While votes in Alberta’s historic referendum continue to be counted and results remain unofficial, preliminary numbers offer a picture of how residents in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre voted.

Early results show a narrow majority in the riding supported Option 2 on Question 10, which asks Alberta to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Canada.

As of 3 p.m. Oct. 20, Option 2 had received 12,775 votes, compared with 12,239 for Option 1, which favours Alberta remaining in Canada. That represents a margin of 536 votes, or 2.1 percentage points.

The riding’s results differ from the provincial trend, where preliminary results show about 76 per cent of voters supported Option 1.

Strong support for “the nine”

Preliminary results also show strong support in the riding for the nine other referendum questions, which address immigration, eligibility for provincially funded programs, voting requirements and proposed changes to federal-provincial powers.

The riding recorded a higher share of Yes votes than Alberta overall on all nine questions. The largest gap in Yes support was on Question 6, which proposed allowing provincial governments, rather than the federal government, to select justices appointed to provincial courts of King’s Bench and appeal courts.

Question 5, which asked whether voters should be required to provide proof of citizenship in provincial elections, received the strongest Yes support in the riding, at nearly 85 per cent.

The following figures are preliminary. Percentage differentials are calculated from the supplied Yes and No totals and rounded to one decimal place. The riding-Alberta comparison measures the difference in the share of Yes votes, expressed in percentage points.

Question 1: Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration to reduce it to more sustainable levels, prioritize economic migration and give Albertans first priority for new employment opportunities?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 13,797 (76.1 per cent)
• No: 4,326 (23.9 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 52.3 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 861,931 (54.2 per cent)
• No: 729,274 (45.8 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 8.3 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 22.0 percentage points higher.

Question 2: Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status to be eligible for provincially funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 10,488 (73.3 per cent)
• No: 3,823 (26.7 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 46.6 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 747,349 (55.4 per cent)
• No: 602,063 (44.6 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 10.8 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 17.9 percentage points higher.

Question 3: Assuming Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support requiring individuals with non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for provincially funded social support programs?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 8,823 (81.4 per cent)
• No: 2,010 (18.6 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 62.9 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 719,740 (57.8 per cent)
• No: 526,129 (42.2 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 15.5 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 23.7 percentage points higher.

Question 4: Assuming Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their families’ use of the health-care and education systems?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 8,922 (81.2 per cent)
• No: 2,066 (18.8 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 62.4 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 678,501 (57.2 per cent)
• No: 507,202 (42.8 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 14.4 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 24.0 percentage points higher.

Question 5: Do you support requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 16,582 (84.9 per cent)
• No: 2,944 (15.1 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 69.8 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 757,862 (63.5 per cent)
• No: 435,565 (36.5 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 27.0 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 21.4 percentage points higher.

Question 6: Do you support Alberta working with other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution so provincial governments, rather than the federal government, select justices appointed to provincial Court of King’s Bench and appeal courts?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 10,366 (79.6 per cent)
• No: 2,651 (20.4 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 59.3 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 591,655 (51.5 per cent)
• No: 558,160 (48.5 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 2.9 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 28.2 percentage points higher.

Question 7: Do you support Alberta working with other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to abolish the unelected federal Senate?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 8,943 (75.0 per cent)
• No: 2,985 (25.0 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 49.9 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 584,671 (53.6 per cent)
• No: 505,567 (46.4 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 7.3 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 21.3 percentage points higher.

Question 8: Do you support Alberta working with 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 losing the associated federal funding for use in their own social programs?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 7,820 (72.7 per cent)
• No: 2,931 (27.3 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 45.5 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 529,462 (49.2 per cent)
• No: 547,664 (50.8 per cent)
• Differential: No led by 1.7 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 23.6 percentage points higher.

Question 9: Do you support Alberta working with other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving provincial laws in areas of provincial or shared constitutional jurisdiction priority over conflicting federal laws?

Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre

• Yes: 9,142 (78.8 per cent)
• No: 2,459 (21.2 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 57.6 percentage points.

Alberta

• Yes: 559,299 (51.3 per cent)
• No: 530,503 (48.7 per cent)
• Differential: Yes led by 2.6 percentage points.
• Riding compared with Alberta: The riding’s Yes share was 27.5 percentage points higher.

MP responds to preliminary results

Yellowhead MP William Stevenson also addressed the preliminary results in a social media post.

“Thank you to everyone in Yellowhead and across Alberta who voted yesterday,” Stevenson wrote.

“The preliminary results send a clear message: Albertans believe in a strong Alberta within a united Canada.”

Stevenson said his team was reviewing results from individual polling stations to better understand the views of Yellowhead residents and continue discussions with local communities.

Results are available here.