Results earlier on Tuesday showed voters in Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta rejected proposals to start an independence process, handing Prime Minister Mark Carney and supporters of Canadian unity a victory amid President Trump’s trade war and annexation threats.
The vote is not a direct referendum on independence, but will put oil-rich Alberta on a path to a future vote to separate from Canada.
With more than 1 million votes counted, about 76 per cent supported remaining in Canada, while 23 per cent supported starting a process that could lead to separation.
“We are a strong country, united from coast to coast,” Thomas Lukaszuk, the former deputy prime minister of Alberta who leads the Canada Forever movement against secession, told supporters.
Results were delayed on Monday after delays in opening forced more than 100 polling stations to extend voting hours. More than 1.35 million Albertans, or 43 per cent of eligible voters, cast an early or special vote. Albertans are deciding whether to stay in Canada or begin legal proceedings that could lead to a second separation vote.
With the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, Alberta is a cowboy country and conservative stronghold whose political culture has long had more in common with the American West than with much of Canada. Dissatisfaction with Ottawa runs deep but has not traditionally translated into widespread support for independence.
Wainwright elector Dustin Degenhart said Albertans have long been mistreated by Ottawa.
“Alberta is essentially considered a colony,” he said after Monday’s vote. “They want to take from us and not give anything back.”
Another Wainwright voter, Taylor MacIsaac, supports separation.
“I think as a very conservative person who grew up in rural Alberta, the separation is a good thing for Albertans personally,” she said.
Edmontonian Dave Malka, 59, criticized spending money on “a referendum on a referendum” rather than on health care.
Despite the apparent failure of the proposal, separatist leaders say they transformed a fringe cause into a movement that won’t go away.
Carney earlier urged Albertans to cast a decisive vote for unity. “Vote like Canada’s future depends on it, because it does,” he told a rally Friday in Edmonton, where he grew up.