CTV News is your Alberta Referendum headquarters. Live results. Expert analysis. Everything you need to know is here.
Albertans are heading to the polls on Monday to cast their ballot on a historic referendum asking 10 questions, including whether the province should stay in Canada or have another vote to separate.
More than one million people have already voted via mail-in ballots and advance voting, and polls will be open between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The first five questions ask about immigrants to Alberta and their access to health care, education and citizenship.
The next four ask about Alberta’s constitutional and judicial power in the country.
The final question asks if the province should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on separating.
Elections Alberta will begin to count mail-in ballots and advance votes at 5 p.m. local time, and it will begin to announce results when polls close.
Results for Question 10, or the separation question, are expected to be announced between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Elections Alberta said.
CTV News will bring you the latest information during voting day and results as they are announced on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Follow along for live updates and key details
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Final federal campaign pushes
Carney and Poilievre wrapped pro-Canada tours in Alberta days before Monday’s referendum.
Carney leveraged his Edmonton roots during his speech in the capital city Friday evening.
“A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep uncertainty and lost opportunities for Albertans and Canadians,” he told a crowd of thousands. “Our country and your futures are too precious to play games with.”
Poilievre, similarly, told Albertans they were “not quitters.”
“To those people who are thinking about taking out their frustration on the current government by voting for separation in the referendum, I say this: Canada is more than a government. It is a people, a flag, a land, a history and a promise.”
Surface-level tensions between Carney and Smith still lay in the other nine questions – to which Smith wants a mandate of “yes” from Albertans where the prime minister urged a “no.”
How did Alberta get here?
Discontent with Ottawa has ebbed and flowed, reignited once again in 2019 under United Conservative Party Premier Jason Kenney.
He held a referendum in 2021 wherein oil-rich Albertans called to end equalization payments – federal tax revenues distributed through the provinces and territories. Nothing concrete came of it.
Despite Kenney’s succession by Danielle Smith, who has advertised a more tempered take on Ottawa, separation was thrown into the limelight once again when the Alberta Prosperity Project began its “Stay Free Alberta” petition earlier this year.
That petition gathered enough signatures to call a referendum but was shot down in court for being unconstitutional.
A counter-petition by anti-separation group Forever Canadian around the same time was successful – after much debate – hence the double-sided Question 10 that Albertans vote on today.
Sending a 'message' to Ottawa?
Using the separation question to send a “message” to Ottawa about Albertans’ frustrations is “very dangerous,” an Alberta anti-separatist said.
If that’s what some Albertans are trying to do, Thomas Lukaszuk, founder of pro-unity group Forever Canadian, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday that “it has already been heard.”
“But keep in mind that you’re also sending that very same message to investors, to the capital that Alberta needs so badly to build the pipelines and refineries that we need,” he said.
“The message is don’t invest in Alberta because we are unstable at this point.”
Forever Canada leader Thomas Lukaszuk gives a speech during a pro-Canada rally in Edmonton, on Sunday, Oct, 18, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Timon Johnson
Referendum is ‘utter nonsense’: First Nations chief
By adding a separation question to the referendum, the Alberta premier has shown First Nations that “she completely disregards the law,” one chief says.
“To have a referendum is utter nonsense,” Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
He said he hasn’t seen any outreach from anyone on what the aftermath could look like.
“It’s been talk. It’s been rhetoric,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything tangible that would benefit anyone.”
Sunshine suggested focusing a referendum on issues with "serious impacts," such as health care, education and data centres.
“Yet, we get a lot of questions on immigrants,” he said.
“... It’s just a smokescreen.”
“To have a referendum is utter nonsense,” Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
He said he hasn’t seen any outreach from anyone on what the aftermath could look like.
“It’s been talk. It’s been rhetoric,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything tangible that would benefit anyone.”
Sunshine suggested focusing a referendum on issues with "serious impacts," such as health care, education and data centres.
“Yet, we get a lot of questions on immigrants,” he said.
“... It’s just a smokescreen.”
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine speaks outside the Edmonton law courts in Edmonton, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. The nation is challenging the constitutionality of Alberta's citizen-initiated referendum process in the wake of the separatist movement brewing in the province and its attempt to try and force a vote on having Alberta quit Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jack Farrell
Effect of Carney’s election win?
Prime Minister Mark Carney's win in last year's federal election appears to have been the “fundamental trigger” behind the separation movement’s resurgence, a political expert in Alberta says.
“There’s a partisan element to it,” said Duane Bratt, political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
“Separatism tends to be stronger when the Liberals are in office” in Ottawa, he said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also acted more sympathetically towards the movement than her predecessors, he added.
“Other premiers would fight Ottawa ... but no one would have made the legal changes necessary for the separatist movement like Danielle Smith has.”
“There’s a partisan element to it,” said Duane Bratt, political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
“Separatism tends to be stronger when the Liberals are in office” in Ottawa, he said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also acted more sympathetically towards the movement than her predecessors, he added.
“Other premiers would fight Ottawa ... but no one would have made the legal changes necessary for the separatist movement like Danielle Smith has.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a national unity rally in Red Deer, and signs an autograph on Friday Oct. 16, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Ulan
The 10 questions
Smith told the province that “out-of-control” immigration levels and tensions between Alberta and Ottawa meant her government needed a mandate from the people on how best to proceed.
The first five questions ask about immigrants to Alberta and their access to health care, education and citizenship.
The next four ask about Alberta’s constitutional and judicial power in the country.
The final question, added months later, asks if the province should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on separating.
The first nine questions were subject to debate on the legality, morality and feasibility of changes Smith’s government was proposing.
When you hear “yes to the rest” or “no to the nine,” those are the questions the slogans are referring to.
More than 1.3M votes counted: Elections Alberta
More than a third of Alberta voters have cast their ballots through the mail or at advance polls.
As of Sunday afternoon, 837,791 people voted at advanced polls and 519,082 sent their vote by mail, for a total of 1,356,873 votes, Elections Alberta said.
There are 3,148,343 eligible voters.
In the 2023 provincial election, only 27.5 per cent of eligible voters participated in advanced polls or mail-in voting. For the referendum, 43.1 per cent of eligible voters did advanced voting or voted by special ballot.
Alberta’s Election Day is here
It’s Election Day in Alberta for a historic referendum that asks a number of questions, including whether the province should stay in Canada.
All voting locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. MT.
Albertans must go to the assigned location on their “where to vote” card. Elections Alberta will also have all poll stations organized by address on its website.
Monday is the culmination of five days of advance voting the week prior and a provincially record-breaking number of mailed-in ballots.
By law, votes for all 10 ballots must be counted by hand within 48 hours. Officials have said to expect early results released after 8 p.m. MT, with a final count for Question 10 announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
