One day after Alberta voters rejected the idea of pursuing separation from Canada, Premier Danielle Smith said the turnout was a historic and a powerful testimony of the passion Albertans feel for the country and province.
“Yesterday, Albertans made their choice. Today, we begin the next chapter,” the premier said in a speech that was broadcast Tuesday night during airtime paid for by the Alberta government.
“Let us move forward not as a people divided by how we voted yesterday, but as neighbours, friends, Albertans and Canadians. Let us treat one another with respect and compassion. Let us stand proudly for this province.”
The outcome of the referendum‘s separatism question mirrors more than half a year of polling, which since the beginning of 2026 consistently showed about 70 per cent of Albertans wanted the province to remain in Canada.
Albertans roundly rejected leaving Canada by roughly 75 per cent, with 1.9 million ballots counted for the separation question as of late Tuesday afternoon, representing about 61.9 per cent of voters so far.
“At the end of it all, the people of Alberta cast their votes in an open and democratic referendum. And the resulting vote from Albertans has given our government a clear mandate.
“Alberta will remain a province of Canada. Albertans will continue to be Canadians.”
Alberta will continue to assert its autonomy and stand up for the issues important to residents, Smith said, but disputes will be settled within the political and legal institutions rather than pursuing the option of separation.
Smith indicated the question of independence has been put to bed.
“I want to make it clear tonight that for as long as I am premier, I will honour this mandate from Albertans and will not be holding another referendum on this issue,” she said. “It is time to move forward together.”
It was a debate Smith said was many years in the making, as Albertans have struggled to address many long-standing and legitimate grievances with Ottawa.
“I acknowledge the legitimate frustrations you’ve felt.”
Nearly half a million ballots were cast in favour of continuing down the road towards leaving Canada. In some ridings such as Central Peace-Notley and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, the leave votes narrowly outnumbered the ones cast to stay.
Smith addressed those voters directly on Tuesday night.
“I recognize you as loyal Albertans. You love this province, and you want your family and neighbours to have every opportunity to succeed. Many of you view Ottawa as having threatened your freedoms and blocked your path to prosperity,” she said.
“You need to know that your voices have been heard. Not just by our government, but also by your fellow Albertans and your fellow Canadians.”
Smith’s message was one of unity and moving forward.
“Tonight, I want to invite every Albertan who may still feel hopeless or frustrated with the past direction of our country, to believe and hope in Canada again.”
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But, it doesn’t appear Smith will get her wish that all Albertans will simply accept the results of the referendum and move on.
Instead, going forward, Smith and the governing United Conservative Party will have to contend with a motivated and more organized separatist movement turning their efforts to oust the premier and take further control of the party.
Jeffrey Rath, one of the central figures in the separatist movement who had a hand in former premier Jason Kenney’s ouster, told Global News he will be pushing for a special general meeting of the party to remove Smith as well.
Smith, in her speech, made the case that Canada has changed significantly over the past 18 months and credited all Albertans for helping make happen.
“I am well aware that not every grievance Alberta has with Ottawa has been resolved. There are still many political and constitutional battles ahead of us,” she said.
“But I am also convinced that the federal government is no longer targeting and trying to phase out and eliminate Alberta’s largest economic sectors as they attempted to do under the previous prime minister.”
“In fact, both the federal Conservatives and federal Liberals are united in supporting Alberta and our key industries in a manner we haven’t seen in a generation.”
Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Smith said there is a renewed understanding that Canada cannot achieve prosperity by preventing its strongest industries from succeeding.
She said pipelines that were once declared impossible are now being built as national priorities, in reference to the Pacific Link project that received national interest designation on Oct. 1, with the goal of construction of the line to the B.C. Lower Mainland beginning next September.
“Canada is once again producing more energy, exporting more resources, building more major projects and attracting more investment,” she said. “I believe it’s working better every day, and it can work even better in the future if we keep fighting together for it.”
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Alberta separatists skeptical over Pacific Link pipeline designation -
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Smith’s speech was pre-recorded, so she did not answer questions from journalists. Smith is slated to do that on Wednesday at an 11:30 a.m. media availability in Calgary.
