Voters heading to a polling station in Acheson, Alta., outside of Edmonton, to cast their ballot in the province-wide referendum.Cory Wright/The Globe and Mail
10/19/26 16:44
Unity makes us stronger, says Albertan who cast her vote
– Nathan VanderKlippe
A supporter writes on a protest sign during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, on Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Timon JohnsonTimon Johnson/The Canadian Press
Brooke Healy has many childhood memories at the Royal Canadian Legion in Vulcan, Alta. It’s where the family gathered for birthdays. It’s where they came to remember her grandfather’s military service. And on Monday, it’s where she came to vote to remain in Canada.
She couldn’t help but think of her grandfather as she marked her ballot.
”There’s been many instances in history where we have come together despite differences in culture and religion,” she said. ”To separate that would be a loss.”
As a younger woman, “I was very much more like with the Wexit movement,” she said, referring to a western secessionist movement.
But Ms. Healy, 22, is preparing to become a teacher and her studies of Canadian history have changed her thinking.
Unity, she says, does not mean conformity — and she hopes Ottawa will do a better job of listening to provincial concerns.
Nonetheless, “unity as a country only makes us stronger.”
10/19/26 16:36
Looking beyond the separation question
– Matthew Scace
A sign directs voters to a polling station during Alberta’s referendum in Calgary on Monday.Amir Salehi/The Globe and Mail
G’day, everyone. I’m Matthew Scace with The Globe’s Alberta bureau, coming to you from Edmonton. A few readers have sent us questions about today’s referendum – particularly around the nine other referendum questions and the size of Alberta’s electorate.
Beyond the separation question, Premier Danielle Smith is asking Albertans to vote on nine proposals around immigration and constitutional issues.
The immigration-related questions are the most pressing because the government could immediately pursue implementing them, like charging certain non-permanent residents premiums for health care services. The constitutional changes would likely lead Ms. Smith to try to convince other premiers to endorse her ideas. I wrote an explainer last week about the nine questions.
Political strategist Stephen Carter has been behind the signs across Alberta reading “Stay in Canada, no to the nine,” a campaign urging voters to reject those proposals.
Elections Alberta says there are 3,148,343 eligible electors in this referendum. Leading up to today, early voting turnout was roughly 43 per cent.
10/19/26 16:11
Separatist wants independence, including from the U.S.
– Nathan VanderKlippe
Roy Mears has waited for this moment for half a century.
“If we can get free of the rest of Canada, I’ll be the happiest man on earth,” says Mr. Mears, 76, a Vulcan, Alta., man who once oversaw a Facebook group called The Republic of Western Canada.
But he feels just as strongly about remaining independent from the United States.
“I don’t like the fact that they have for-profit Medicare. To me, if you let somebody die because they don’t have any money, that’s beyond the pale.”
Mr. Mears, who spent his life as a furniture maker, janitor, oil-patch worker and truck driver, has endured a string of recent health issues: leukemia, heart surgery, treatment for throat abscesses.
“I know for a fact if I would have been in America over the last 10 years, I wouldn’t be alive,” he says
10/19/26 16:04
Wainwright residents, still reeling from deadly fire at military base, cast ballots
– Jana G. Pruden
Flowers lay at the base of the Memorial Clocktower in Wainwright on Monday.Amanda Erickson/The Globe and Mail
In Wainwright, a steady stream of people walked in and out of the town’s Communiplex under a bright blue prairie sky.
Just down the street, a memorial of flower bouquets grew around the town’s war memorial, in honour of the Canadian Forces soldiers killed and injured in a catastrophic training accident at the nearby military base on Saturday afternoon.
“In the service of Canada,” one of the plaques read.
Town resident Brandon Barss said he waited in line about five minutes to vote, then quickly cast his ballots.
“I hope everyone is doing alright, the best they can,” he said. “And I hope this vote goes in the way of not needing another referendum.”
10/19/26 15:47
Rural family wants a new deal within Canada
– David Ebner
Polling station at the Community Hall in the village of Cremona in Alberta.David Ebner/The Globe and Mail
At midday, the polling station at the Community Hall in the village of Cremona is quiet. Emily and Morgan Taylor voted for Alberta to take the next step toward potential separation but they aren’t committed to secession. They want the province to gain more powers within Canada.
