Alberta Votes to Remain in Canada, Rejecting the Road to a Separation Vote

Updated 02:35 UTC, Oct 21, 2026. Premier Danielle Smith addressed the province on Tuesday evening and welcomed the result. She said Albertans had voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada. She acknowledged the frustrations of voters who backed the separation path and asked them to believe in Canada again, The Globe and Mail reported. Separatist leaders said the fight is not over. Keith Wilson said at least a quarter of Albertans feel Alberta needs to be treated better, the Associated Press reported. Analysts quoted by the Wall Street Journal said the referendum may have strengthened the movement by giving it a province-wide platform, and the open question now is whether Smith can hold her divided United Conservative Party together. With more than 1.8 million votes counted, the split held at 76 percent for remain and 24 percent for starting the process toward a separation vote, according to unofficial Elections Alberta results.

Updated 17:25 UTC, Oct 20, 2026. The count on the other nine questions is now taking shape, and it points the other way from the separation result. With more than 1.8 million votes counted by Tuesday morning, the remain side held 75.7 percent on the separation question, CBC News reported. On the immigration questions, the yes side led on all four, with support between 55.9 percent and 58.5 percent, according to Global News figures reported by HRD Canada. Those questions cover giving Albertans first priority for new jobs, a 12-month residency wait before people with non-permanent status can use provincially funded social supports, and fees for non-permanent residents using health care and education. Elections Alberta has said the referendum results are not binding, and official results on the other nine questions are due on Wednesday, Oct 21. Premier Danielle Smith is set to address the province at 6:45 p.m. Mountain Time on Tuesday. Business groups said the remain result removes a layer of hiring and investment uncertainty, even as the immigration votes hand Smith the mandate she said she wanted for talks with Ottawa.

Alberta has voted to remain part of Canada. CBC News projected the result early on Tuesday, once the first counts put the remain side far ahead, and unofficial results from Elections Alberta held that lead as the tally passed one million ballots.

With the count still running, about 76 percent of voters had chosen to remain a province of Canada, against about 23 percent who wanted the legal process toward a second, binding referendum on separation to begin. CBC made the call late on Monday, after roughly a third of the vote was in, and the split barely moved as reporting passed 41 percent of polls. Remain led in every part of the province. It cleared 80 percent in Edmonton and Calgary and stayed above 60 percent in parts of rural central Alberta, where support for separation runs strongest.

A late night at the polls

The numbers came late. Voting was extended at 106 places that had opened late on Monday, and the last of them closed at 10 p.m. Mountain Time, more than two hours after the planned finish. CBC reported a strong turnout from First Nations voters, and said one polling station in the area of the Siksika Nation ran out of ballots and stayed open past 10 p.m. so that everyone in line could vote. Turnout had been building for a week: more than 1.35 million Albertans, about 43 percent of eligible voters, cast advance or special ballots before referendum day.

Unity, says Ottawa. A stronger Alberta, says Edmonton

Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the result in a statement. "Albertans made a clear choice," he said. "They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other." He added that "Canada is greater than the sum of its parts." Premier Danielle Smith, who called the referendum but does not support separation herself, said she was "very pleased" that early results showed wide support for remaining in Canada, and that Albertans had voted for a stronger Alberta inside a united Canada. She plans to address the province on Tuesday.

What was actually decided

The separation question was the tenth of ten questions on the ballot, and it was not a direct vote on independence. A win for the other side would only have started a constitutional process toward a binding vote at some later date, and the referendum itself does not bind the provincial government. The other nine questions, covering immigration, access to services such as health care and education, voter identification and constitutional powers, were still being counted, and Elections Alberta has said those results could take days. Official results for the referendum are scheduled for October 29.

The vote closes a campaign that grew out of old grievances: that Alberta's energy wealth props up the rest of the country, that federal climate policy threatens its oil industry, and that its 5.1 million people carry too little weight in Ottawa. The movement grew louder after Carney's Liberals won the 2025 federal election during a trade war with the United States. Carney, who grew up mostly in Alberta, campaigned against the separation path in the final week and called a vote to leave a dangerous bluff. Quebec voters faced their own sovereignty referendums in 1980 and 1995 and chose to stay both times. Separatist leaders said before Monday that a loss would not end their campaign, and Angus Reid polling released on October 16 found 62 percent of Albertans believe the separatist movement will never fully go away.