Alberta rejects secession referendum, chooses to remain part of Canada

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.

The morning after the vote, leading separatist activist Jeffrey Rath told CNN that he was proud that his movement managed to convince roughly a quarter of voters to ask for a referendum.

“We started basically from nothing, a year and a half ago, and we’ve dominated the conversation,” Rath said. “For a fledgling political movement, it was a major victory and a hell of an accomplishment.”

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.

Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

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. Rath, 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 lent 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.

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，这给寻求美国支持的边缘但声势浩大的运动造成了决定性的打击。

截至当地时间周二凌晨，约有四分之三的选民选择留在加拿大，而四分之一的选民选择稍后就分离问题举行第二次投票，据该省公布的非官方结果显示，约有 45% 的投票站已完成计票。

周一的选举结果出炉之际，加拿大国内的爱国主义和团结情绪日益高涨，该国团结起来反对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的关税和吞并威胁。

阿尔伯塔省独立运动是由少数活跃的分离主义者领导的草根运动，该运动在网络上得到了大力宣传，其一些领导人还与特朗普政府的成员会面。

此前，加拿大《环球邮报》报道称，共和党特工曾协助分离主义领导人进行独立运动，因此此次投票面临着外国干预的担忧。

加拿大总理马克·卡尼周二早些时候在X网站上发表声明称，投票决定留在欧盟意味着“阿尔伯塔省人民和所有加拿大人将带着新的目标和远大的抱负携手前进”。

前阿尔伯塔省政治家、支持加拿大统一的“永远的加拿大”运动创始人托马斯·卢卡舒克表示，选举结果将向特朗普发出一个强烈的信号：“加拿大不是任人宰割的。”

“我们是一个团结一致的国家，从东海岸到西海岸再到东海岸，我们互相支持，”卢卡舒克在选举结果公布时对欢呼的人群说道。

投票后的第二天早上，分离主义运动领袖杰弗里·拉斯告诉 CNN，他为自己的事业成功说服大约四分之一的选民要求举行全民公投而感到自豪。

“一年半前，我们几乎是从零开始，现在我们已经主导了这场讨论，”拉斯说。“对于一个羽翼未丰的政治运动来说，这是一场重大胜利，也是一项了不起的成就。”

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。在 1995 年的公投中，这个以法语为主的省份以微弱优势投票反对脱离加拿大。

珍妮弗·戈蒂埃/路透社

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，分离主义的支持率经常很低，但在卡尼领导的自由党赢得 2025 年联邦选举，并在美国与加拿大爆发贸易战之后，分离主义运动的声音越来越大。

阿尔伯塔省省长丹妮尔·史密斯在五月份宣布，该省将举行全民公投，决定是否留在加拿大，或者稍后举行“具有约束力的省级独立公投”。

过去两年，分离主义领导人多次在华盛顿与美国官员会面，试图争取特朗普政府的支持。去年，曾参与华盛顿会晤的拉斯告诉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”。

这场运动也带有特朗普式的色彩。CNN在2025年报道的一场分离主义集会上，参与者戴着红色“让阿尔伯塔再次伟大”（MAGA）风格的帽子。甚至有少数人表示，阿尔伯塔应该跳过独立阶段，直接成为美国第51个州。

美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特曾公开支持分离主义事业，他在今年早些时候的一次采访中表示，阿尔伯塔省人民是“非常独立的人民”，而且该省是美国的“天然合作伙伴”。

上周，特朗普的盟友埃隆·马斯克在他的X平台上发帖，敦促阿尔伯塔省以及其他加拿大省份萨斯喀彻温省和魁北克省脱离加拿大，称他们“会过得更好”。

史密斯在周一晚些时候发给 X 的一篇帖子中表示，她对留在加拿大的结果“非常高兴”，但她此前曾告诫不要“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”。

他还暗讽了美国。

“这次公投的时机糟透了，”他说。“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。”

本文已更新，添加了新的进展。