Good morning. Today’s Alberta referendum will either crush or buoy the separatism movement, shape how the province serves immigrants and illuminate how voters feel about the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Canadian military and public grieve the victims of the fire at CFB Wainwright about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton. More on that below.
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People wave Canadian and Albertan flags at an independence rally held outside the provincial legislature in Edmonton this weekend.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
TOP STORIES
Alberta reaches the fork in the road
Albertans vote today on whether to remain in Canada or begin the process of pursuing separation through a future binding referendum. Polling stations are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. MT, and Elections Alberta expects substantial turnout. More than a million residents voted by mail or at advance polls.
Last push: Prime Minister Mark Carney filled convention centres at stops in Calgary and Edmonton, where he urged people to vote to stay in Canada. And prominent separatists joined hundreds of supporters outside the provincial legislature for a final rally before the ballots are tallied.
Brush up: Review our answers to reader questions about the referendum, plus our guide to the nine ballot questions that concern immigration and constitutional issues.
In depth:
- Separatists who helped bring Premier Danielle Smith to power now hope to unseat her.
- So-called soft separatists, who don’t necessarily want to leave but crave leverage with Ottawa, form an influential voting bloc.
- Those looking to rip apart this country would turn Alberta into a vassal state, the editorial board writes.
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Firefighters continue to douse hot spots on Sunday at the site of the deadly fire in Wainwright, Alta.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
Details emerge about CFB Wainwright tragedy
The blaze at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright that killed four soldiers and wounded dozens began as a smouldering grass fire that was whipped by high winds into a “wall of flame,” which shifted rapidly toward personnel who were part of live-fire exercises, according to internal military communications and officials.
The deceased: The Department of National Defence identified the late soldiers as Sergeant Morgan Wong, Private Shaun Farrell, Private Aidan Goulding and Private Hayden Lykkemark. Alberta stands with their families, said Smith, who confirmed an additional 39 people were injured.
Quoted: Carney said the country was in mourning and called the fire “one of the worst tragedies that our armed forces have experienced on Canadian soil in peacetime.” He praised those who fought it “throughout the night in some of the worst conditions imaginable, risking their lives to protect their fellow Canadians.”
Roundup: Here is everything we know so far about the fire, the victims, the medical response and the outpouring of condolences from around the country. Our reporters provided live coverage and context.
On the ground: The main gate to CFB Wainwright is minutes from the town’s Main Street. While military visitors tend to stay on the base, the two communities are inextricably linked, say residents, several of whom gathered at the Church of the Nazarene to pray for those affected by the fire.
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Green Party of Vancouver mayoral candidate Pete Fry celebrates his electoral triumph on Saturday night.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Fry scores historic win in Vancouver mayoral race
Pete Fry, the first Green candidate who will lead a major Canadian city, plans to prioritize dealing with community safety and getting people off the streets in a thoughtful manner. Vancouver’s mayor-elect said the issue will top his to-do list once he is sworn in alongside a largely progressive council.
The winner: The city swung to the left to elect Fry, who was born in Dublin to Anglo-Trinidadian parents – his mother is the veteran Liberal MP Hedy Fry – and moved to Vancouver when he was two. Fry supplanted the one-term incumbent Ken Sim, whose right-leaning ABC party campaigned on a steady-as-she-goes platform.
The Take
The proliferation of deductions, exemptions and assorted other preferences that now clog our tax laws may be bad for the economy, but they have been very good to the industries, firms and investors to which they apply, who have every incentive to hire the finest lawyers, lobbyists and public-relations firms in their defence. Picking out just one or two such preferences for elimination, as conventional political wisdom might dictate, does not mute their attacks: It amplifies them.
Radical – rather than timid – tax reform is not just good policy. It’s the only kind likely to succeed, Andrew Coyne argues.
The Shot
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Southern white rhino drink from a watering hole at Loisaba, a wildlife conservancy in the north of Kenya.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
Globe photojournalist Sarah Palmer visited private conservancies in Kenya that are working to reintroduce endangered rhino populations to the land.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Ottawa is open to mediation to settle a lawsuit filed by diplomats who say they experienced Havana Syndrome, the suite of debilitating symptoms linked to alleged sonic attacks in Cuba.
Abroad: Hundreds of thousands of French people marched in the streets and some of the protests engendered looting and violence. President Emmanuel Macron vowed to punish wrongdoers in a nationwide address.
Business: Governor Tiff Macklem expects the Bank of Canada to raise its inflation forecast because of the persistence of the Middle East conflict and high global oil prices.
Quest: A Canadian expedition ventured to the ocean floor and shot 3-D images that were used to create digital replicas of the wrecked ships of two famed explorers, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott.
Football: The Calgary Stampeders, who host the Grey Cup next month, will qualify for the CFL playoffs if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers end the regular season with a loss to the B.C. Lions.
Soccer: Anyone with pride and dignity would have quit long ago, but Gianni Infantino is in it to win the FIFA presidential race, Cathal Kelly writes.
Olympian: Cycling and speed skating medalist Clara Hughes has written a memoir about her long effort to deal with draining menopause symptoms and personal trauma.