The Canadian province of Alberta will hold an independence referendum within months, its Premier has confirmed.
A petition calling for separation had gained more than 300,000 signatures earlier this year - and now, a date has been set for a vote.
Albertans will vote on whether to stay in Canada, or push ahead with a second binding vote on separating, on October 19.
In a TV address last night, Premier Danielle Smith said the question on ballot cards will be: "Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?"
The premier said she would vote for Alberta to stay - while opinion polls suggest the majority of locals would vote against separating.
Another petition calling for the province to stay, also earlier this year, garnered more than 400,000 signatures..
French-speaking Quebec, so far, is Canada's only province to have held an independence referendum - doing so twice, in 1980 and 1995.
Alberta's independence movement is more popular on the right, as is the idea of joining the US.
Premier Danielle Smith said she would vote for Alberta to stay
|REUTERS
Before Canada's Federal Election last year, activists said a win for Mark Carney's Liberal Party would considerably increase support for Albertan independence.
And when the Liberals won, Alberta's Government introduced an Act to make it easier for citizens to initiate referendums, including on separation from Canada.
Speaking to the BBC just days before the election, Jeffrey Rath, the co-founder of the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project, said: "We have a lot more culturally in common with our neighbours to the south in Montana… [and] with our cousins in Texas, than we do anywhere else."
While in an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail newspaper, influential conservative and "godfather of Reform UK" Preston Manning warned how "large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it".
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Some campaigners want Alberta to join the US - which it borders
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Activists said Mark Carney as Prime Minister would boost support for Albertan independence last year
|GETTY
"A vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession - a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it," he wrote.
Like in Scotland, some Albertans want to separate so they can take control of their oil industry.
And under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada introduced a slew of environmental policies which were seen as a direct attack on the province's economy.
If Alberta's "leave" side wins in October, the province would face a heavily uncertain future - including questions over American statehood or whether to retain the King as monarch.
Independent Alberta would face a heavily uncertain future - including questions over whether to retain the King as monarch
|GETTY
In May, Mr Carney said any attempt for the province to separate must follow the rules set out by the Clarity Act - the 26-year-old law put in place after the 1995 Quebec referendum.
A possible second binding Alberta independence referendum would have to follow ground rules laid out under the Act, including:
- A "clear majority" of voters must be in favour of leaving;
- The language of the independence referendum question must be clear, with oversight from Canada's House of Commons.
If those conditions were met, Alberta would then start lengthy Brexit-style separation negotiations with the Canadian Government.