What about the other referendum questions?
While the question of leaving Canada appears to have been put to bed, the results for the other nine referendum questions have revealed Albertans are divided.
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Alberta referendum results show decisive support for staying in Canada -
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Danielle Smith calls for unity as Alberta separatists challenge her leadership -
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Alberta referendum: Separatist leader Jeff Rath says province will never be independent as long as ‘avowed federalist’ Danielle Smith is UCP leader -
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One-on-one with Vancouver Mayor-elect Pete Fry
Ballots were still being counted by hand as of Tuesday afternoon, but an Elections Alberta website sharing minute-by-minute updates showed the yes option was leading on eight of the nine questions, including all five on immigration.
The leads were tight, ranging from 51 to 63 per cent provincewide.
The questions asked whether Alberta should have more say over who comes to the province to work and whether it’s time to put more limitations — and perhaps introduce fees — on temporary workers who seek access to health care and education.
The remaining four questions asked for Albertans’ blessing for Smith to lobby her provincial counterparts for support on amending the Constitution to take more power from Ottawa and abolish the Senate.
The yes side was leading on all of the immigration questions with roughly 54 to 58 per cent of the votes as of Tuesday afternoon.
One exception was Smith’s question five proposal to require proof of citizenship to vote provincially, which was leading with about two-thirds of the vote.
Broken down geographically, voters in Edmonton said no to all nine questions while in Calgary, voters said no to eight of the questions except question five.
The only question in which the no vote was leading provincewide on Tuesday afternoon — albeit by a tight 51 per cent for “no” to 49 per cent for “yes” — was question eight.
It asked if Alberans would support its government working with other provinces to opt out of federal programs like health care, education, social services without losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs.
Colin Aitchison, a former United Conservative Party press secretary turned government relations consultant, told The Canadian Press the results present a clear mandate for the premier.
“Governments get elected on less than 50 per cent in this country, and then they move forward with implementing a mandate,” said Aitchison, a managing director with Enterprise Canada.
“Regardless of the size of the mandate, it is a clear mandate, and with voter turnout, I think it’s something that (Smith) can definitely point to when she’s trying to negotiate (with Ottawa),” he said.
Smith has said immigration is beneficial to Alberta, but that it must be balanced with the high cost of social services. Her government has yet to give specifics about how the proposals would work or how they would be implemented.
Avnish Nanda, a lawyer who had campaigned against the immigration proposals, said Tuesday he was shocked by the results so far, as he was expecting the questions to pass with much larger margins.
“We thought we would be blown out,” Nanda said in an interview.
Nanda said he didn’t think the results represent the will of Albertans. He pointed to polls that suggest some voters were confused by the wording of the questions and would vote differently depending on how the question was framed.
“These are hard questions (and) a (government) propaganda campaign that has misled Albertans to vote for things that are contrary to, I think, what they actually want and what’s in their best interest.”
On Tuesday, Carney said he favours pursuing pragmatic “common solutions” with the provinces on issues under federal jurisdiction.
When speaking to reporters as he welcomed the rejection of separation, Carney said pursuing constitutional changes can be a difficult, drawn-out process.
Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said Tuesday the Liberals allowed immigration to run “totally out of control” and he supports provinces being able to set their own levels.
The prime minister said disputes in areas like immigration can be resolved without constitutional amendments, adding his government has moved to bring immigration back under control.
With files from Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
danielle smith is a disgrace for making half a million albertans show the world how stupid they are
Now we just need to reject the ucepee.
Vote for them in next election would mean more of the same scam.
I hope not
Sorry Bert even global admitted no one will ever elect nenshii
Global shifting quickly lol… it’s funny to watch them try to change the agendas on the fly….pure comedy
I am a sheep, i love communism ,we need a supreme leader . elbows up!!!
as a liberal , i do not like the seppies they are a threat to the way things are going .with out them, soon we can walk down main street wearing nothing but a pair of butt less leather chaps and cowboy hats, and a long line of handsome men pulling a train, we need to stop them dirty seppies !!!
Neil it’s a bit simplistic to think that nobody can support a particular party because there may someone in that party who has a viewpoint you don’t agree with.
