The ten questions.
On October 19, 2026, Alberta votes on ten questions. All ten were set by three orders in council — two signed March 31, one signed May 28 — and nothing on the ballot exists outside those three documents. This page holds every question verbatim, which order set it, what a yes legally does, and what a yes does not do. The sources are the instruments themselves, not the coverage of them.
Nine of the questions are answered yes or no. The tenth — the separation question — is a choice between two options, and it is the one the argument is actually about. Its own enabling order says its result is not binding.
The finding
Six of the ten questions — including the separation question — are advisory by their own enabling orders. O.C. 110/2026, section 4, and O.C. 160/2026, section 4, both read: “the results of the referendum are not to be binding.” A majority either way obliges the government to do nothing.
The four constitutional questions in O.C. 109/2026 carry no such clause, and for them the Referendum Act supplies the default: a majority result is binding — where binding means the government “shall, as soon as practicable, take any steps within the competence of the Government of Alberta that it considers necessary or advisable to implement the results” (s. 4(2)). No question on this ballot can amend the Constitution of Canada or separate Alberta from it by itself.
Five policy questions
Advisory — O.C. s. 4Immigration control, program eligibility, a residency requirement, fees for non-permanent status, and proof of citizenship to vote. Ordered under the Act’s public-opinion power, with the binding option left unexercised.
Signed March 31, 2026 · authority: Referendum Act s. 5.1
Four constitutional questions
Binding — Ref. Act s. 4(1)Judicial selection, Senate abolition, opting out of federal programs with funding, and provincial paramountcy. Each asks Alberta to work with other willing provinces toward a constitutional amendment — which no province can enact alone.
Signed March 31, 2026 · authority: Referendum Act s. 1
The separation question
Advisory — O.C. s. 4Not a vote on separating. A choice between remaining a province and asking the government to commence the legal process toward a later, binding referendum on separation — and even that result does not bind.
Signed May 28, 2026 · authority: Referendum Act s. 5.1
Questions 1–5 · advisory
The five policy questions
Set by O.C. 110/2026 on March 31, 2026, under section 5.1 of the Referendum Act — the power to order a referendum where “an expression of public opinion is desirable on any matter of public interest or concern.” Each is answered yes or no. The texts below are verbatim, including their lettering in the order.
Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities?
Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially-funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?
Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially-funded social support programs?
Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the healthcare and education systems?
Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?
What a yes does
Records that a majority of voting Albertans supports the proposition. Nothing more — the order that created these questions states, at section 4: “the results of the referendum are not to be binding.” Section 5.1(2)(d) of the Act required the government to choose whether these results would bind. It chose no.
What a yes does not do
It does not enact any of the five laws described, and it does not oblige the government to introduce them. Two subjects also reach beyond the province’s reach alone: immigration is a shared head of power under s. 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867, with federal law paramount where they conflict, and any of the five, if later enacted, would face the ordinary tests of the Charter in court.
Questions 6–9 · binding
The four constitutional questions
Set by O.C. 109/2026 on March 31, 2026, under section 1 of the Referendum Act — the power to put “any question relating to the Constitution of Canada” to the electorate. These are the only four results on the ballot that bind the government, and every one of them begins with the same eleven words: “Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments…” — because what they ask for, a constitutional amendment, is not Alberta’s to grant.
Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?
Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to abolish the unelected federal Senate?
Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?
Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict?
What a yes does
Binds the government — in the Act’s own words. Section 4(2): the government “shall, as soon as practicable, take any steps within the competence of the Government of Alberta that it considers necessary or advisable to implement the results of the referendum.” Read the limits in that sentence as carefully as its force: within Alberta’s competence, and that it considers necessary or advisable. Section 4(3) adds one more: implementation is not required if it would contravene sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
What a yes does not do
It does not amend the Constitution. Amendments under Part V of the Constitution Act, 1982 require resolutions of the House of Commons, the Senate, and provincial legislatures — generally seven provinces holding half the population — and the Supreme Court held in Reference re Senate Reform, 2014 SCC 32 that outright abolition of the Senate requires the unanimous consent of Parliament and all ten provinces. A binding yes obliges Alberta to pursue; it cannot oblige anyone else to agree.
