EDMONTON — Albertans head to the polls today for an historic vote on whether they want to stay in Canada. More than 1.3 million Albertans have already cast ballots by mail or in advanced polls in a referendum called by Premier Danielle Smith. They are being asked whether they want to stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. The vote caps months of rallies, speeches and analyses from both sides. Smith’s United Conservative Party never campaigned on holding a separation vote in the last election in 2023. But Smith says some Albertans’ anger with the state of affairs under former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau has boiled over into hundreds of thousands signing petitions for and against Confederation. A referendum, she has said, is now necessary to resolve the matter once and for all. The separation question is one of 10 on the ballot. The first nine focus on immigration and the Constitution. The immigration questions ask Albertans whether the province should have more say on who comes to the province to work and whether it’s time to put more limitations -- and perhaps introduce fees -- on some who arrive and seek access to health care and education. The constitutional questions ask Albertans for a blessing to pursue talks with other provinces on wresting power from the federal government and abolishing the Senate. Smith says she voted to stay in Canada but says she needs a yes to those remaining nine questions to get a mandate to bargain with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney came to Alberta last week to rally the pro-Canada forces but also to agree to disagree with Smith. He urged Albertans to reject the remaining questions. “(Say) no to the nine,” Carney told a Calgary crowd. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2026.
