Voters in Alberta have chosen to remain part of Canada in a first-ever independence referendum.
Canadian state broadcaster CBC News called the results of Monday’s vote late on the same day after 48 percent of the ballots counted showed overwhelming support for the “remain” side, with 76 percent opting to stay with Canada.
The result marks a major win for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is facing a trade and political war with the United States amid US President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs and repeated suggestions of annexing the country.
On his way into a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, Carney called it a “great day.”
“I’m thrilled that Albertans have chosen unity. They’ve chosen to build together. They’ve chosen to continue to take care of each other, to move forward together with purpose,” he said.
But the result also comes as a disappointment for those Albertans seeking independence for the resource-rich region following years of grievances laid at Ottawa’s door.
And while the vote represents a decisive rejection of separation, it may not spell the end for a movement that has spent decades pushing for greater autonomy from the federal government.
Here’s what we know:
What was the referendum about?
The nonbinding referendum was first announced in May following a campaign and petition by a group of Albertans who want to be an independent country.
While only about one-third of Albertans were found to be pro-independence in polls, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith argued in her announcement that a referendum was necessary to respect the 300,000 Albertans who had petitioned officials for it.
In the referendum, voters answered 10 questions, including whether the government should begin a binding process to seek independence from Canada. They also answered questions on immigration, access to provincial services like education, social care and healthcare, and voter identification requirements.
But even if voters had chosen to pursue independence, Alberta would not have automatically separated from Canada. A win for the independence side in a subsequent referendum would have set the stage for complex negotiations between Alberta, the federal government, the other provinces and Indigenous peoples.
Prime Minister Carney had campaigned for Albertans to vote “remain”, saying last week at a rally in Calgary that separation would be “ a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep division”.
“There are some outside our borders who are working to break us so they can own us,” he said.
Researchers have pointed to possible online influence campaigns by both Russian and US entities that helped amplify the call for separation and allegedly shared misleading information. Alberta PM Smith told media in August that the online activity was under observation.
What have the reactions been?
Prime Minister Carney, who grew up in the region, said “Albertans made a clear choice” in a statement he made early on Tuesday.
“They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other,” he said, adding that “Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition.”
Alberta’s Premier Smith said she was pleased to see the results and that “Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada.”
While Smith opposed independence, her decision to hold the referendum gave separatists an opportunity to put their cause in front of voters across the province.
Smith had encouraged voters to vote in favour of the nine other questions on the ballot, which touched on issues like immigration and judicial appointments. Preliminary results showed voters had chosen to support eight of nine of those measures.
The rejection of separation could now allow her government to shift its focus back to demands on those issues and its broader push for greater autonomy for Alberta within Canada.
But separatist leaders made clear they had no intension of abandoning their cause.
At a gathering to watch the results in Edmonton, Jeffrey Rath, a leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, told reporters the push for independence would “absolutely continue.”
“We’ve been educating Albertans on the benefits of independence, and we’re continuing to move forward.”
Cory Morgan, founder of the separatist group Pathway to Independence, wrote on X that “a great base of support for independence has been fostered which isn’t going away,” and called supporters to continue working towards separation.
First Nations groups turned out in strong numbers to vote to remain with Canada, with one southern Alberta polling station in an area home to the Siksika Nation temporarily running out of ballots, local media reported.
Why is Alberta important, and why are there calls for independence?
Many Albertans have long complained that their critical natural resources are funding the government in Ottawa and the commercial hubs of Toronto and Montreal, but that the province does not receive proportionate benefits.
The province, with a population of 5.1 million, holds massive oil deposits. It also holds reserves of critical and rare-earth metals including lithium, titanium and zircon, which are essential for manufacturing many tech items, from smartphones to fighter jets.
Separatist movements, some of which even support Alberta joining the US, go back to the 1940s, following the discovery of oil reserves. Some of Alberta’s premiers have had spats with Ottawa over wealth distribution.
US President Trump has made remarks about Canada becoming a US state in recent months.
Last week, he told a political rally in the US state of Arizona that Canada will “end up being the 51st state, because it’s the only way it works”.
The two countries have been embroiled in a trade war since talks fell apart in August this year and they slapped each other with tit-for-tat tariffs.
Earlier this month, tech billionaire Elon Musk called for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec to separate from Canada, saying “they’d be better off”.
But the matter of Alberta’s independence gained intense scrutiny last year after pro-separatists launched a petition to pressure the government.
Alberta, alongside other western provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, have all complained about “western alienation” by the government in the centre.
Is it over for Alberta’s independence bid?
With separatism agitations running so far back, experts say the referendum will likely not end the movement altogether.
Ahead of the vote, some separatist leaders said they would pursue another referendum if necessary, arguing that the referendum shows that independence is legally possible.
Cory Morgan, founder of the advocacy group Pathway to Independence, said the result did not mean the end of the movement.
“A great base of support for independence has been fostered which isn’t going away,” he wrote on X, calling on supporters to continue working towards separation.