Voters in Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province were deciding on Monday whether to begin a process that could lead to independence, testing national unity as Canadians rally against U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats to claim Canada as the 51st U.S. state.
Monday’s vote is not a direct referendum on independence. Alberta, home to most of Canada’s proven oil reserves — the fourth largest in the world — will decide whether to remain a province or begin the legal process toward a future referendum on separation.
More than 1.35 million Albertans, or 43% of eligible voters, cast advance or special ballots ahead of Monday’s referendum, an unusually high level of early participation that underscores the intense interest in the province’s future. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, with results expected in the hours afterward.
Alberta is Canada’s oil heartland and cowboy country, a conservative stronghold whose political culture has long had more in common with the American West than much of Canada. Resentment toward Ottawa runs deep, but has not traditionally translated into widespread support for independence.
But even if Albertans reject the proposal, separatist leaders say the movement has transformed a fringe cause into a force in provincial politics and is not going away.
Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Albertans to deliver a decisive vote for unity. “Vote like Canada’s future depends on it because it does,” he told a rally Friday in Edmonton, where he grew up.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who called the referendum despite opposing independence, cited a poll showing just 22% support for separation, a figure she said was still too high.
The vote also comes as Alberta reels from a deadly weekend fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright that killed four service members and injured 39 others, including 19 critically, during military training.