Vote shows normal’s different in Alberta

Thank God, that is over. But, of course, it’s not. Not surprisingly, three-quarters of Alberta voters chose to remain in Canada. As well, many eligible voters stayed home. We were whipped up into a frenzy over our province’s status by the provincial government, a tiny minority of malcontents, and the media.

Will things go back to normal now? Perhaps. However, normal in Alberta politics is not like normal elsewhere. Every province and within each province, various regions, has its own culture, and cultures change ever so slowly. In Alberta, the rural-urban split has grown wider with each passing decade. People often focus on the rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton – and it is real – but the two largest cities are much closer in spirit than either of them is with the populous rural areas.

In my constituency near central Edmonton, more than 86 per cent of voters opted to remain in Canada. In the riding next door, the Remain vote was over 90 per cent. In Calgary constituencies, the Remain vote was not quite as high, but most voted above 80 per cent to stay in Canada.

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Outside the major cities, 14 of 41 ridings registered support for remaining in Canada at less than 60 per cent, with a couple dipping below 50 per cent. In our glee about the province-wide result, keep that in mind.

Of course, we don’t know why people voted the way they did. Many voted to hold another binding referendum on separation to “send Ottawa a message, ” or for a similar reason. If push came to shove, they might well vote to remain in Canada.

To my mind, Alberta leaving Canada would make no sense. I spent three weeks in Bolivia nine years ago, and landlocked countries have a host of problems that nations with direct sea access never face. Bolivia’s poverty stems from a wide array of factors, but being landlocked is one of them. And don’t forget that 450 years ago, thanks to its abundant natural resources, it was one of the world’s wealthiest regions.

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Nevertheless, rural Albertans should not be stereotyped as ignorant bumpkins. They know their own reality, one that is based on agriculture, the oil industry, tourism, service industries, other small businesses and a naturally beautiful landscape. They have time-tested values we could learn from. They also have a deep sense of alienation we should not ignore.

Yet we also need to be alert to the ways political leaders manipulate public opinion to serve their own ends. I recently read Larry Bartels’ book, Democracy Erodes from the Top, a detailed analysis of how populist leaders in Europe manipulated public opinion to stir up opposition to immigrants, the welfare state, European integration and democracy itself to improve their electoral fortunes.

Bartels noted, for example, that while opponents of immigration dominated the headlines, Europeans’ attitudes toward immigrants grew increasingly warm over the first two decades of this century. He also pointed out that countries where support for European integration declined significantly also experienced unusually high levels of economic growth. Economic problems did not drive opposition to welcoming strangers. Hello, Alberta.

In Hungary, support for immigration remained high until Viktor Orban’s government began a concerted anti-immigrant campaign. In 2015, the Hungarian government launched a highly slanted National Consultation Regarding Immigration and Terrorism. Eight million Hungarians received a 12-point “questionnaire” that associated immigrants with terrorism, a survey the United Nations human rights office labelled “absolutely shocking.”

Support for immigration in Hungary plummeted, a scenario repeated in similar ways by anti-immigrant parties in other European nations. Opposition to immigration grew, not because of any crisis, but through the manipulation of public opinion by anti-immigrant parties, aided by extensive media coverage.

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In Alberta, the government was elected in 2023 without mentioning separation or restricting immigration. Once in power, it set up the unity referendum by announcing it would hold a referendum on various dog-whistle issues, then by lowering the requirements for holding a citizen-initiated referendum, and by the cozy relationship between the governing party and the separatists. The referendum questions, particularly those on immigration, were worded to elicit the government’s desired response.

The government may claim that the referendum results on those nine questions other than separation reflect public opinion. However, it is public opinion driven and manipulated from the top. If there is any lesson in this, it is that we ought to be wary when governments seek “public opinion” on issues in which the public has previously shown little interest.

(Argan is a Catholic Register columnist and former editor of the Western Catholic Reporter. He writes his online column Epiphany.)

A version of this article appeared in the November 01, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "Vote shows normal’s different in Alberta".