Alberta independence referendum tests separatist push

Alberta voters are set to test the province's separatist movement in a non-binding October 19 referendum on whether the government should organize a binding vote on leaving Canada.

Chris Scott, a former oil worker who became known after his 2021 arrest for protesting Covid lockdowns, has travelled across Alberta this year to campaign for independence. He has hosted more than 115 town halls ahead of the vote.

Alberta is Canada's fourth-largest province and has about five million people. Polls cited by AFP suggest only about a quarter of Albertans want to leave Canada.

The separatist movement includes people who oppose environmental regulation of Alberta's oil industry, raise concerns about immigration or accuse Ottawa of restricting free speech. Some supporters also cite Prime Minister Mark Carney's pursuit of closer ties with Europe.

Premier Danielle Smith, who leads Alberta's right-wing government, called the non-binding vote after a judge blocked a citizen-led referendum over constitutional concerns. The ballot question asks whether voters want her government to organize a binding referendum on leaving Canada.

University of Toronto political scientist Phil Triadafilopoulos said Smith may be trying to calm her party's right flank in the hope that a referendum loss will settle the issue. Carney has called the referendum question “a dangerous bluff.”

Carney and Smith were in Fort McMurray on Thursday announcing progress towards a new west coast pipeline, a project experts say is partly aimed at easing western resentment of Ottawa. Carney said the project showed “Canada is working.”