Canadian Press file photo

By Shaun Penner

50.2% vote "No"

Alberta voters narrowly reject permanent Daylight Savings, favour equalization removal

Oct 26, 2021 | 11:24 AM

It was a narrow margin, but Alberta voters have voted against the idea of permanently staying on Daylight Saving Time.

The official results for the referendum questions and Senate Nominee elections were released Tuesday morning, with results showing 536,874 votes for “No” to the question of adopting year-round Daylight Saving Time and 531,782 votes for “Yes”.

That equates to 50.2% of voters against permanent Daylight Time and 49.8% in favour of it.

RELATED: Grande Prairie voters reject permanent Daylight Savings Time, favour equalization removal

That results means no changes will be pursued at this time in regards to changing clocks twice a year in Alberta.

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“Albertans have very strong opinions about daylight saving time and the results of the referendum show that, right now, Albertans prefer to continue changing their clocks,” said Minister of Service Alberta Nate Glubish.

“There is no right or wrong answer on DST. We respect the decision made and will continue to focus on the pandemic and on Alberta’s economic recovery.”

EQUALIZATION

As for the question of whether to remove section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 – Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments, 61.7% of voters said “Yes”, while 38.3% of voters cast a ballot for “No”.

Those results mean Premier Jason Kenney will table a motion in the legislature Tuesday, asking MLAs to ratify the referendum results, which can be forwarded on to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“A clear majority of Albertans have sent a powerful, democratic message: They want a fair deal in the federation,” said Premier Jason Kenney. “These results have given Alberta’s government a powerful mandate to secure changes to equalization and other federal transfers that have treated Albertans unfairly for so long.

“Our message is clear: Ottawa must respect Alberta and the huge role we play in Canada’s economic prosperity.”

Senate Nominees

For the Senate Nominee elections, the following three candidates received the highest number of votes:

• Pam Davidson, Conservative Party of Canada
• Erika Barootes, Conservative Party of Canada
• Mykhailo Martyniouk, Conservative Party of Canada

With that, the Government of Alberta will introduce a motion in the legislature calling for Prime Minister Trudeau to fill the two vacant Alberta Senate seats from the list of elected nominees.

“Hundreds of thousands of Albertans have spoken on who should represent them in the Senate of Canada,” said Kenney. “If the Prime Minister respects the basic principle of democracy, he must appoint elected nominees to Alberta’s two vacant Senate seats.”

Full election results for the 2021 Municipal Election, held on October 18, can now be found on the Elections Alberta website.