Elections Alberta has confirmed the official results of Alberta’s historic referendum.
The Oct. 19 referendum asked Albertans 10 questions, including whether the province should pursue a second, binding referendum on quitting confederation or remaining a province of Canada.
With an overall voter turnout of 70.4 per cent, 1,556,316 Albertans (74.9 per cent) voted in favour of staying in Canada, while 520,233 (25.1 per cent) voted to pursue separation.
That wasn’t the case in the riding of Central Peace—Notley, however, where a slim majority of residents voiced a preference for separation. Of the 12,937 ballots cast, 6,528 (50.5 per cent) were for option one, while 6,409 (49.5 per cent) were for option two. Support for splitting was even higher in the Fox Creek region of the riding; of the 453 valid ballots cast at the Fox Creek Greenview Multiplex, 63.3 per cent were in favour of pursuing separation compared to 36.7 per cent for remaining in confederation.
In Athabasca—Barrhead—Westlock, 23,426 valid ballots were counted. 13,735 (58.6 per cent) were in favour of remaining in Canada compared to 9,691 (41.4 per cent) in favour of beginning to pursue a second referendum.
Results were similar in Lac Ste. Anne—Parkland and West Yellowhead.
In Lac Ste. Anne—Parkland, 15,512 of 26,756 voters, 58 per cent, voted in favour of staying, and 11,244 voted to pursue a second referendum.
In the West Yellowhead electoral district, 23,255 residents cast their vote. Of those, 59.5 per cent (13,846) voted to stay in Canada, and 40.5 per cent (9,409) voted for separation.
The referendum also asked the following nine questions:
- Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially-funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?
- Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially-funded social support programs?
- Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the health care and education systems?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to abolish the unelected federal Senate?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?
- Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict?
The majority of voters supported the “yes” option for questions one to five and the “no” option for questions six to nine. Results by each electoral district are linked to each question above. The full Elections Alberta results summary is available here.