“Alberta staying in Canada but having more independence,” said Morgan, a firefighter.
The couple have four children and have lived in the area six years. Both grew up in rural Alberta - Emily in Hanna and Morgan in Three Hills.
Emily, who homeschools their children, said strong support for the other referendum questions on issues such as immigration could be the solution for Alberta to get more autonomy.
“Ideally, we don’t need to leave Canada,” she said. “But Canada needs to listen.”
10/19/26 15:23
Steady turnout, no delays at Calgary polling station
– Emma Graney
A man wears an 'I Voted!' sticker after voting in the referendum in Edmonton.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
Hi, I’m Emma Graney, The Globe and Mail’s energy reporter, coming to you from my homebase of Calgary.
Polling stations have been open for a couple of hours now, but many in inner-city Calgary-Buffalo are seeing just a trickle of voters. All of those who spoke with The Globe after casting their ballot said they experienced no delays, and the process was quick and painless.
Gary Bobrovitz, an Election Officer at Western Canada High School in Calgary’s Beltline neighbourhood, said the polling station had been steady throughout the morning.
It was a markedly different experience from his time manning advance polls at the nearby Holy Cross centre, he said, where each of the six returning officers were seeing upwards of 100 voters a day.
Mr. Bobrovitz said he expected a surge of voters in the late afternoon and early evening as people wrapped up their work day.
“More than 50 per cent haven’t cast their ballots. This is their day. They have to come,” he said.
10/19/26 15:16
Flying the Maple Leaf in Edmonton
– Temur Durrani
In Edmonton, I will be following the action with the pro-Canada federalist camp on Monday night. They have a watch party happening at Polish Hall in the central Kingsway neighbourhood.
Over the weekend, large crowds rallied for the federalists in Edmonton, where the group Forever Canadian has held many similar events recently, including one with Prime Minister Mark Carney this past Friday.
The mood here is very patriotic. I’ve seen people wearing Canadian hats, pins and other attire sporting the Maple Leaf in downtown Edmonton on Monday.
From my taxi from the airport early Sunday, I saw a man rollerblading on the city’s signature Walterdale Bridge across the North Saskatchewan River. He held a hockey stick from the shaft, with a giant Canadian flag attached up high, waving through the wind.
10/19/26 14:58
Watching the vote and results from Edmonton
– Temur Durrani
Voter ballot boxes in Edmonton.James Maclennan/The Canadian Press
Hello, I’m Temur Durrani, a national correspondent for The Globe. I’m usually based in Manitoba, but on this Monday, I’m in Edmonton, where I will be reporting well into the night after polls close across Alberta at 8 p.m. MT and results start coming in around midnight.
Elections Alberta is expected to provide results by electoral division, starting with the separation question, followed by the results of the other nine questions.
Because voters are dealing with 10 separate, numbered and colour-coded ballots, the hand-counting process follows a strict order. Question 10 on separation will be counted first because it is the priority, Elections Alberta says.
10/19/26 14:45
Premier Danielle Smith makes final bid to Albertans
– Alanna Smith
Premier Danielle Smith made a final bid to sway Albertans to stay in Canada in a social media post on Monday.
She is urging people to vote for a “stronger Alberta within a united Canada” by saying yes to the first nine questions, which ask voters to weigh in on topics including migrants’ access to social programs, judicial appointments, and the future of the Senate.
Saying yes to the nine “means Alberta gets a real say over our own immigration, so growth matches the housing, schools and hospitals we have to support it,” Ms. Smith wrote in her post.
“It means temporary programs contribute to the services they use. It means constitutional reforms that protect this province’s authority no matter who sits in Ottawa.”
10/19/26 14:36
Siksika Nation members cast ballots and reflect on the vote
– Nathan VanderKlippe
A digital billboard on the Siksika Nation in Alberta urges voters to choose remaining in Canada on Monday.Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
When Thurman Little Light voted to remain in Canada on Monday, he was thinking about the treaties that have underpinned life for people like him, a 79-year-old member of the Siksika Nation.
The history of Canadian relations with Indigenous people has not always been kind. But he worries those seeking independence for Alberta would bring worse.
“They want to separate because they want the money from the oil,” he said. For as long as that oil has flowed, people have coveted it for themselves. He doesn’t see a place for Indigenous people in the Alberta envisioned by separatists.
“They were racist. They just want to stick themselves up there,” he said.
Canada may be imperfect, “but they still are trying, and we have hope,” said Candace Backfat, a Siksika councillor.
And, she added: “We’re better within Canada than we are outside of Canada.”
10/19/26 14:28
On a highway near Cochrane, Albertan flies province’s flag in favour of separatism
– David Ebner
Hi, I’m David Ebner, The Globe’s justice reporter. I’m based in Vancouver but grew up in Calgary in the 1980s and 1990s and reported on the oil industry here for The Globe during the mid-2000s oil boom.
Today I’m driving in a loop of several hours, northwest of Calgary. Near Cochrane I spotted Sepp Muhlberger and a friend at the side of the highway, flying two big Alberta flags in favour of the separatist cause. They garnered some honks in support as cars and trucks raced by on the old highway to Banff and the Rocky Mountains.
Mr. Muhlberger, a 56-year-old environmental consultant who grew up and still lives in Cochrane, said he’s out here on the shoulder of the highway thinking of his two daughters and their future.
“Things aren’t getting better in the country,” he said of Canada. Alberta would be “100 per cent better” on its own – and he voted yes to push forward on separation as well as yes on all the other referendum questions.
10/19/26 14:22
Alberta resident on his vote to pursue independence
– Nathan VanderKlippe
David Burleigh in Gleichen, Alta., after voting in the Alberta referendum.Nathan VanderKlippe/The Globe and Mail
In 2004, David Burleigh moved to Alberta from Windsor, Ont. On Monday, he voted for Alberta to pursue independence. It did not feel, he said, like a revolutionary act.
“It’s just an answer to a question for me.”
Nor did he think it was a question of trying to grow richer by walling off Alberta’s resources for Albertans alone.
“It’s not about being wealthier. It’s about the quality of life not getting any worse than it is,” said Mr. Burleigh, 56, who owns a construction company. He voted at the Gleichen & District Community Centre, just east of Calgary.
“It’s about Alberta having more say and more control over who is coming into the province.”
He sees Windsor, where more than a quarter of the population is foreign-born, as a cautionary tale.
“What areas of Alberta are struggling with now in terms of immigration, Southern Ontario saw in 2004,” he says.
10/19/26 14:07
Pro-Canada Albertan said she’s worried about voter turnout
– Alanna Smith
Voters head into a polling station in Acheson, Alta., outside of Edmonton to cast their ballot.Cory Wright/The Globe and Mail
Rachel Tenhave Somers, 43, is worried about voter turnout for the referendum.
She is proudly pro-Canadian but is afraid that others in her camp won’t make their voices heard at the polls. Meanwhile, the estimated 20-plus per cent of Albertans who have expressed interest in leaving the country will likely show up in force, she said.
“I know that they’re all going to be voting, so it has to matter that everybody else votes,” said Ms. Tenhave Somers outside of the St. Thomas United Church polling station in northwest Calgary.
She’s also concerned that those who do show up may be stumped by the questions.
“I think that the questions were designed to be a little bit harder to understand on purpose. So, I’m worried that some people may not understand them and get tricked,” she said.
10/19/26 13:45
Scenes from a polling station in Calgary
– Alanna Smith
Outside a polling station at Hawkwood School in Calgary on Monday.Alanna Smith/The Globe and Mail
I am one of a handful of people who trickled into an elementary school in northwest Calgary to cast their ballots on Monday.
I cast my vote by mail but never received a confirmation e-mail so that I could track the status of my voting package, so I’ve come to see if I can find out. Others tell volunteers they’ve had similar problems, including one man who said he hadn’t received his voting card.
One volunteer said that they’re all trying to work things out on the go.
Amid the confusion, a voter walked into the polling area draped in a cape with Ronald Reagan’s face and his quote: “If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism.” People are prohibited from displaying partisan views at an election site, yet he’s able to cast his vote without any issue.
A volunteer tells me it is too hard to police what people are wearing when there are so many other issues to work through.
10/19/26 13:30
Provincial leaders outside Alberta keep low profile as province mulls future
– Jeff Gray
Most provincial politicians outside Alberta were content to stay relatively low-profile as the province mulled its future as part of Canada – although B.C. Premier David Eby had called word that separatists were seeking U.S. aid “treason” earlier this year. And last month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Albertans to stay, while pitching his vision for a new pipeline alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at a fireside chat in Calgary.
However, over the weekend, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew released a video on social media with a direct appeal to Albertans.
He says provinces are working together to bring energy and natural resources to world markets. And he acknowledges that as a Manitoban, he knows what it feels like when Eastern Canada ignores Western concerns.
“But as a Canadian, I also know that the way we work through difficult things is not by running away,” Mr. Kinew says in the video. “It’s by sitting down and hashing out our differences.”
10/19/26 12:51
Calgary resident reflects on secession vote after casting ballot
– Alanna Smith
Lawn signs line the yard of a house in the community of Silver Springs in Calgary on Monday.LEAH HENNEL/The Globe and Mail
Ernest Fung was one of the first people to cast a ballot at a voting station in Calgary’s northwest community of Hawkwood on Monday.
The 72-year-old said the question of whether to remain part of Canada should never have been posed in the first place. “I don’t think it’s necessary. We are a country. Why do we need to go choose to separate or not?” he said.
As for the other nine questions, Mr. Fung said they cannot easily be answered with a simple yes or no. He spent hours talking over the questions with his partner at home before penciling in his responses on Monday.
“For separation, it was clear. But for the nine, we probably, on some questions, think differently,” he said. “I think the way it has been is fine and I don’t see change is needed.”
10/19/26 12:33
On the watch for political reaction across the country
– Jeff Gray
Good morning, I’m Jeff Gray and I cover Ontario politics. Today I am in Toronto watching for reaction from provincial politicians across the country as Albertans go to the polls. Heading into the vote, most politicians have urged Albertans to stay, but the response from the rest of the country has been muted when compared with the outpouring in 1995 before Quebec’s last referendum on secession.
That vote differed in that it asked Quebeckers if the province “should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership,” whereas Alberta’s plebiscite would only precipitate a second referendum if a majority were to vote in favour. Before the Quebec vote in 1995, which was the culmination of a decades-long separatist movement, polls warned correctly of a razor-thin margin. The province now faces the prospect of another sovereignty referendum by 2030 under newly elected Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
But on Monday, politics of all kinds took a back seat as the country grieved along with Albertans at the loss of four soldiers in the catastrophic fire at CFB Wainwright on Saturday, with federal politicians making statements in the House of Commons.
10/19/26 12:05
Opinion: Canada is strong, but it will be forever altered by Alberta’s separation referendum
– Tyler Dawson
Well, here we are. On the precipice of the unthinkable. After more than a year of Canada undergoing patriotic convulsions that would have been inconceivable at any point in recent memory, Albertans are being asked to vote on Monday about whether their province should continue to be part of Canada, or take further steps toward becoming an independent country.
Whatever the outcome, Alberta – and by extension Canada – will be permanently altered.
For 50-odd years, there has only been one major threat to Canada’s national fabric: Quebec. It was always that province, with its distinct language, culture and, at one point, a near-unifying faith, that threatened the Canadian experiment most distinctly. The other regional grievances that popped up – Alberta’s fury over the National Energy Program, the kneecapping of Atlantic Canada’s fisheries – were sideshows, consequential though they were, to the ultimate threat to national stability.
But much has changed in the past decade, and especially in the past few years.
10/19/26 11:41
43% of eligible voters cast ballots before Monday, Elections Alberta data show
– Matthew Scace
Multiple polls of Albertans have shown respondents are much more likely to say they prefer to remain in Canada, but separatists mounted a vocal campaign as they criss-crossed the province holding town halls and other events.
The turnout for advanced and mail-in ballots has been significant. Elections Alberta data show about 43 per cent of eligible voters had cast ballots before Monday. The most recent referendum in the province in 2021, which asked whether the equalization system should be cancelled and if the province should stop switching between standard and daylight saving time, had an overall turnout of just 39 per cent.
10/19/26 11:22
What about Alberta’s nine other referendum questions?
– Matthew Scace
Voters will face 10 questions. The last one – on whether Alberta should remain in Canada or trigger a secession vote – has dominated headlines and consumed the debate around the vote.
But what about the nine other referendum questions? Topics including migrants’ access to social programs, judicial appointments and the future of the Senate, could also lead to consequential changes in the province or even a push to reopen the Constitution. Voters are declaring whether they support the proposals by checking one of two boxes: yes or no.
If passed, four of them would require reopening Canada’s Constitution and could reshape the relationship between Ottawa and the provinces.
Ahead of the Oct. 19 referendum, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has spent $4-million on government advertising focused mostly on the first nine questions. She says to implement her political agenda, she needs direct input from the electorate. Her detractors, meanwhile, have argued the referendum is harmful. They say its questions stoke anti-immigration rhetoric and feed oxygen to the province’s separatist fire.
Here’s what to know about the nine other questions.
10/19/26 11:10
Listen: The history of Alberta separatism
– Globe staff
Today is the referendum in Alberta, where Albertans will cast their vote either to remain part of Canada or start the process to hold another referendum to leave (among other ballot questions). But this issue stretches far beyond the past few years – it goes back to before Alberta was a province of Canada.
In the latest episode of The Decibel podcast, host Menaka Raman-Wilms goes through the history of the Alberta separatist movement with opinion editor Tyler Dawson, who’s based in Edmonton and is the author of The Republic of Alberta: An Idea That Won’t Go Away.
10/19/26 11:00
Polls in Alberta are open
- Globe staff
Polls are now open across Alberta from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. MT. To cast a ballot, voters must be a Canadian citizen, over 18 and a resident of Alberta.
More than 1.3 million Albertans have already cast ballots by mail or in advance polls. The separation question is one of 10 on the ballot, as the first nine focus on immigration and Constitutional reform.
The vote caps months of rallies, speeches and analyses from both sides.
10/19/26 11:00
What voters need to know
- The Canadian Press
Polling stations are open until 9 p.m. MT.James Maclennan/The Canadian Press
When do polls open?
More than 1,400 polling stations will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. MT.
What identification is needed?
You should have gotten a “where to vote” card in the mail ahead of time if you’re registered. Otherwise, visit Elections Alberta’s website to find out where to vote.
You’ll need one government-issued ID with your correct name, current address and photo, such as a driver’s licence. You can use two pieces of ID that both have your full name, with one showing your current address.
There are 50 forms of acceptable ID listed on Elections Alberta’s website that can be one of those two pieces, from a library card or a hunting licence to a bank statement or vehicle registration.
Elections Alberta says it will accept expired forms of ID, including a certificate of Indian Status Card, provided it still has the correct name.
Another option, in special circumstances, is to bring an attestation form signed by an authorized person such as a First Nation band manager or a student housing staffer.
What if I’m not registered to vote?
A voting officer will ask you to sign a declaration that confirms your eligibility – including that you are a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old and that you normally reside in Alberta.
How many ballots are there?
There are 10 ballots, in different colours for easy identification. You can mark some of them, all of them or none. Your choice.
The ballots go into separate boxes to make it easier to count them and to lessen the chances of a mistake spoiling one long ballot.
10/19/26 11:00
Separatists, federalists make final push ahead of vote
- Matthew Scace
A supporter cheers on during a speech at a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton on Sunday.Timon Johnson/The Canadian Press
Albertans vote Monday on whether to remain in Canada or begin the process of pursuing separation, the culmination of a campaign that has divided the province and transfixed the country.
The separatist and federalist camps made their final pitches in duelling rallies at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton over the weekend, part of a last-minute push that also saw Prime Minister Mark Carney make several stops in the province late last week urging Albertans to vote to remain in Canada.
At the federalist event on Sunday, leader Gil McGowan led the crowd in a moment of silence for victims and first responders at Alberta’s Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, where a fire had killed four service members the night before.
He said fellow Canadians responded to the call for help when it came.
“That’s why we are stronger together in one Canadian federation,” Mr. McGowan said to cheers and applause.
A day earlier, more than a thousand people gathered on the legislature grounds, many dressed in blue and waving Alberta flags, to cap off the separatist campaign.
Supporters were bused in from across the province to hear speeches from leaders imploring people to get out and vote. Lawyer Keith Wilson, one of several prominent voices who have emerged in the campaign, predicted that whatever happens on Monday, the separatist movement is here to stay.
“We’re going to get stronger. We’re going to get smarter. We’re going to get more clear,” he said.