There are parties in this country who require support for their ideology before you can become a member, those ideals become more rigorous should you ever entertain a position of leadership.
Which party is more likely to represent the broader spectrum of thought?
Memorandum Of Understanding, are you having a laugh.
Hope she goes down for this. She started the whole damn thing. Wonder what Trump is thinking. His little traitor didn’t deliver the goods.
she should drop the appeal on the court ruling blocking the seppies’ first attempt at a referendum.
If anyone thinks comments are out of control, wait another five or ten years. Maybe then we’ll all be out on streets of apocalyptic country commenting with THINGS in our hands.
I really don’t see how people who voted for staying in Canada can ever vote for the Alberta UCP party. Danielle Smith allows Separatist MPs to stay in their party, and these separatists MPs are already urging the separatist Albertans to buy memberships in the UCP to take over the party. And if they just get the numbers up in their party then they take over, hijack the party, and the Separatist referendum starts up again. Majority of Albertans did not elect the UCP for a separatist agenda. A vote for the UCP now is a vote for Separation from Canada.
October 19th has come and gone in Alberta. After months of talking at nauseam about a public vote to leave Canada, Albertan’s quite decisively opted to remain.
25% voting for a second referendum is not an insignificant number and if the provincial and federal governments remain status quo, that number will rise.
It’s not that the message from those wanting to separate was unheard or disagreed with, (half of the UCP membership agreed with it) it came down to some that the messengers in some cases were repugnant.
There are a lot of knives out for Danielle Smith and she will have her work cut out to remain as party leader. But the way I see it is if the separatists are successful in removing her and replacing her with one of their own, it would pretty much guarantee an NDP victory in the next general election.
Most people would be too embarrassed to admit that they watch “Royal Canadian Air Farce”, it’s almost as bad as watching “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”. Honestly when I was a kid, I was actually embarrassed that we had these shows representing us. I really hoped that nobody from any other country saw those shows.
There will be no unity until the purge of incompetent leaders is complete.
BC just anhilated incumbents and it looks to be a fire that will spread across the coubtry.
Smith should not be the leader of Alberta! She thinks she is American!
Danielle Smith had voiced separation from Canada – why should anyone believe her about staying?
Freedumb
She has that Mar a Lago face. 🤡
Hilarious how Canadians are so afraid of direct democracy.
People, people, people.! For those of us who watched the Royal Canadian Airfarce tv show ( Google it) does no one remember ” MIKE FROM CANMORE?!” Theres a reason for this! There’s no….Mike from Regina….or Mike from Langley…or Mike from Winnipeg. There’s ONLY MIKE FROM CANMORE…..because there’s a legitimate reason for this.!!! Alberta is ONE BIG…”MIKE FROM CANMORE!”
The cnt should be executed for treason
They are the ” labourers ” on a DEI hire on a job site.! Nothing more nothing less….they DO NOT have the capacity to drive the forklift or become the foreman …..
Listen people!!! Alberta has always been ” SPECIAL “.! YES. Short bus special…and always will be. There’s something in the water. They are not the same as the rest of canada. They are the ” fat kid” in the race that we have to wait for and encourage along.
In flagrant disregard for the warriors of the Global News Comment Brigades, Alberta has chosen to remain. Do we have problem sure, like having politics co-opted by yankee and russian bots, but can we work through them? You betcha.
It is totally understandable that people are tired and frustrated, but the main question is: why?
For decades, we have had essentially the same party in power in Alberta, and very little has changed. This raises an important question: are people really open to change?
And it is not just Alberta. The entire country is suffering from the same problem. We keep blaming others, such as the federal government, Trump, and so on. But I believe the root of many of our problems lies with the people themselves, whether in Alberta or in other provinces.
People are often reluctant to embrace change. They don’t want to step outside their comfort zones, challenge their own beliefs, or learn new things. They don’t demand better alternatives, either. As a result, progress remains limited, and many of the same problems we faced 40 or 50 years ago are still with us today.
