Alberta mourns CFB Wainwright victims ahead of high-stakes referendum

A moment of silence as Albertans pay tribute to the lives lost at CFB Wainwright, the day before a consequential referendum on their future. Those fighting to keep their province in Canada held their final rally. Our fellow Canadians did not stop to worry about the referendum, about the separatist debate. They just knew that other Canadians were in need and they responded to the call. That's why we are stronger together in one Canadian federation. Some here point out help from other provinces might not be guaranteed if Alberta leaves Canada. But others say they don't want to think that way. I don't want to talk about that because this tragedy should not be turned into a political argument for or against the referendum. The day before, on those same legislature steps, separatists held their own final event. I'm a fourth generation Albertan and we're done. Polls suggest the vast majority of Albertans want to remain in Canada. But some here believe more people support separation than the numbers suggest. What's going to happen? We'll see. The voters will speak and I'm pretty sure we're going to have some pretty significant numbers. The Carney government has promised to deal with some of Alberta's frustrations, starting with plans to fast-track approval of a new oil pipeline. Politicians of all stripes have united, encouraging Albertans to stay. And the message that I heard that was overwhelmingly clear was that people don't have a problem with Canada, they have a problem with Ottawa. Elections Alberta says 43% of eligible Albertans have already voted in advance. On Monday, polls will open across the province, including in Wainwright, where advance polls were forced to close because of the fire. Marina von Stackelberg, CBC News, Ottawa. Well, CBC's Jason Markosoff has been covering this referendum for a long time, so here we are on the eve of the day most people will be voting. Give us a sense of how the two sides are doing at this point. I think it really, Ian, comes down to which silent majority is going to show up. Is it going to be the Federalist, the pro-Canada side that's really sick of this red, blue flag, red flag thing? They're proud Canadians and they think that the status quo is great, that we don't need this referendum in the first place, and we're proud Canadians and we should just show up on the blue side. They see the polls, but they don't believe them. They believe that they have the people power, that they are ready to break free from Canada, that other people are despondent about what Canada is and that they, not the red team, will prevail on Monday. All of a sudden, in the middle of all of this, just over a day before the counting begins, we have this incredible tragedy at CFB Wainwright. How do you think that's going to play into things? You know, it makes these, what we think of these as big political deals feel small. And we think about what Danielle Smith might have done without this. You know, in these questions, the 10th one and the 9 about immigration and constitutional affairs, they were going to give her this antagonistic relationship and this way to fight Ottawa further. Well, right now, you know, today she was with the defence minister and the MP, consoling, grieving. Like, this is at a federal base, this is a Canadian tragedy that she is part of, and they're working together. And I think this will really set a weird, different tone for how the next couple of days unfold. All right, Jason Markovoff, thank you very much.