As separatist talk simmers in Alberta and Quebec, Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do: poll

National Post

06-06-2025

Against a backdrop of fresh talk of Alberta separation and the constant spectre of Quebec's sovereignty movement, a new national opinion poll found that most Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do.
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A large majority of respondents nationally said any secession by one province would require negotiation with all provinces and must be supported by a clear majority of voters in the province, and most said separation cannot be a unilateral decision, and it should require approval by the federal House of Commons.
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A national opinion survey, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia, was designed to probe Canadians attitudes about the process for separation, rather than their views on separation itself, and what should follow a successful provincial leave referendum.
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'The bottom line is that Canadians across the country envision the process as much more complex than a simple majority vote on a referendum question,' said Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies.
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Public discussion about Alberta separating from Canada drew more mainstream attention in May, after the federal election returned the Liberal Party to government and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tabled provincial legislation to make it easier for Albertans to trigger a referendum on the province leaving the rest of Canada. Smith said she would hold such a referendum if a citizen petition called for it.
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Separatists in Quebec hope the renewed discourse on separation will boost their long-standing desire for independent statehood, which twice went to provincial referendum which failed to support sovereignty, in 1980 and 1995. The Parti Québécois plans another provincial sovereignty referendum in the years ahead.
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That creates plenty of secessionist talk and debate, but it has been 30 years since Canada has seen an actual separation referendum.
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'Many Canadians of voting age and, of course, most immigrants didn't experience the last referendum 30 years ago, but there is a growing consensus that the rest of the country would want a say in the process and secession would not be simple,' said Jedwab.
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The poll asked 1,537 people across Canada a series of questions on the mechanism of a possible separation.
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A majority of Canadians said any referendum question regarding provincial separation from Canada must be unambiguous, with 59 per cent of respondents agreeing with that, with only 11 per cent disagreeing, and 30 per cent saying they don't know or declined to answer.