Alberta rejects secession referendum, chooses to remain part of Canada, CBC projects

The oil-rich province of Alberta has rejected the pathway to secession and will remain part of Canada, public broadcaster and CNN newsgathering partner CBC News projected Monday.

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 Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won the 2025 federal elections amid a trade war with the United States. In May, Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith announced that the province would hold a referendum on whether to remain in Canada, or to have a “binding provincial referendum” on independence later.

Smith, though not a separatist herself, 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.”

Canada’s deteriorating relationship with the US also hung heavy over the referendum. Some separatists believe that the US would be a better partner to Alberta than Canada, and the movement possesses a Trumpian flavor. At one secessionist rally CNN attended in 2025, some participants wore red MAGA-style “Make Alberta Great Again” hats. A minority even said that Alberta ought to skip independence and become the 51st US state.

Earlier this year, secessionist leaders met with US officials in Washington to try and negotiate support from US President Donald Trump’s 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.”

“It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada,” said British Columbia Premier David Eby, “to seek to go and ask for assistance to break up this country from a foreign power.”

Last week, Carney made an oblique swipe at the US in his speech.

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

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

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Lex Harvey contributed reporting.

加拿大公共广播公司（CBC）和美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）的新闻合作伙伴CBC新闻周一预测，石油资源丰富的阿尔伯塔省拒绝了脱离加拿大的道路，将继续留在加拿大。

阿尔伯塔省面积与德克萨斯州大致相当，长期以来一直存在着一个边缘化的独立运动。该省的分离主义者认为，加拿大的联邦体制在议会中未能充分代表其500万人口的利益；加拿大应对气候变化的努力威胁到阿尔伯塔省利润丰厚的化石燃料产业；而且阿尔伯塔省的保守政治势力往往被更为自由的东部省份所压制。

尽管在阿尔伯塔省，支持分离的呼声一直不高，但在总理马克·卡尼领导的自由党赢得2025年联邦大选，以及中美贸易战的背景下，分离运动的声势日益高涨。今年5月，阿尔伯塔省省长丹妮尔·史密斯宣布，该省将举行全民公投，决定是否留在加拿大，或者稍后举行一次“具有约束力的省级独立公投”。

史密斯本人虽然不是分离主义者，但她之前曾告诫人们不要“妖魔化”独立支持者。

“我们时不时会看到这类举措出现，”史密斯在2025年接受CNN采访时表示。“它们几乎总是对失控的联邦政府的回应。但当联邦政府回归正轨后，这些举措都逐渐平息了。”

在阿尔伯塔省长大的卡尼上周在卡尔加里发表讲话，敦促选民拒绝脱离阿尔伯塔省，他当时也表达了对这种不满。“许多阿尔伯塔省居民的沮丧之情是真实的，”卡尼说。

但总理表示，分离只会给阿尔伯塔省人民带来“多年的深刻分裂和巨大的不确定性”。

加拿大与美国日益恶化的关系也给这次公投蒙上了阴影。一些分离主义者认为，美国比加拿大更适合成为阿尔伯塔省的合作伙伴，而且这场运动带有浓厚的特朗普色彩。在CNN于2025年参加的一次分离主义集会上，一些参与者戴着红色的“让阿尔伯塔再次伟大”（MAGA）风格的帽子。甚至有少数人表示，阿尔伯塔省应该放弃独立，直接成为美国的第51个州。

今年早些时候，分离主义领导人在华盛顿与美国官员会面，试图争取美国总统唐纳德·特朗普政府的支持。杰弗里·拉斯是一位著名的分离主义者和律师，他曾是华盛顿会议的成员之一。去年，他告诉CNN，特朗普在2024年当选总统给独立运动人士带来了希望。

“如果说谁有胆量承认阿尔伯塔省独立，那一定是特朗普政府，”拉思说道。

当时有关这些会议的消息激怒了加拿大政界人士，他们指责分离主义领导人犯有“叛国罪”。

不列颠哥伦比亚省省长戴维·埃比表示：“试图削弱加拿大是完全不恰当的，试图去寻求外国势力的帮助，以分裂加拿大。”

上周，卡尼在演讲中对美国进行了含沙射影的抨击。

卡尼在卡尔加里表示：“这次公投的时机糟透了。世界变得更加危险和分裂。一些境外势力正试图摧毁我们，以便控制我们。”

周一的投票是自 1995 年魁北克公投以来加拿大举行的首次此类全民公投，当时这个以法语为主的省份以微弱优势投票反对脱离联邦。

这是一则正在更新的新闻。

CNN的莱克斯·哈维对此报道亦有贡献。