Alberta residents have voted to remain part of Canada in the province’s first-ever referendum on separation, delivering a significant boost to Prime Minister Mark Carney as he seeks to strengthen national unity during a trade war with the United States.
CBC News, Canada’s government-funded national broadcaster, projected the outcome late Monday after 33% of the ballots had been counted.
At the time of the projection, 76% of counted ballots supported remaining in Canada, while 23% backed moving ahead with a binding vote on separation. The referendum itself was nonbinding.
“Albertans made a clear choice,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement. “They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other.”
“Canada is greater than the sum of its parts,” he added.
Pollsters and analysts had consistently rejected the prospect of a separatist victory, pointing to research showing that roughly one-third of Alberta residents supported holding a future referendum on leaving Canada.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the referendum in May, saying it was “time to have a vote, understand the will of Albertans on this subject, and move on.”
Smith said late Monday on social media that she was “very pleased” by early results indicating broad support for Alberta remaining in Canada.
She said she would address Albertans on Tuesday about the outcome and “where our province goes from here.”
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A small but outspoken separatist movement had spent months advocating for an independent Alberta. Supporters argued that the province’s energy wealth subsidizes less prosperous parts of Canada and that Alberta could be significantly richer without what they describe as interference from Ottawa’s bureaucracy.
At a rally in Calgary last week, Carney warned that leaving Canada would be “a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep division.” He urged Albertans to “vote like Canada depends on it.”
Carney, who spent most of his childhood in Alberta, recognized that many residents have long felt overlooked by Ottawa. He also said his government had approved a proposed new pipeline and emphasized Alberta’s importance in helping Canada reduce its dependence on the United States.
Alberta’s separation referendum follows two earlier votes on independence in Quebec, Canada’s predominantly French-speaking province. Quebecers voted to remain part of Canada in both referendums.
First Nations groups also opposed the prospect of an independent Alberta, noting that their land treaties with Ottawa predate the province’s creation as part of Canada.
CBC News reported strong turnout among First Nations voters. A polling station in southern Alberta, in an area home to the Siksika Nation, temporarily ran out of ballots before remaining open until after 10 p.m. MT (0400 GMT) so that everyone in line could cast a vote.
Even so, Monday’s referendum is unlikely to bring Alberta’s separatist movement to an end. Some separatist leaders said before the vote that they would continue pushing for another referendum even if most Albertans chose to remain in Canada.
According to polling data released October 16 by Angus Reid, 62% of Albertans believe “there will never be an end to the separatist movement” in the province.
The Alberta referendum also featured nine other nonbinding questions on issues including immigration, access to provincial services such as education, social care and healthcare, and voter identification requirements.
Results from those questions were still being reported.
