Oil-rich province to vote on leaving Canada

Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta will hold a public vote in October on whether to remain in the country or take steps toward a binding referendum on independence, Premier Danielle Smith has announced.

The vote is expected to be held on October 19 and will ask Albertans whether they want the province to remain in Canada. Smith stressed that the ballot would not itself be a binding referendum on Alberta’s independence, but would instead gauge whether residents want to pursue one.

The announcement comes after a pro-independence group, Stay Free Alberta, submitted nearly 302,000 signatures in a bid to trigger a citizen-led referendum on leaving Canada. The required threshold was 177,732 signatures, equal to 10% of the votes cast in the previous provincial election.

Smith has said she personally supports Alberta remaining in Canada, but argues that residents should be able to express their views on the province’s future. The initiative was also challenged in court by First Nations groups arguing that Alberta’s potential secession would violate treaty rights.