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EDMONTON — A new poll suggests support for Alberta remaining in Canada holds a majority in every region of the province, with the strongest support in Edmonton and Calgary and narrower margins in central and northern Alberta.
The Innovative Research Group survey, commissioned by Vote to Stay, found 80 per cent of respondents in Edmonton support remaining in Canada, compared with 17 per cent who support leaving.
In Calgary, 78 per cent said Alberta should stay in Canada, while 18 per cent favoured separation.
Support for remaining was slightly lower outside the two major cities, but still held a majority in every region measured.
In central Alberta, 66 per cent supported staying in Canada and 29 per cent supported leaving.
Northern Alberta produced a similar result, with 66 per cent supporting remaining and 26 per cent favouring separation.
Southern Alberta showed 72 per cent support for staying in Canada and 21 per cent support for leaving.
The poll does not display undecided respondents or those who said they would not vote, and the reported percentages are rounded.
Vote to Stay founder and former Conservative cabinet minister Monte Solberg said the results are encouraging but argued supporters of remaining in Canada should not become complacent ahead of the Oct. 19 referendum.
“These results are encouraging, but they are not the final result,” Solberg said.
“The separatist movement is motivated, and Albertans who want to keep our province strong within a united Canada need to be just as committed to voting.”
The regional findings broadly align with other recent polling on Alberta’s constitutional future.
A June Ipsos poll found 72 per cent of Albertans would vote to remain in Canada in a future binding referendum, while 18 per cent would vote to separate.
Mainstreet Research has also found a majority opposed to independence. In more recent polling commissioned by a group supporting separation, 60.1 per cent said they would vote to remain in Canada and 28.1 per cent said they would vote to leave.
That Mainstreet survey also showed the same broad geographic pattern, with remaining ahead by large margins in Edmonton and Calgary and a much closer race outside the two largest cities.
The Innovative survey was conducted online from June 4 to 12 among 2,000 eligible Alberta voters using Leger, Lucid and Innovative’s Canada 20/20 research panels.
Results were weighted to reflect Alberta’s population by age, gender, education, race, region and past vote. A traditional margin of error does not apply to online panel surveys.
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