Alberta’s referendum to begin the process of seceding from Canada failed by a wide margin on Monday, keeping Canada’s oil wealth intact and delivering a major political win to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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Unofficial results show 77% of voters opposed a move toward separation, backing Canadian unity as U.S. tensions mount.

Alberta voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to begin the process of separating from Canada, with 77% opposing the initiative in unofficial results that strengthen Prime Minister Mark Carney’s push for national unity.

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With more than 1 million ballots counted, 23% supported the proposal, according to Elections Alberta. The October 19 referendum was not a direct vote on independence; approval would have set the province on a path toward a future vote on separation.

Carney welcomed the results, saying Albertans had chosen to remain part of Canada and that the outcome would allow the country to pursue an ambitious economic agenda.

“Above all, Albertans chose Canada,” he said in a statement released on October 20. He added that Canadians could move forward together with renewed purpose and greater ambition.

Carney also pointed to efforts to secure new international trade partners, accelerate major infrastructure projects across the country and expand Canada’s role as a global energy power, with Alberta at the center of those plans.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also welcomed the early results, saying they demonstrated support for a stronger province within a united Canada.

“Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada,” Smith wrote on social media.

Smith called the referendum under pressure from separatists within her governing United Conservative Party (UCP), despite opposing independence. She was scheduled to address the province on Tuesday evening about the results and Alberta’s future.

Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier who led the Forever Canadian campaign against separation, also welcomed the outcome.

“We are a solid country that’s united from coast to coast to coast,” he told supporters.

Separatist leaders, meanwhile, pointed to the vote as evidence of continuing dissatisfaction with the federal government in Ottawa. Keith Wilson, a prominent figure in the movement, cautioned that the results were not final but argued that a substantial share of Albertans wanted the province to be treated better.

“We don’t have the final results. I think the numbers are going to fluctuate, but it is fair to say that at least a quarter of Albertans feel that Alberta needs to be treated better,” Wilson said.

The results were delayed after late openings forced more than 100 polling stations to extend their voting hours on Monday.

Alberta, home to the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, is a conservative stronghold whose political culture has long had more in common with the American West than with much of Canada.

Resentment toward the federal government has persisted, but separatist parties historically attracted only 1% to 2% of the vote, according to former Premier Jason Kenney. Anger over COVID-19 restrictions helped mobilize activists who later embraced the separatist movement.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state have helped Carney rally support in Alberta, where Liberal prime ministers have traditionally been unpopular.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Russia interfered in the 2016 referendum that took Britain out of the European Union, in podcast excerpts released on 11 October, the Associated Press reported. His remarks are believed to be the first time a British prime minister has publicly acknowledged such meddling.

Russia’s information war keeps running through Europe’s ballots. German security sources said in August that Moscow was escalating disinformation before state elections, and Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation found more than 200 Russian fake news sites aimed at France last year.

One question, one clear answer

Burnham told The Rest Is Politics podcast that he asked his advisers whether Russia had interfered in the 2016 vote. He asked after taking office in July.

“I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was,” he said.

He argued that such things must now be put clearly on the record. He did not say how Russia interfered or offer evidence, and Moscow has long denied interfering in foreign votes.

Burnham said he had discussed Russian interference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin the previous week. “You know he was saying to me that the AfD are clearly linked to Russia, funded I believe,” Burnham said, referring to Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party. Putting such interference on the record would help “voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia,” he added.

Years of silence

In 2020, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee found that the government had actively avoided investigating whether Russia meddled in the referendum. The report noted open-source signs of Russian attempts to sway the Brexit campaign. The government, it said, had never looked for hard evidence.

The government rejected the committee’s call for a review.

“We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU Referendum,” it said.

That same year, London said Russian actors had almost certainly tried to interfere in the 2019 general election. The government said they did it by amplifying leaked UK-US trade documents online.

From 2019 to 2016

Three weeks ago, Burnham stopped short of this. At the UN General Assembly on 22 September, he said the Kremlin spends around £1.3 billion each year on manipulating information. That is roughly $1.7 billion at recent exchange rates. He cited evidence that Russian agencies tried to interfere in the 2019 general election, but he did not mention 2016.

In the same speech, he said Britain had already helped Moldova protect its elections from Russian interference.

A second village is to hold a vote on whether to have a referendum to leave the UK in protest over plans to create a camp to house 1,250 asylum seekers in a former RAF base nearby.

The post Second Village to Hold Vote on Referendum to Leave Britain appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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