EDMONTON – Some families and friends across Alberta are set to gather for a Thanksgiving meal this weekend with the hope that the only thing that gets roasted is the turkey.
Sarah Batchelor says politics will be off the dinner table at her home in Airdrie, a city north of Calgary, so her loved ones don’t end up arguing with one another over the Oct. 19 vote on separation.
“At the end of the day, when we sit down, we’re not that far apart on a lot of the concerns,” says Batchelor, a music teacher who plans to vote to stay in Canada.
“We’re just very divided on where the blame should be placed.”
In a central Alberta town, Kathy Bradshaw says she plans to be more careful with her words as the vote nears.
“It’s a little tense,” says Bradshaw, a 64-year-old resident of Sylvan Lake who has already voted to remain in Canada.
Albertans are set to vote in person in nine days on 10 questions. The 10th and most debated question will ask whether they want to stay in Canada or have a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation.
The debate has become personal, and ugly, in some workplaces and among some families and friends.
Bradshaw says there has been more tension lately in her office.
“I love my work and I love my colleagues, so I sense their discomfort when it comes up,” she says.
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Some of her co-workers, who she has been working with for decades, plan to vote to leave.
“People say to me, and this I find the most ridiculous, ‘I don’t want to separate, but I want to send Ottawa a message,'” she says.
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“And I keep saying to them, ‘If they know the gun is fake, why do you think the teller is going to hand over the money.'”
In Edmonton, Sheree Zielke, 71, says she has been feeling similar tension, but with her neighbour.
Zielke says she wants to see an independent Alberta, unlike the family she has lived next to for decades.
“(We) don’t talk as much, let’s put it that way. There’s no arguments.”
Batchelor says the debates have been overwhelming.
“I’m feeling more dysregulated just because of the extra stress and having to navigate those conversations carefully at (my work) and even within my home.”
Since Alberta Premier Danielle Smith ordered the vote in May, disputes have also erupted across small towns.
A rodeo parade in the town of Sundre, northwest of Calgary, was cancelled in June amid threats and abuse after parade organizers rejected a float festooned with Alberta flags they feared would be viewed as a political statement.
A pro-separation billboard in the southern town of Taber also garnered attention that same month.
Separatist Cory Morgan, who paid for the billboard, refused to take it down despite an order from the town claiming it was a public nuisance.
Smith has said she supports Alberta staying a part of Canada and plans to vote that way in the referendum. She has also said that hundreds of thousands have signed petitions for and against separation, and it’s time to put the issue to rest.
Critics, pointing to long-standing opinion polls indicating massive support for Alberta staying in Canada, have accused Smith of calling the vote to appease separatists hardliners in her party.
Lara Descartes, a family studies professor at Ontario’s Western University, has some advice for Albertans nervous about tension over the separation debate with loved ones peaking in the coming days.
“Lower your expectations,” she says. “Don’t expect it to be perfect.”
She says differences are normal.
“People are their own individuals with their own histories and beliefs. Some of them may never mesh with our own, but it’s part of life,” she says.
“Accepting this can let us take responsibility for our own emotional state.”
Archbishop of Edmonton Stephen Hero is one of five Catholic bishops in the province who recently penned a letter to parishioners calling on them to cast a vote, and think carefully about the potential impact of it on vulnerable people.
The Oct. 1 letter alluded to the questions on immigration, including whether the government should have more authority to impose limitations and financial guardrails around some newcomers.
The letter said Catholics may reach different conclusions about what is in the interest of the common good, but “whatever the outcome, our responsibilities to one another will endure.”
In a recent interview, Hero acknowledged that the referendum has been polarizing, within families, workplaces or even in churches.
So, he said the call is to be respectful of each other’s decisions and to listen to each other carefully.
He said: “(To) love one another, and not let it divide us, whatever happens.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2026.
— With files from Lisa Johnson
I retract my previous comments (11:33) I am spreading disinformation because i am amused by it.
Hyperbolic, much? My thanksgiving meal will be peaceful. Surrounded by family that are all anxious to have our voices heard on the 19th.
Bought and paid for by the LPC. Vote to leave.
It is laughable at how people put real comments and then watch how they are attacked and have their names used by others just to attack the original comments.
