Danielle Smith calls for unity after Alberta voters reject separation referendum

One day after Alberta voters rejected pursuing separation from Canada, Premier Danielle Smith said turnout was a powerful testament to Albertans’ passion for their country and province. Her speech aired Tuesday night in a time slot paid for by the Alberta government. “Yesterday, Albertans made their choice. Today, we begin the next chapter,” she said, urging people not to remain divided by how they voted, but to move forward as neighbours, friends, Albertans and Canadians with respect and compassion.

The referendum result mirrors more than six months of polling in 2026 that consistently found about 70 per cent of Albertans wanted the province to remain in Canada. By late Tuesday afternoon, voters had rejected separation by roughly 75 per cent. About 1.9 million ballots had been counted on the separation question, representing about 61.9 per cent of voters so far. Smith said the open and democratic vote gave her government a clear mandate: Alberta will remain a province of Canada and Albertans will continue to be Canadians.

Smith said Alberta would continue to assert its autonomy and advocate on issues important to residents, but disputes would be settled through political and legal institutions rather than by pursuing separation. She said that for as long as she is premier, she will not hold another referendum on the issue. The debate, she said, had been building for many years, amid long-standing and legitimate grievances with Ottawa. “I acknowledge the legitimate frustrations you’ve felt,” she said.

Nearly half a million ballots supported continuing down the path toward leaving Canada. In ridings such as Central Peace-Notley and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, leave votes narrowly outnumbered stay votes. Smith addressed those voters directly, calling them loyal Albertans who want opportunities for their families and neighbours. She said many believe Ottawa has threatened their freedoms and blocked their path to prosperity, and told them their voices had been heard by the provincial government, fellow Albertans and fellow Canadians.

Smith’s message focused on unity and moving forward. She invited Albertans who still felt hopeless or frustrated with the country’s past direction to believe and hope in Canada again. She acknowledged that many political and constitutional battles with Ottawa remain. But she said she was convinced the federal government was no longer targeting Alberta’s largest economic sectors and trying to phase them out and eliminate them, as she said had been attempted under the previous prime minister. She also said the federal Conservatives and Liberals were united in supporting Alberta and its key industries in a way not seen in a generation.

Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Smith said, there is renewed understanding that Canada cannot prosper by preventing its strongest industries from succeeding. She pointed to pipelines once declared impossible that are now being built as national priorities, referring to the Pacific Link project, which received a national interest designation on Oct. 1. Construction of the line to the B.C. Lower Mainland is targeted to begin next September. Smith said Canada is again producing more energy, exporting more resources, building more major projects and attracting more investment. She said she believes things are working better every day and can improve further if people keep working together.

The speech was prerecorded, so Smith did not take questions from journalists. She was scheduled to do so at an 11:30 a.m. media availability in Calgary on Wednesday. While the separation question appears settled, results on the other nine referendum questions show Albertans are divided.

Ballots were still being counted by hand Tuesday afternoon. Minute-by-minute results on the Elections Alberta website showed the Yes option leading on eight of the nine questions, including all five immigration questions. The provincewide leads were close, ranging from 51 to 63 per cent. The immigration questions asked whether Alberta should have more say over who comes to the province to work, and whether to impose more limits — and possibly fees — on temporary workers seeking access to health care and education. The other four questions asked voters to authorize Smith to lobby her provincial counterparts for constitutional amendments that would shift more power from Ottawa to the provinces and abolish the Senate. As of Tuesday afternoon, Yes was leading on the immigration questions with roughly 54 to 58 per cent of the votes.

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. Geographically, Edmonton voters said No to all nine questions. Calgary voters said No to eight, with question five the exception. The only question with No leading provincewide on Tuesday afternoon was question eight, by a narrow 51 per cent to 49 per cent. It asked whether Albertans supported their government working with other provinces to opt out of federal programs such as health care, education and social services without losing the associated federal funding for provincial social programs.

Colin Aitchison, a former United Conservative Party press secretary who is now a government relations consultant, told The Canadian Press the results gave the premier a clear mandate. Governments in Canada are elected with less than 50 per cent of the vote and then proceed with their mandate, he said. Regardless of its size, he said, this was a clear mandate, and voter turnout was something Smith could point to when negotiating with Ottawa. Aitchison is managing director with Enterprise Canada.

Smith has said immigration benefits Alberta but must be balanced against the high cost of social services. Her government has not yet provided details on how the proposals would work or be implemented. Avnish Nanda, a lawyer who campaigned against the immigration proposals, said Tuesday he was shocked by the results so far because he expected the questions to pass by much larger margins. “We thought we would be blown out,” he said. Nanda said he did not think the results represented Albertans’ will. He cited polls suggesting some voters were confused by the wording and might vote differently depending on how a question was framed. He accused the government of running a propaganda campaign that misled Albertans into supporting measures contrary to what they actually wanted and in their best interests.

On Tuesday, Mark Carney said he favoured pursuing pragmatic “common solutions” with provinces on matters under federal jurisdiction. As he welcomed the rejection of separation, he said constitutional change can be difficult and drawn out. Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberals had allowed immigration to run “totally out of control” and that he supported provinces setting their own levels. The prime minister said disputes over areas such as immigration could be resolved without constitutional amendments, adding that his government had moved to bring immigration back under control.