ALBERTANS REJECT SEPARATION, VOTE TO STAY IN CANADA AS PM CARNEY HAILS VOTE

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has hailed Alberta voters for rejecting a move that could have set the oil-rich province on a path towards separation from Canada, declaring that Albertans had chosen national unity.

Early unofficial results from Monday’s historic provincial referendum showed a decisive majority voting for Alberta to remain part of Canada rather than begin the legal process towards a future binding referendum on separation.

With more than one million votes counted, about 77 per cent supported remaining in Canada, while roughly 23 per cent backed beginning the separation process.

The October 19 vote was not a direct referendum on Alberta becoming an independent country. Rather, voters were asked whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the constitutional process that could ultimately lead to a binding vote on separation.

Reacting to the results, Carney said Albertans had delivered a clear verdict on the province’s future.

“On October 19, Albertans made a clear choice. They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other,” the Prime Minister said.

“Above all, Albertans chose Canada.”

Carney noted that counting was continuing on other questions put before voters, but said the result on what he called the “defining question of separation” meant Alberta and the rest of Canada could now move forward together.

“While votes on all questions continue to be tallied, tonight’s results on the defining question of separation mean that Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition,” he said.

The referendum followed an intense debate over Alberta’s place in the Canadian federation, fuelled by longstanding grievances over federal energy policies, taxation, equalisation and the province’s relationship with Ottawa.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith opposed separation but called the referendum amid growing pressure from the province’s separatist movement.

Smith welcomed the early results, saying they demonstrated widespread support for remaining in the federation.

“Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada,” she said.

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, had campaigned strongly for national unity ahead of the referendum, urging voters at a rally in Edmonton to “vote like Canada’s future depends on it because it does.”

Following Monday’s result, the Prime Minister sought to turn attention towards his government’s economic agenda, with Alberta’s vast energy resources occupying a central place.

Carney said Canada was expanding its international trading relationships, accelerating major infrastructure projects and seeking to strengthen its position as a major global energy producer.

“We are building that future, bigger and faster than ever before,” he said.

“Canada is securing new trade partners around the world, fast-tracking major, nation-building projects in every part of the country, and unleashing our full potential as a global energy superpower with Alberta at its core.”

Alberta is the centre of Canada’s oil and gas industry and holds most of the country’s proven oil reserves, giving the province enormous economic and strategic importance.

Despite the decisive early result, separatist campaigners have indicated that the political movement for greater Alberta autonomy or eventual independence is unlikely to disappear.

Carney, however, presented Monday’s vote as an opportunity to put national unity at the centre of Canada’s next phase of development.

“Canada is so much greater than the sum of its parts,” he said.

“Now it is our opportunity to take all that we have been given as Canadians — and we have been given the greatest country in the world — and make our country better for all of us.”