Albertans voted to remove equalization from the Canadian Constitution in the recent provincial referendum. The question remains, what happens now, if anything. The referendum, held in conjunction with municipal elections on Oct. 18, asked Albertans if they wanted Section 36(2) of the Constitution Act repealed to end equalization, a federal program that has taken over $630 billion net from Alberta than what the province has received back in federal benefits and transfers since the mid-1960s. On Oct. 26, the province announced that 61.7 percent voted to repeal the program. Premier Jason Kenney said the result would be acknowledged by a motion in the legislature and urged Ottawa and other provinces to respond. “These results have given Alberta’s government a powerful mandate to secure changes to equalization and other federal transfers that have treated Albertans unfairly for so long,” Kenney said in a press release on Oct. 26. Geoffrey Hale, a political …