Alberta secession vote tests Canada's unity

Alberta voters are due to decide on October 19 whether the oil-rich province should begin the process of separating from Canada, in a nonbinding referendum that has become a test of national unity.

Polling cited in the item indicates less than a quarter of Alberta’s roughly five million people want independence. Mitch Sylvestre, who heads the Alberta Prosperity Project, told AFP he believed the numbers were wrong. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually win this referendum,” he said, adding that he would be very surprised if support was below 40 percent.

The vote is also a political challenge for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who grew up in Alberta and returned there this week to campaign for national unity. Carney has backed a new pipeline and other projects to increase crude production, a shift from predecessor Justin Trudeau, who was widely disliked in Alberta over claims that he held back oil industry growth in favor of environmental policies.

In a Canadian Thanksgiving video address filmed at his Edmonton high school, Carney said the pipeline could create “lasting opportunity and prosperity” in Alberta and across Canada. “We can’t achieve any of this if we are divided,” he said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is voting against independence and has praised Carney’s openness to the oil industry. She told the CBC she called the referendum to settle a question dividing the province. If a majority supports leaving Canada, she said she will begin the legally binding process of separation; if a majority votes to stay, she said she will not approve another referendum.

The item also says alleged influence by allies of US President Donald Trump has drawn scrutiny in Canada. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called Alberta a “natural partner” for the United States, and Alberta Prosperity Project leaders held several meetings at the State Department. Sylvestre told AFP that US interests do not play a role for him unless separatists win and form a government.