Voters in Alberta have overwhelmingly rejected moving towards its independence from Canada, with nearly three-quarters of them choosing to keep the western province inside the confederation.
Residents hit the polls Monday to decide on a province-wide referendum that included a question about Alberta's future as part of Canada. The vote wasn't specifically about independence, but on whether Alberta should remain in Canada or take the first step toward a future referendum on independence.
Alberta votes to remain part of Canada, rejects independence https://t.co/EktybALJ9J https://t.co/1a3p7Rf38O
— New York Post (@nypost) October 20, 2026
According to the unofficial results released by Elections Alberta, roughly 76 percent of voters chose to remain a province of Canada. The official results are expected on October 29.
The vote is a result of the Alberta separatist movement, which has been fueled by long-standing tensions toward Ottawa over issues like energy policy, taxation, and what supporters of independence apparently view as an increasingly hostile relationship with the federal government.
Those supporters were able to gather 279,337 valid signatures to get Monday's referendum before voters – easily clearing the 177,732 names required under the province's law.
The defeat might not mean the end of Alberta's separatist movement, however.
Jeffrey Rath, co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project, said after the vote that supporters of independence would turn their attention toward Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party. Rath's argument is that Alberta will never become independent if that party remains under Smith's "avowed federalist" leadership.
For now, though, Alberta remains definitively a part of Canada.