What did Albertans vote on in the October 2026 referendum on leaving Canada?

On 19 October 2026 Albertans were asked: "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?" So it was not itself a vote to leave Canada. It was a choice between staying and starting the steps toward a possible later, binding referendum, and the government order that set the question made the result non-binding. It was one of 10 questions on the ballot.

Remain won clearly. Global News reported on 20 October 2026 that Albertans had decisively rejected the idea of a formal referendum on separatism: as Elections Alberta began releasing results late on referendum night, around 76 percent had voted to remain. As of 21 October 2026, Elections Alberta had not yet released its official results.

The question had a long backstory. A separatist petition was verified as having almost 223,000 signatures, and a rival petition, "Alberta Forever Canada", asking "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?", was verified with 404,293. On 13 May 2026 the Court of King's Bench of Alberta struck down the separatist petition after it was argued that Indigenous peoples had not been properly consulted. Premier Danielle Smith then announced on 21 May that a remain-or-separate question would join the ballot. People on both sides of the debate criticized its design.

Any real attempt at separation would be governed by the federal Clarity Act and the Supreme Court's opinion on Quebec: Alberta would first need a province-wide referendum on a clear question, and Parliament would then decide whether the question and the majority were clear enough for negotiations to begin.