{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreiekjikjva2nhkzlc4aoh7f4hh2277q47m3hxgbmwomcongdu2jjh4",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:oznbnvgr7dmvddiyvr7dih52/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmfwib6g66f2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreiad6hwzn4kmnj3v3ipve7figjzv3w2v54nd3c3ljs7uxd7yxvsojq"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 243841
  },
  "path": "/news/world/alberta-independence-referendum-canada-vote",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-22T02:07:46.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Canada's Federal Election last year",
    "when the Liberals won",
    "godfather of Reform UK",
    "Canada’s Mark Carney used taxpayers’ cash to spend half a MILLION on plane food in year as PM",
    "Donald Trump asks if Canada has 'stopped' recognising King",
    "PICTURED: Trans 'gun-person' who killed children, teachers and family members in Canada tragedy",
    "Like in Scotland",
    "control of their oil industry",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nThe Canadian province of Alberta will hold an independence referendum within months, its Premier has confirmed.\n\nA petition calling for separation had gained more than 300,000 signatures earlier this year - and now, a date has been set for a vote.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nAlbertans will vote on whether to stay in Canada, or push ahead with a second binding vote on separating, on October 19.\n\nIn a TV address last night, Premier Danielle Smith said the question on ballot cards will be: \"Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nThe premier said she would vote for Alberta to stay - while opinion polls suggest the majority of locals would vote against separating.\n\nAnother petition calling for the province to stay, also earlier this year, garnered more than 400,000 signatures..\n\nFrench-speaking Quebec, so far, is Canada's only province to have held an independence referendum - doing so twice, in 1980 and 1995.\n\nAlberta's independence movement is more popular on the right, as is the idea of joining the US.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nBefore Canada's Federal Election last year, activists said a win for Mark Carney's Liberal Party would considerably increase support for Albertan independence.\n\nAnd when the Liberals won, Alberta's Government introduced an Act to make it easier for citizens to initiate referendums, including on separation from Canada.\n\nSpeaking to the BBC just days before the election, Jeffrey Rath, the co-founder of the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project, said: \"We have a lot more culturally in common with our neighbours to the south in Montana… [and] with our cousins in Texas, than we do anywhere else.\"\n\nWhile in an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail newspaper, influential conservative and \"godfather of Reform UK\" Preston Manning warned how \"large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it\".\n\n### LATEST FROM CANADA:\n\n\n\n\n  * Canada’s Mark Carney used taxpayers’ cash to spend half a MILLION on plane food in year as PM\n  * Donald Trump asks if Canada has 'stopped' recognising King\n  * PICTURED: Trans 'gun-person' who killed children, teachers and family members in Canada tragedy\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"A vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession - a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it,\" he wrote.\n\nLike in Scotland, some Albertans want to separate so they can take control of their oil industry.\n\nAnd under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada introduced a slew of environmental policies which were seen as a direct attack on the province's economy.\n\nIf Alberta's \"leave\" side wins in October, the province would face a heavily uncertain future - including questions over American statehood or whether to retain the King as monarch.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nIn May, Mr Carney said any attempt for the province to separate must follow the rules set out by the Clarity Act - the 26-year-old law put in place after the 1995 Quebec referendum.\n\nA possible second binding Alberta independence referendum would have to follow ground rules laid out under the Act, including:\n\n  * A \"clear majority\" of voters must be in favour of leaving;\n  * The language of the independence referendum question must be clear, with oversight from Canada's House of Commons.\n\n\n\nIf those conditions were met, Alberta would then start lengthy Brexit-style separation negotiations with the Canadian Government.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Canadian province to hold independence referendum - and could become a US state"
}