The people of the oil-rich Alberta on Monday voted against succession from Canada.

Unofficial results from Elections Alberta showed that 76 per cent of voters rejected the proposal to break away from Canada, while less than 24 per cent of the over 1.5 million votes cast were in favour of secession.

The data also indicated that about 43 percent of eligible voters, representing 1.3 million Albertans, had already cast their votes before Monday, through advance voting and mail-in ballots. 

The figure is a higher turnout in comparison to the province’s last referendum in 2021.

Monday’s referendum votes suffered delays at about 100 of the 1,400 at polling stations across the province which pushed results back by over two hours.

Canada prime minister, Mark Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, in a statement on Tuesday, said, “While votes on all questions continue to be tallied, tonight’s results on the defining question of separation means that Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition.

“We are building that future, bigger and faster than ever before. Canada is securing new trade partners around the world, fast-tracking major, nation-building projects in every part of the country, and unleashing our full potential as a global energy superpower with Alberta at its core.

“Canada is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Now it is our opportunity to take all that we have been given as Canadians – and we have been given the greatest country in the world – and make our country better for all of us.”

The Alberta premier, Danielle Smith, in an appreciation statement on Tuesday, on X, to the people of Alberta, said, “Thank you, Alberta! I’m very pleased to see the initial results from Elections Alberta show widespread support for remaining in Canada. Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada.

“Thank you to all Albertans who took time to vote on these critically important referendum questions. Tomorrow evening, October 20, I will address Albertans live at 6:45 p.m. to discuss the results of all referendum questions for which results are available, and where our province goes from here.”

Separatists in Alberta however stated that though the final results had not been confirmed, the referendum was already proof that Alberta deserves to be treated better by the government.

A leader of the separatist movement, Keith Wilson, said, “We don’t have the final results. I think the numbers are going to fluctuate, but it is fair to say that at least a quarter of Albertans feel that Alberta needs to be treated better.”