Question 10 · advisory
The separation question
Set by O.C. 160/2026 on May 28, 2026 — eight weeks after the other nine — under the same public-opinion power as the policy questions, s. 5.1. It is the only question on the ballot that is not answered yes or no: an elector “must respond by selecting only one option.”
Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?
Alberta should remain a province of Canada.
The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.
What choosing option 2 does
Records that a majority wants the government to start a process — one whose end point is a separate, later, binding referendum on separation itself. It is a vote about whether to have the real vote. And by the order’s own section 4, even this result “is not to be binding” — a majority for option 2 does not compel the government to commence anything.
What choosing option 2 does not do
It does not separate Alberta from Canada, does not trigger the binding referendum it describes, and does not open negotiations. If a binding separation referendum were later held and won, the framework in the Supreme Court’s Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217 would govern: no right of unilateral secession, and a duty on all parties to negotiate only after “a clear majority on a clear question” — with the federal Clarity Act, S.C. 2000, c. 26, setting out how the House of Commons judges both clarities. Two referendums deep, every step contested, and the counterparty’s rules apply. That is the distance between marking option 2 and a border moving.
The mechanics
How the vote runs
Everything below is stated in the orders themselves or follows from the Referendum Act’s s. 6, which applies the Election Act to a stand-alone referendum “with all necessary modifications.”
- Ballot dayOctober 19, 2026 — a stand-alone referendum, not attached to any election (all three OICs, s. 2).
- WhereThe entirety of the Province of Alberta (O.C. 110 and 160, s. 3; O.C. 109 is province-wide by default).
- Mail-in ballotsNot permitted — both s. 5.1 orders exclude conduct by mail-in ballot (s. 5).
- Advance votingPermitted — the same sections expressly preserve advance voting, Special Ballots and Secure Special Ballots as defined in the Election Act.
- Who runs itElections Alberta, under the Election Act as applied by Referendum Act s. 6.
- Who votesThose eligible under the Election Act — Canadian citizens, 18 or older, ordinarily resident in Alberta (Referendum Act s. 6(2)).
What a reader can do
Before October 19
Read the three orders. They total about four pages: O.C. 110/2026, O.C. 109/2026, O.C. 160/2026. Every question above is quoted from them without alteration.
Check your registration and find your voting place at Elections Alberta. Mail-in ballots are excluded for this vote; advance voting is not.
When someone tells you what a question decides, check the binding line. Six of ten results bind nobody, by the government’s own instruments. The four that bind oblige Alberta to pursue an amendment — not anyone else to grant one. The distance between a ballot and an outcome is the useful thing to know, and it is entirely public.
Method & sources
Where every word came from
Question texts were captured from the Alberta King’s Printer on September 22–23, 2026, and are archived alongside this page; the SHA-256 of each capture is printed below, so a reader can verify that what this page quotes is what the instruments say. The Referendum Act consolidation used is the King’s Printer office consolidation current as of December 11, 2025.
The numbering 1–10 is this page’s, ordering the instruments by signing date and their internal lettering — the orders letter their questions (a)–(e) and (a)–(d); ballot presentation and any official numbering are set by Elections Alberta. Statutory quotations are reproduced as printed in the consolidation, including s. 4(1)’s phrase “ballots validly ordered under section 1.” This page states what the instruments say; it takes no position on how anyone should vote, and it ranks no one.
- O.C. 110/2026 — five policy questions, March 31, 2026
sha256 9ba773fa6f808c443cce9d8d4fdbf0e8ac70d513ee47c8982281177c2f38ba16
- O.C. 109/2026 — four constitutional questions, March 31, 2026
sha256 e1ebeb0e530b6dda4939a41a67931137dcbf066110b8bb4907ce109030f3fe15
- O.C. 160/2026 — the separation question, May 28, 2026
sha256 6ac68d61f15a203e22433a8ecbe6886eb7510ca76cd30e820493ecf68d6992af
- Referendum Act, RSA 2000, c R-8.4 — office consolidation, current as of December 11, 2025
- Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217
- Reference re Senate Reform, 2014 SCC 32
- Clarity Act, S.C. 2000, c. 26
- Elections Alberta — Referendum
Known limits of this page: it does not yet cover the campaign-finance rules that govern referendum advertising, the court proceedings that preceded O.C. 160/2026, or where opinion stands — each needs its own sourced treatment before it ships. After October 19 this URL will carry the results, from the official return.