Voters in Canada’s Alberta province have overwhelmingly rejected a referendum to start the process toward independence, according to early results.
With more than one million votes counted as of early Tuesday morning, around 77 percent supported remaining in Canada, and 23 percent voted for starting the process of separation, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.
The vote was not a direct independence referendum—it instead asked Albertans whether they should remain part of Canada, or hold a binding referendum on separation.
The initial results are a boost for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has repeatedly clashed with President Donald Trump this year amid his trade war and annexation threats.
“This is not a game. This is not poker—a vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff,” Carney said at a rally in Edmonton on Friday.
Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, welcomed the results in a statement in the early hours of Tuesday, saying that “Albertans chose Canada” and “chose unity.”
“While votes on all questions continue to be tallied, tonight’s results on the defining question of separation mean that Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition,” he said.
“We are building that future, bigger and faster than ever before. Canada is securing new trade partners around the world, fast-tracking major, nation-building projects in every part of the country, and unleashing our full potential as a global energy superpower with Alberta at its core,” Carney said.
Alberta’s premier Danielle Smith wrote on X: “I’m very pleased to see the initial results from Elections Alberta show widespread support for remaining in Canada. Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada.”
She said she would address the province live on Tuesday evening to discuss the results and Alberta’s future.
Smith had called the referendum under pressure from separatists within her governing United Conservative Party.
Oil and Autonomy Drive Alberta’s Separatist Push
The separatist movement in Alberta has gained traction in recent years amid longstanding resentment in the oil-rich province over federal environmental policies and what some see as too much control from Ottawa.
Alberta is estimated to be home to the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves, after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The separatist movement was emboldened by protests against restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which mobilized a network of anti-government activists, some of whom later became prominent in the movement.
Jeff Rath, one of the separatist leaders, decried Ottawa’s overreach while speaking to Canada’s Global News as the results were coming in, and said federal policies were “continuing to destroy the economy of this province.”
“If we keep all of the money that we currently send to Ottawa in Alberta for the benefit of people in Alberta,” life in the province would be “substantially better,” he said.
Rath said the separatist movement would now focus on ousting Smith as leader.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, Matthew Robinson and Tony Phillips.
Source: www.newsweek.com
