Alberta Referendum Tops 1 Million Ballots Before Monday Vote

More than one million Albertans had already cast a ballot by Friday night, with one day of advance voting left before Monday's referendum on the province's future in Canada.

Elections Alberta is expecting turnout of 80 to 85 percent of registered voters, the Edmonton Journal reported. Advance polls close on Saturday, October 17, after opening on October 13. On the first advance day alone, 174,532 people voted, more than the daily average in the 2023 provincial election.

Carney makes his final pitch in Edmonton

Prime Minister Mark Carney closed his Alberta tour on Friday night at the Edmonton Expo Centre, speaking to a Forever Canadian rally crowd of more than 5,000 people in the city where he grew up.

“There are some outside our borders working to break us, so they can own us,” Carney said. He called this the worst time for a referendum and said it would be foolish to gamble with the province's future just to send a message.

He did not dodge the energy fight. “The frustrations that many Albertans have felt are real,” he said, arguing that Alberta sits at the centre of his government's building plans and can help cut Canada's dependence on the United States.

Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk told the crowd their grandchildren would study this vote in school. Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack urged voters to reject the other nine questions too, and the crowd answered with a chant of “no to nine.” Former premier Rachel Notley sent a recorded message, and hockey figure Kevin Lowe also spoke for staying in Canada.

What is on the ballot

Voters answer ten questions, each on its own ballot. Five deal with immigration, four with constitutional change, and the tenth asks whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or start the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation. The separation question is not binding, and a vote to start the process does not take Alberta out of Canada.

Premier Danielle Smith set the questions and has said she will vote to remain.

The last days

Advance polls run Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and voters can use any advance voting place inside their own electoral district. On Monday, October 19, polls run the same hours, but voters must use the place assigned to their home address. With ten ballots to count by hand, the count starts when polls close on Monday.

Read the ten questions before you go. Elections Alberta says it cannot interpret the questions for voters, and lines have been long all week.