If we don’t change our mindset, we cannot expect to change our politicians or the system. We cannot bring in new ideas, introduce meaningful reforms, or create a better life for Canadians if we keep doing the same things over and over again.
its time for rest of the world [specially middle est, asians.. ] to migrate to Canada.. press the canaadians.. take their jobs, their remaining peoples.. and then homes .. make another Paris..
blessless canadaa…
It is time Liberals relalize their he Federal Liberal party has been hijacked by left wing extremist that want to destroy Canadas economy and instill extreme gender ideology.
Trying to save her career now. her little ploy didnt work. Trump can suck oil from Russian c*cks.
All you azzholes attacking Canada can ef off too! So sick of merikan MAGA garbage and Trump!
It’s time Conservatives realized that the Conservative Party no longer exists. It’s been hijacked by right wing extremists.
Why are Elbows IP Canadians so scared of democracy. They would let the Liberals run the country forever if they could. Albertans spoke and there will be no separation.
This Smith woman called for Alberta to leave Canada! Has she so quickly forgotten?
I believe that most of Alberta, Canada and including the separatists have had enough of This Primier. She talks of different depending on who she is in front of. Her government had put Alberta i a real bad place fianceally. And only because of the iran war and high oil prices was the budget balanced. The hospitals of horribly under funded, and the tragedy in Wainwright showed how unprepared the province is to react to a disaster.
Is Alberta similar to a vassal state.
Unity in what? Ontario and Quebec will never cede power to their vassal provinces. That finagled vote on October 19 was not a referendum on separation.
Much of what Rath says is, IMHO, a gross exaggeration of reality. His statements are similar to the promises made by Brexit’s advocates which ultimately failed to materialize. Trump’s babbling follows a similar pattern, where grandiose claims and sweeping promises take precedence over facts and substance. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this is the playbook of the right-misinformation with performative anger mixed in.
No, Albertans voted on whether or not to have a binding referendum. This was not the referendum, and I highly doubt that this finagling of the votes will put the issue to bed…
Canadians deserve better.
Danielle Smith has been bought and paid for just like the fake conservative Doug Ford . She’s a closet Liberal.
Time do to 180 on all promises, ravel pipelines and teach Alberta a lesson in Brookfield. No more oil, more tax for wannabe cowboys.
Alberta has fallen. Danielle Smith is a bought and paid for Liberal just like her buddy Doug Ford. What a disgrace !
Playing on both sides of fence she is.
@G Ingraham,
Another one of Ben’s aliases?
@ Ben – The old time conservatives like Stelmach stumped w/ Forever Canadian and Lukaszuk. Smith came from Reform/Wildrose not traditional Progressive Conservative. The separatists were her supporters. If the party divides she is likely out in the cold. She has to keep it united to save her own skin.
Does the Alberta Prosperity Project have any juice left to end her?
I am surprised you are giving Mr Rath a voice without any mention of his ongoing court cases
Smith will have neither peace nor safety. Once you cater to traitors, they’ll always be back for more. Some will do it politically, some with force of arms. The separatists are backed by big US money bent on destroying Canada and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.
Politically, the UCP won’t survive what’s coming. Either they keep the traitors in their party and suffer a MAGA-like takeover by the extremists or break apart and lose a significant number of their base…and lose power provincially.
Smith is the one who stirred up this issue, not she’s trying to calm everyone down. Typical UCP leader!
I must tell everyone this. Carney feels so good up my rectum.
@Anonymous 1022. You hate Ben. We get it. Your comments about him are littered throughout the site. Have anything intelligent to contribute?
Smith tried to be positive but has bigger split in her own party that she needs to deal with. She needs to kick out the separatists and let them form their own party. It’s too fundamental an issue to allow it to continue.
How do they let you use a computer in the mental institute, Ben
Danielle Smith may be looking at a fractured UCP party, resulting in two new parties on the right, and vote splitting. That having been said, Smith is very stealthy and intelligent and could very well defeat any challenge to her leadership.
Sad how Carney tried to use the CFB Wainwright disaster for his own cynical political gain in the Alberta referendum.
Heat is now on Clowney to get the pipeline built. Great play by DS. Not sure why Liberals and Elbows Up Canadians are so scares of referendums.