{"id":20783,"date":"2026-05-22T03:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/alberta-province-plans-a-public-vote-on-whether-to-hold-a-binding-referendum-on-leaving-canada\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T03:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:44:26","slug":"alberta-province-plans-a-public-vote-on-whether-to-hold-a-binding-referendum-on-leaving-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/alberta-province-plans-a-public-vote-on-whether-to-hold-a-binding-referendum-on-leaving-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta province plans a public vote on whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta will hold a referendum in October on leaving Canada, but the province’s premier said Thursday it won’t actually be a vote on whether to separate.<\/p>\n

Danielle Smith said voters instead would be deciding whether it’s time to hold a referendum on quitting Canada.<\/p>\n

“I want to be clear. I support Alberta remaining in Canada, and this is how I would vote on separation in a provincial referendum. It is also the position of my government,” Smith said in televised remarks. <\/p>\n

The question will ask whether Alberta should stay in Canada or take legal steps under the Constitution to hold a binding referendum on leaving.<\/p>\n

Ian Brodie, a former chief of staff to ex-Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a now a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said Smith appears to be proceeding very carefully.<\/p>\n

“A vote to see if people even want a vote. It’s a good way to let the swing voters swing against separation,” Brodie said.<\/p>\n

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A “yes” vote in a binding referendum still would not trigger independence. Negotiations with the federal government would have to take place. A 1998 Supreme Court ruling means provinces cannot secede unilaterally from Canada.<\/p>\n

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, noted Smith has publicly opposed independence so some people have compared her stance to the one of Britain’s then-Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of the Brexit referendum, which he embraced as a way to manage a vocal faction of his ruling party while not wanting the U.K. to leave the European Union.<\/p>\n

“Politically Smith seems committed to do so to appease supporters of her own party who want a referendum. If she doesn’t follow suit, she might face a potentially perilous mutiny within her partisan ranks,” Béland said. <\/p>\n

Earlier Thursday, three members of Smith’s United Conservative Party of Alberta caucus passed a motion in committee asking her and her cabinet to put the issue to a referendum on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s federal Liberal government has been working with Smith to get an oil pipeline to the Pacific coast built to make many Albertans happy.<\/p>\n

“Canada’s government strongly believes that the interests of Albertans and all Canadians are best served when we work together,” Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, posted on social media. <\/p>\n

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Béland said Smith’s question is framed in such a way that some voters could vote in favor of an independence referendum to send a message to the federal government and the rest of Canada without actually taking the risk of voting directly for independence.<\/p>\n

“It might lower the apparent stakes, making it perhaps easier for some voters to think they can send a political message to the rest of the country without taking the risk of leading the province to the point of no return,” he said. <\/p>\n

Béland said a possible future referendum is likely to lose as support for separation is slightly less than 30% but said campaigns do matter. <\/p>\n

Opposition Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre earlier said he and all Conservative members of Parliament would press for Alberta to remain part of Canada in a referendum campaign.<\/p>\n

Smith said a judge made an error last week when she ruled a citizen led petition designed to force a referendum was unconstitutional. <\/p>\n

“In her address, Smith explained that a recent court ruling makes such a binding reference impossible for now, which justifies the new question,” Béland said. <\/p>\n

Source<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Alberta province plans a public vote on whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta will hold a referendum in October on leaving Canada, but the province’s premier said Thursday it won’t actually be a vote on whether to separate. Danielle Smith said voters instead would be deciding whether it’s time to hold a referendum on quitting Canada. “I want to be…<\/p>\n

Read More “Alberta province plans a public vote on whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}