UNA Executive Board votes to support Option 1 – remain in Canada – in fall separation referendum

The Executive Board of the United Nurses of Alberta voted at its June 2026 meeting in Edmonton to encourage members to vote in favour of Alberta remaining in Canada in the referendum the provincial government intends to place on the October 19 ballot. 
 
The motion passed by the Executive Board, made up of elected representatives from each of UNA’s five Districts, reads as follows:
 
“UNA supports Option 1 for Question #10 related to separation in the October 19, 2026, Referendum: Alberta should remain a province in Canada.”
 
The referendum question drafted by the provincial government asks voters to choose one of two options to this question: “Should Alberta remain a province in 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?”
 
Option 1 reads: “Alberta should remain a province in Canada.”
 
Option 2 reads: “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.”
 
Elections Alberta says on its website that electors will mark a “x” next to the option of their choice on their ballot. 
 
The rationale for this motion is similar to UNA’s reasons for registering as a third-party advertiser promoting the “Remain” position in last year’s Forever Canadian Campaign. 
 
These include the advancement of the social, economic and general welfare of nurses and other health care workers and the promotion of the highest standards of health care. 
 
UNA recognizes that the separation of Alberta from Canada would have a drastic negative impact on the health care system UNA members work in every day, including likely cuts to health care funding, loss of the protections of the Canada Health Act, loss of health care portability and Canadian job mobility, the weakening or end of collective bargaining and worker rights in Alberta, grave threats to Albertans’ retirement security and health worker job security, an end to the commitment to reconciliation with First Nations peoples, and an end to right of all citizens to medically necessary treatment without patient charges. 
 
“Instead of tearing down what Canadians and Albertans have already built, we need be building capacity in health care and working to build a stronger Canada,” said UNA President Heather Smith.