Residents of Alberta voted on Monday to remain part of Canada, rejecting a campaign to try to separate the oil-rich western province from the rest of the country.
Voters in a referendum endorsed remaining in Canada over the option of holding a second vote on whether to secede, the public broadcaster CBC News projected late Monday evening local time.
With just over a third of votes counted, 76 percent of voters chose to remain part of Canada with 23 percent seeking another vote.
The referendum reflected the province’s long history of resentment toward the central government but also more recent discontents. Many of the separatist leaders became politically prominent by organizing large protests against restrictions during the Covid pandemic.
Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the result.
“Albertans chose Canada,” he said in a statement. “All Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition.”
In a speech to supporters in Edmonton, the provincial capital, Thomas Lukaszuk, a former provincial lawmaker whose Forever Canadian organization led the campaign to oppose secession, addressed President Trump. The vote, he said, “will send a very strong message to the rest of the world: Don’t mess with Canada.”
Unlike in Quebec, a province that held two unsuccessful votes on leaving Canada, secessionist sentiments have always been a minority viewpoint in Alberta. Still, opponents of separatism worried before the vote that voters might support holding a second referendum to show their unhappiness with the province’s relationship with Canada, even if they did not want to secede.
The vote was the work of Danielle Smith, the conservative premier of Alberta, who managed to provoke the ire of people on both sides.
Ms. Smith assumed the leadership of the United Conservative Party largely through the support of separatists who were responsible for ousting the previous premier, Jason Kenney, from party leadership.
Supporters of a united Canada were angry at Ms. Smith for adding the secession vote to a previously planned referendum with nine other questions, mostly about provincial powers and immigration.
Her move came after a court blocked an attempt by separatists to force a vote to leave Canada through a petition. Many of those favoring unity said Ms. Smith’s decision was an effort to circumvent the courts and was unconstitutional.
Supporters of leaving Canada were dismayed for a different reason, questioning why Ms. Smith had asked residents to vote on whether to hold a second vote on secession — and not the more direct question of whether they wanted to stay in Canada or leave.
Ms. Smith said she would vote to remain in Canada. However, opponents of secession viewed her support as anemic, leading many to doubt her sincerity.
Last month in an online forum, Ms. Smith, expressed support for keeping Alberta within Canada but also laid out what she described as Albertans’ grievances with the federal government.
“When proud, hard-working people feel their contribution is taken for granted,” she said, “and their livelihood is treated as something to be phased out, some begin to ask a painful question: Does this country actually want us?”
She was referring to environmental policies introduced under a former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, that many Albertans considered an effort to shut down their province’s oil sands.
Business groups, former premiers and local politicians were all firmly on the side of remaining in Canada. Economic studies, including one commissioned by the provincial government, forecast that leaving the country would come with enormous costs.
Looming over the vote was the trade war President Trump launched against Canada, as well as his musings about taking over the country as the 51st state. Some prominent separatists leaders traveled to Washington three times last year seeking support during meetings with low-level State Department officials.
Mr. Carney, who was raised in Edmonton, called the referendum a “dangerous bluff.” Mr. Carney was governor of the Bank of England when Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
Mr. Carney received an enthusiastic reception at two large rallies for those supporting remaining in Canada last week in Edmonton and Calgary. Ms. Smith did not attend either event.
Many separatist leaders are veterans of the large protests in Alberta during the Covid pandemic that were aimed at public health restrictions. They never laid out specific plans for an independent Alberta and their various factions offered a variety of futures, including a state guided by Christian doctrine, but their complaints about Canada were largely based on economic issues.
About 1.3 million people, just over a third of all eligible voters, cast ballots by mail or during early voting. Because voters had to mark 10 separate paper ballots and then place them into an equal number of ballot boxes, there were long lines at many of the 1,400 polling stations on Monday.
Before the vote, some leaders of the separatist movements suggested that they might not accept the results. Mitch Sylvestre said in an interview last Thursday that he was concerned about potential irregularities, including the validity of many mail-in ballots.
“All I’m saying is I’m very skeptical, as are a lot, or most of, our people,” Mr. Sylvestre said.
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