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Alberta’s vote on whether to stay in Canada is going into overtime. Elections Alberta says more than 100 voting locations will stay open past the scheduled 8 p.m. closing time.
The agency says that for various reasons it did not specify those locations opened late, so it cannot release unofficial results until 10 p.m. when the last polling station closes.
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More than 1,400 polling locations across the province were accepting ballots Monday on the last day of voting in the referendum. About 1.3 million Albertans have already voted by mail or in person in advance last week.
The referendum question, announced earlier this year by Premier Danielle Smith, is one of 10 voters are asked to mark an X on.
The question asks whether Alberta should stay in Canada or whether it’s time to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation.
In Calgary, voters were bustling in and out of Grace Presbyterian Church on Monday. Those coming out were given yellow stickers with the words: I voted.
Scott Hill, donning a baseball cap with a red maple leaf, said he’s respectful of everyone’s opinion but to him the referendum is “surreal” and his vote was to stay.
“People are angry, I can see that. But we’re Canadian, we need to stand together,” he said, noting his grandfather fought in the Second World War.
“This is without a doubt the most important vote I’ve ever done.”
In Edmonton, there was a slow-moving lineup at All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral. Jeff Sparks was one of several voters who said he hopes the remain-in-Canada vote wins.
“And that this puts the situation to bed and that we don’t really have to hear about this anymore,” he said.
Shawn Campbell said he voted for the province to start the process toward a binding referendum, even though he doesn’t want the province to separate and doesn’t believe it ever will.
“It sends a message to Ottawa that Albertans are not happy,” he said.
The vote caps months of rallies, speeches and analyses from both sides.
Smith’s United Conservative Party never campaigned on holding a separation vote in the last election in 2023, but says some Albertans’ anger with the state of affairs under former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau has boiled over into hundreds of thousands signing petitions for and against Confederation.
A referendum, Smith has said, is now necessary to resolve the matter once and for all.
The remaining nine questions surround immigration and constitutional issues.
The immigration questions ask Albertans whether the province should have more say on who comes to the province to work and whether it’s time to put more limitations — and perhaps introduce fees — on some who arrive and seek access to health care and education.
The constitutional questions ask Albertans for a blessing to pursue talks with other provinces on wresting power from the federal government and abolishing the Senate.
Smith has said the first nine questions are meant to give leverage in the province’s negotiations with Ottawa.
The premier has also said she voted to stay in Canada but says she needs a yes to those remaining nine questions to get a mandate to bargain for a better deal with Carney.
In Calgary, voter Amneet Mann characterized some of those questions as anti-immigrant.
“I just don’t think that’s what this country stands for,” she said. “I think it’s crazy that we’re here and we have to make that known.”
Jamie Fisher went to Mount Royal School in Calgary to vote to move forward with a binding separation referendum, and to support Smith’s other nine proposals.
“I don’t think it’s been fair for a really long time, and I think a lot people need to really hear that message,” she said.
Carney’s statement made her angry, she said.
“(It) just shows that it’s more of a dictatorship than listening to people,” she said. “Everyone is going to have a different answer and that’s OK, but it feels good to be heard.”
— with files from Dayne Patterson and Timon Johnson
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