Key Trends Emerging From Alberta’s 10-Question Referendum

Support for remaining part of Canada in the Oct. 19 referendum was strongest in Alberta’s major cities, as polls had predicted. But the preliminary results also reveal other notable patterns in how Albertans voted. About 75 percent of Albertans voted against separation, while 25 percent supported holding a binding referendum on separation, according to preliminary results as of the evening of Oct. 20, with 90 percent of voting locations reporting. Outside Edmonton and Calgary, support for holding a separation referendum reached 34 percent, compared with less than 20 percent in the province’s two major cities. Two rural electoral divisions had more votes against remain than for: Central Peace-Notley in northern Alberta, and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in the central part of the province, each with 51 percent voting against remain.