EDMONTON, Alberta — Voters in Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta overwhelmingly supported staying in Canada, with early results from Tuesday’s referendum providing a boost to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push for national unity amid a trade war and threats of annexation from U.S. President Donald Trump.
With more than 1.5 million votes counted, 76 per cent were in favor of remaining in Canada, while nearly 24 per cent were in favor of beginning a process towards separation, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.
The referendum was not a direct vote on independence. The approval would have put Alberta on the path to a future vote on separation from Canada.
“Albertons have made a clear choice,” Carney said. “They chose unity, to build together and care for each other. Above all, Albertans chose Canada.”
Carney said the outcome would allow Canadians to move forward together and accelerate efforts to diversify trade, develop major infrastructure projects and make Canada a global energy power, with Alberta at its center.
Alberta separatists, however, saw a glimmer of hope.
“We don’t have the final results. I think the numbers will fluctuate, but it’s fair to say that at least a quarter of Albertans believe Alberta needs to be treated better,” said Keith Wilson, a leader of the separatist movement.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith welcomed the initial results, saying they demonstrated broad support for remaining in Canada.
“Albertons voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada,” Smith posted on social media.
Smith, who called the referendum under pressure from separatists within the ruling United Conservative Party, or UCP, despite its opposition to independence, said she would address the province Tuesday night about the results and Alberta’s future.
“We are a strong, united country from coast to coast,” Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who led the Forever Canadian campaign against separation, told supporters.
Results were delayed after late openings forced more than 100 polling stations to extend voting hours on Monday.
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Alberta, home to the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, is cowboy country and a conservative stronghold whose political culture has long had more in common with that of the American West than that of much of Canada. Resentment toward Canada’s federal government in Ottawa runs deep, but has not traditionally translated into widespread support for independence.
Despite the proposal’s apparent failure, separatist leaders say they have transformed a fringe cause into a movement that won’t go away.
Carney had earlier urged Albertans to vote decisively for unity.
“Vote like the future of Canada depends on it, because it does,” he said Friday at a rally in Edmonton, where he grew up.
Separatist parties have traditionally attracted only 1 to 2 percent of the vote, said former prime minister Jason Kenney. Anger over Covid-19 restrictions helped mobilize activists who then embraced the separatist movement, he said.
Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state have helped Carney rally support in Alberta, where Liberal premiers have historically been unpopular.
At a nighttime separatist referendum rally at an Edmonton restaurant, the crowd remained silent as the results came in.
“We’re not going anywhere,” said Jeff Rath of the Alberta Prosperity Project. “We have dominated the conversation over the past year. We have educated Albertans about the benefits of independence and we will continue to move forward.”
Rath had said he would be happy if 30 per cent of Albertans voted to begin the separation process. He wants Smith ousted as leader of the ruling United Conservative Party and has said the party could split, potentially creating a new pro-independence party.
Dustin Degenhardt, a Wainwright constituent, said Albertans have long been mistreated by Canada’s federal government.
“Alberta was basically treated like, you know, a colony,” he said after Monday’s vote. “They want to take us again and again, and give us nothing back. »
Dave Malka, 59, of Edmonton, criticized spending money on a “referendum on a referendum” rather than on health care.
As Trump threatens Canada, Malka said: “This seems to be happening at the worst time we should be united; instead, we fight among ourselves. »
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