Elections Alberta asks Elections Manitoba staffers to help during referendum
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Manitoba’s non-partisan elections management agency could play a role in Alberta’s fall referendum.
“Elections Alberta has asked Elections Manitoba to send staff to assist with the referendum taking place there in October,” said Tessa Vanderhart, a spokesperson with the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Manitoba.
The Oct. 19 referendum will ask Albertans 10 questions, including “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?”
CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Elections Manitoba has been asked to help out with Alberta’s upcoming referendum.
Each of the referendum questions will be on separate numbered and colour-coded ballots. They will be counted by hand, the Elections Alberta website says. With an estimated 2,966,192 voters in the province — registered as of May 2025 — there could be as many as 30 million ballots to count.
Elections Alberta spokesperson Maia Hanrahan said it’s common practice for electoral management bodies (EMB) to support each other during elections.
“Similar invitations and programs happen across the country for major electoral events,” she said.
In this case, it’s all skilled hands on deck.
“A select number of senior, experienced EMB staff with highly specialized expertise are invited to support the core Elections Alberta team to add expert resources in key functional areas during this critical election event,” Hanrahan said in an email.
“These experienced, knowledgeable elections professionals with highly specialized expertise will provide cover-off and support for the small team of permanent Elections Alberta staff throughout the 60-hour continuous Election Day and count period,” Hanrahan said.
“We are privileged to be receiving support from several of our EMB partners across the country.”
The request from Elections Alberta is not unusual, Vanderhart said.
“In the past, we have routinely collaborated with election management bodies across Canada to share ideas and offer support where possible,” she said.
“We are still considering our capacity to respond to this specific request.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Questions on the ballot
Here are the nine other Alberta referendum questions:
1. 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?
2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 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 health-care and education systems?
5. 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?
6. 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?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. 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?
— source: Elections Alberta
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