FIRST READING: The extremely Canadian pastime of holding an unsuccessful secession referendum

Alberta separatist supporters react as referendum results are projected at The Parlour in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday night. Of the few historical instances where a subnational jurisdiction voted on independence only to come up short, almost all were in Canada. Photo by MEGAN ALBU /AFP via Getty Images

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On Monday, Albertans participated in something that has become a quintessentially Canadian political exercise: an unsuccessful secession vote.

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The ballot question was only on whether Alberta should hold a second “binding provincial referendum” on independence. Nevertheless, it failed overwhelmingly, with approximately three-quarters of voters rejecting the referendum in favour of an option to “remain a province of Canada.”

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Most countries do not allow secession referenda. And in the ones that do, such votes are generally only held when a winning outcome is not in doubt.

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But of the handful of historical instances where a subnational jurisdiction voted on independence only to come up short, almost all of them have happened in Canada.

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With Monday’s vote, there have now been three of them. The other two, of course, were Quebec’s unsuccessful independence referenda in 1980 and 1995.

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It could also be argued that Newfoundland provided a fourth example.

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In 1948, the British government asked voters in the semi-independent Dominion of Newfoundland to choose between self-government or absorption into Canada. By a margin of 52.3 per cent, voters chose Confederation over independence.

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Aside from those, the world’s other famous example of a sovereigntist vote failing to get a majority at the polls belongs to Scotland.

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The 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum ended up seeing independence trounced by a margin of nine points (55.7 per cent “no” vs 44.7 per cent “yes”).

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And even that result was closer than two of Canada’s secession referenda.

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The 1980 Quebec referendum lost by 19 points (59.5 per cent “no” to 40.4 per cent “yes”). The recent vote in Alberta saw the independence option lose by about 50 points (75 per cent “no” to 25 per cent “yes”).

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An oversize maple leaf flag marks a rally that drew crowds to Place du Canada in support of Canadian unity on October 27, 1995, three days before Quebeckers voted in a referendum on separation from the rest of the country. Photo by Gordon Beck /The Gazette

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As to why this keeps happening in Canada and basically nowhere else, there are two reasons.

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First is the Canadian willingness to allow these votes to happen at all.

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In fact, Canada remains one of the world’s only countries that has a defined legal process on national dissolution. The 2000 Clarity Act allows pieces of Canada to leave provided there is a “clear will to secede.”

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Almost everywhere else, national constitutions either forbid dissolution, or they allow it only with extremely rigorous conditions.

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As such, the more typical outcome of secession votes is that they receive majority support, only to be declared invalid by the national government.

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The Caribbean island of Nevis has voted twice to split off from the micronation of St. Kitts and Nevis, in 1977 and 1998. In the former case, the vote was declared invalid, in the latter a result of 62 per cent for secession was also declared invalid because it didn’t meet a constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority.