Alberta rejects secession referendum, chooses to remain part of Canada

By Max Saltman, Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — The oil-rich province of Alberta has rejected the pathway to secession and will remain part of Canada, landing a definitive blow to a fringe but loud campaign which sought support from the US.

About three quarters of voters chose to stay in Canada, while one quarter opted to hold a second vote on separation later as of early Tuesday local time, with roughly 45% of polls reporting, according to unofficial results posted by the province.

Monday’s result comes amid a rising tide of patriotism and unity in Canada as the country has rallied against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.

The Alberta independence campaign, a grassroots effort led by a handful of vocal separatists, was amplified heavily online, and some of its leaders had met with members of Trump’s administration.

The vote had faced concerns of possible foreign interference after Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail reported Republican operatives had assisted top separatist leaders with their independence bid.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the vote to remain means that “Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition” in a statement posted to X early Tuesday.

Thomas Lukaszuk, former Alberta politician and founder of the pro-unity Forever Canadian movement, said the result would send a strong message to Trump: “Canada is not up for grabs.”

“We are a solid country that’s united from coast to coast to coast and we stick up for each other,” Lukaszuk told a cheering crowd as the results came in.

Monday’s vote was the first plebiscite of its kind in Canada since the 1995 Quebec referendum, where the predominantly French-speaking province voted against secession by a razor thin margin.

Separatism flares amid US tensions

Alberta, a province roughly the size of Texas, has long harbored a fringe independence movement. Separatists there argue that Canada’s federal system underrepresents its population of 5 million in parliament, that Canadian efforts to fight climate change threaten Alberta’s lucrative fossil fuel industry and that Alberta’s conservative politics are often outweighed by the more liberal eastern provinces.

Though separation frequently polled low in Alberta, the movement grew louder after Carney’s Liberal Party won the 2025 federal elections amid a trade war with the United States.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced in May the province would hold a referendum on whether to remain in Canada, or to have a “binding provincial referendum” on independence later.

Over the past two years, secessionist leaders have met with US officials in Washington to try and negotiate support from the Trump administration. Jeffrey Rath, a prominent separatist and lawyer who was part of the group in DC, told CNN last year that Trump’s election in 2024 gave independence activists hope.

“If anybody is going to have the guts to recognize an independent Alberta, (it) would be the Trump administration,” Rath said.

News of the meetings at the time incensed Canadian politicians, who accused separatist leaders of “treason.”

The movement also possesses a Trumpian flavor. Participants at a secessionist rally CNN attended in 2025 donned red MAGA-style “Make Alberta Great Again” hats. A minority even said that Alberta ought to skip independence and become the 51st US state.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has leant support to the separatist cause, saying Albertans are “very independent people” and that the province is a “natural partner for the US” in an interview earlier this year.

Last week, Elon Musk, a Trump ally, urged Alberta, along with other Canadian provinces Saskatchewan and Quebec to separate from Canada in a post to his platform X, saying they would be “better off.”

Smith said she was “very pleased” with the result to remain in Canada in a post to X late Monday local time, but she has previously cautioned against “demonizing” independence supporters.

“We have had, from time to time, these kinds of initiatives flare up,” Smith told CNN in 2025. “And they’re almost always in response to a federal government that’s out of control. But they have all subsided when the federal government got back in its own lane.”

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, nodded to that frustration in a speech in Calgary last week urging voters to reject secession. “The frustrations that many Albertans have felt are real,” Carney said.

But, the prime minister said, separation would only “burden” Albertans “with years of deep division and great uncertainty.”

He also made an oblique swipe at the US.

“This referendum comes at the worst possible time,” he said. “The world has become more dangerous and divided. Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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