, pointing to the turnout.
The campaign drew attention beyond Canada’s borders. Separatist leaders met with members of President Donald Trump’s administration to seek support, and Elon Musk urged Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec to separate in a post on X, CNN reported. The Globe and Mail reported that Republican operatives assisted top separatist leaders with their independence bid. In a speech in Calgary last week, Carney said: “The world has become more dangerous and divided. Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.”
Elections Alberta will announce the official results on Oct. 29. The nine other questions on the ballot, covering immigration policy and other issues, are still being counted.
