Alberta is staying within Canada after a referendum on provincial independence. Preliminary results, released after more than one million ballots were counted, showed that about 76 percent of voters opposed leaving the country. The campaign therefore failed to win a majority among the province's residents. The count was still being finalized when the figures were published, so the totals could still change. The vote itself did not alter Alberta's constitutional status. The report does not discuss turnout, the final tally or whether the question carried legal force. The result points to continued resistance to independence, placing any future campaign for secession on the defensive.