We want a better country and the majority of comments are just attacked at other comments and nothing to do with the story that the comments should be about.
Canadians used to be so much better but now in our society of social media this is what we get. Attacks by others just to get a laugh or whatever.
Stay hiding behind your fake names and keep on attacking others as that is the best you can do.
I did not make the comments at 2:40pm as that was some one just attacking as that is the best they got! So sad that is all some people can do.
“No one has to do a damn thing for you here on earth. Everything anyone gives you is a gift.
Honestly, if you can’s get through a meal without arguing politics, politics are the least of your problems.
Mad mad world
All those insulting Ellis are ignorant scumbags. but that’s ok ! because they almost got it right! love men s bags and what comes out of them
All those insulting Ellis are ignorant scumbags.
@rimjob Ellis, you’re a typical POS scumbag liberal
24/7/365 I’m getting rammed in the butt by liberal’s
i am a total idiot i love Punjabi jiz on my face soon as this is over Canada will flood Alberta with more immigration , and that makes me smile
Reply to Anonymous posted at 3.43 pm. Your spelling and comment sums up a typical Separatist.
Alberta gonna shat down cunada’s throat
Once this referendum is held and the separatist win; this issue should not be allowed to surface again. If it does; and Daniele Smith allows it; it will show she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing with elbows up !
Once this referendum is held and the separatists lose; this issue should not be allowed to surface again. If it does; and Daniele Smith allows it; it will show she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing!
Its not about separating from Canada, its about being treated fairly by the Federal Government. Alberta is the main contributor to the CPP It was an attack on Canada by the USA for talks of another pipeline to be taken seriously, not because they respect us. I message needs to sent to the rest of Canada and Quebec has their own rules in relationship to Canada. We can be a sovereign Alberta within a the Confederation of Canada, just like Quebec.
As this referendum is a complete waste of taxpayer money and reflects on very poor leadership by the Premier we need everyone to get out and vote which ever way you want and shut down this waste of money that could have be washed by sending it to the Ukraine for our liberals bank accounts and get back to making Canada the great country that it can be by letting in mass immigration take over and high inflation. no jobs .
in rimbey the seppies set up a tent on private property across from the post office.
most days they were there, i sat across from them on a strip of public land next to the post office with my sign that read “liars” with an arrow pointed in their direction.as i jerked off
canada post tried to have me removed by calling the cops four times. and by sending me a harrassing and threatening letter.
to no avail…..i stayed and came back every time the seppies showed up.
i got a lot of tumbs down , waves, by the middle finger people gave me money and brought me coffee and snacks. after they spit in it
though i had expected it, it was not until the very last day that some bozo kicked over my signs and made verbal threats against me. and i cried like a coward
the whole experience was amazing because i am a retired elbows up boomer self entitled and selfish its only about me not about the next generations
The media is trying to stoke the story. Of all the people I know, only 2 think separating is a good idea, and they’re a little “out there”. Most of us liberal sheep love to pay high for everything we don’t want to own a home we want mass immigration to take over , we love our government washing billions of tax dollars for them selves homeless people on the street are a boost to the economy
This whole referendum vote is nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money.
A rubbish story – I talk to lots of different people everyday and 99% think the Separatist are correct
The writer is just trying to justify her job.
As this referendum is a complete waste of taxpayer money and reflects on very poor leadership by the Premier we need everyone to get out and vote which ever way you want and shut down this waste of money and get back to making Canada the great country that it can be and was.
The media is trying to stoke the story. Of all the people I know, only 2 think separating is a good idea, and they’re a little “out there”.
This whole referendum vote is nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money.
A rubbish story – I talk to lots of different people everyday and 99% think the Separatists are insane.
The writer is just trying to justify her job.
in rimbey the seppies set up a tent on private property across from the post office.
most days they were there, i sat across from them on a strip of public land next to the post office with my sign that read “liars” with an arrow pointed in their direction.
canada post tried to have me removed by calling the cops four times. and by sending me a harrassing and threatening letter.
to no avail…..i stayed and came back every time the seppies showed up.
i got a lot of tumbs up, waves, people gave me money and brought me coffee and snacks.
though i had expected it, it was not until the very last day that some bozo kicked over my signs and made verbal threats against me.
the whole experience was amazing.