Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed preliminary results showing Alberta voters rejected steps toward a later separation referendum, a nonbinding choice in Canada’s leading oil-producing province.
In preliminary results that pointed to a wide lead for remaining in Canada, about 76% of votes counted favored keeping Alberta a Canadian province. Nearly 24% favored starting a process for another referendum, according to Elections Alberta’s unofficial tally. The figures are an Oct. 20 snapshot and have not been certified.
The Oct. 19 ballot did not ask voters to decide independence outright. One option kept Alberta’s current status; the other would have directed its government to begin the constitutional process for a later, binding vote on separation. Elections Alberta says the question was nonbinding, so its result cannot itself change the province’s status.
“Above all, Albertans chose Canada,” Carney said in an Oct. 20 statement. During the campaign, he warned that moving toward another referendum could bring years of uncertainty and lost opportunities.
Alberta accounted for 83.8% of Canada’s crude oil and equivalent production in 2025, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. Its role in the country’s energy supply gives the political debate significance beyond the province.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith requested the ballot question in May while an appeal concerning an independence petition was pending. She said the vote would let Albertans express their preference during the legal dispute and that she supported remaining in Canada. In the same address, Smith discussed tensions with Ottawa over energy policy and provincial powers.
Competing petitions had sought votes on Alberta’s future. A court ruling interrupted the independence petition, which Elections Alberta later verified. Further steps in that separate process remain on hold pending the appeal.
Elections Alberta plans to announce official referendum results at noon ET (10 a.m. MDT) on Oct. 29.
