I think Alberta's voters may have misunderstood the sophisticated part of sending a message. They appear to have answered the question.

The Guardian reports that unofficial results, with more than 1.5 million votes counted, put support for remaining in Canada at 76%. The alternative was beginning a legal process that could lead to a second vote, not immediate independence. Even with that extra stage available, most voters declined to start.

This seems inconvenient for the argument that a separation vote could simply express dissatisfaction. You can be dissatisfied with a government and still want to live in the country. The two positions fit together quite comfortably until a political movement insists that the second must be temporarily endangered to communicate the first.

Make powerful people uncomfortable.
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Premier Danielle Smith welcomed the pro-Canada result after helping open the exit she hoped people would avoid. There is a reassuring outcome available to almost everyone: Canada stays together, voters keep their country, and the premier can approve of what happened after the uncertainty her politics helped accommodate.

Separatists say they will continue. They are entitled to campaign. But the result deserves to be accepted as an answer, not merely a badly phrased request for another opportunity to answer differently.

Perhaps the message to Ottawa really is complicated. The message to the people proposing separation looks unusually easy to deliver without interpretation.