Late results confirm separation majority here

Over half of Rimbey-Rocky-Sundre voters
chose separation referendum, provincial majority voted to stay

By Glen Mazza
Editor

Unofficial results from Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum show 467 more voters in Rimbey–Rocky Mountain House–Sundre supported beginning the process toward a referendum on separation than supported remaining a province of Canada. As a percentage, it was the highest in the province where only one other riding had a similar majority.

With all 85 voting areas reporting, 12,687 voters in the constituency, or 50.94 per cent, selected the option calling for the Alberta government to begin the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.

Another 12,220 voters, or 49.06 per cent, selected the option stating Alberta should remain a province in Canada.
The results were not complete when The Mountaineer went to press last week. At that time, results from 82 of 85 voting areas in the constituency had been reported.

Those preliminary numbers showed 12,568 votes, or 50.91 per cent, in favour of beginning the legal process toward a separation referendum and 12,120 votes, or 49.09 per cent, in favour of remaining a province.

With all voting areas now included in the unofficial count, support for beginning the referendum process increased slightly from 50.91 to 50.94 per cent.

The result in Rimbey–Rocky Mountain House–Sundre contrasted with the province-wide vote.

Across Alberta, 1,552,251 voters, or 74.9 per cent of valid votes cast on Question 10, selected the option stating Alberta should remain a province in Canada. About one-quarter supported beginning the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation.

Elections Alberta said the unofficial count took longer than expected in some areas because of procedural errors at several voting locations. In some cases, ballots from multiple voting areas were placed in the same ballot boxes and had to be manually separated.

Where ballots could not be separated by voting area, Elections Alberta combined the results under one voting area for that voting location. Elections Alberta said all ballots were accounted for and included in the results.
The results remain unofficial. Elections Alberta is scheduled to announce the official referendum results on Oct. 29.