00:00Alberta just voted on whether to break away from Canada, and the answer was a landslide.
00:04More than 1.4 million votes counted, and over 76% said, we stay.
00:10This is News Plus Globe, and tonight we break down Canada's historic separation vote.
00:15The numbers, the backstory, and what happens next.
00:18On Monday, Albertans faced Question 10 of a 10-question referendum.
00:23The choice? Alberta should remain a province in Canada.
00:26Or the province should start the legal process toward a binding vote on separation.
00:30This was not a direct vote on independence.
00:33It was a vote on whether to open the door to one.
00:35By late Monday night, Canada's public broadcaster projected the winner, Remain.
00:40The unofficial tally? 1,079,000 votes to stay, against 334,000 for the separation path.
00:4876% to 24%, roughly 3 to 1.
00:52Turnout was massive.
00:54Over 1.3 million Albertans cast advanced ballots, 43% of eligible voters.
01:00106 polling stations opened late.
01:02Results were delayed more than two hours.
01:05In one town, stations ran out of ballots entirely.
01:08Prime Minister Mark Carney called it a clear choice.
01:11Quote,
01:12Albertans made a clear choice.
01:13They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other.
01:17Above all, he said, Albertans chose Canada.
01:20Premier Danielle Smith, who put the question on the ballot, said Albertans have voted for
01:25a stronger Alberta in a united Canada.
01:27She addresses the province Tuesday evening, on the results, and on where Alberta goes from
01:32here.
01:32So why did this vote happen at all?
01:34Follow the oil.
01:35Alberta sits on some of the world's biggest oil reserves, over 4 million barrels a day,
01:41most of it flowing to refineries in the United States.
01:43For years, separatists argued Ottawa takes Alberta's wealth and gives nothing back.
01:49One voter told the Associated Press, Alberta has been treated, quote, as a colony.
01:54Anger grew under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's environmental policies, which restricted
01:58energy development.
02:00But Carney reversed course, cancelling the consumer carbon tax, loosening emissions rules,
02:05and fast-tracking a new pipeline to the Pacific coast.
02:08Ottawa designated that new oil pipeline, 1 million barrels a day to British Columbia,
02:13a project of national interest.
02:15The goal?
02:16Sell more Canadian oil to Asia and depend less on the United States, especially with President
02:21Trump's trade war and annexation threats looming over the relationship.
02:25Separatist leaders are not surrendering.
02:27One said at least a quarter of Albertans feel the province needs to be treated better.
02:31Another told supporters,
02:33Tonight is not the finish line.
02:35We have awoken something in this province, and that spirit is not going anywhere.
02:39Official results arrive October 29th, but the political message is already clear.
02:45Carney gets a unity victory, Smith keeps her coalition together, and Alberta's oil keeps
02:50flowing, with Ottawa now racing to build the pipelines that make separation less tempting.
02:54The big question, does this bury the separatist's dream, or just pause it?
02:59Quebec's separatists are watching this result closely, and so is every capital with its own
03:04breakaway movement.
03:05For now, Canada holds together, but the oil money and the anger are not going away.
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03:16This is News Plus Globe.
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