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CalgaryAt a library branch CBC News visited in Calgary, a few people were excited to vote. Others were just starting to follow the process, and several expressed frustration at Alberta even having a referendum. CBC News heard a lot about unity and unease at a pop-up in a Calgary libraryElise Stolte · CBC News · Posted: Oct 11, 2026 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 11Listen to this articleEstimated 7 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. CBC Radio's The Homestretch host Jenny Howe interviewed Calgarian Jim Fedor at the Calgary Public Library’s Seton branch on Thursday. He shared his plans to vote on Oct. 19. (Elise Stolte/CBC)Jim Fedor booked Oct. 19 off work to make sure he can vote in Alberta’s referendum. “I'm looking forward to it. Never voted in a referendum like this before, so it'll be something new,” said Fedor, who stopped at the CBC News pop-up at the Seton library branch in southeast Calgary last week.

On Monday, Albertans vote on whether to stay in Canada or hold another binding referendum on quitting Canada. If the vote goes as polls suggest, a majority of Albertans will mark an X to stay in Confederation, and Premier Danielle Smith has said if that’s so, she expects everyone to accept it and move on. Leaders of the independence movement contest that. And political watchers are divided about whether separation — previously a fringe sentiment — will now be a prominent, permanent feature of Alberta’s political landscape, as in Quebec. Julian Castro-Rea, a political-science professor at the University of Alberta who studies the separation debates in Quebec and Alberta, believes as long as Alberta feels alienated from the Canadian capital — feeling that Ottawa benefits from Alberta’s resource economy without giving back — the movement will have fuel. “Even if the referendum is lost, the westernization will still be around, because it’s kind of a way which, traditionally, Albertans have related to the rest of Canada,” says Castro-Rea, who believes western alienation may remain indefinitely. Story continues below advertisement