Alberta Premier Announces Referendum on Immigration, Constitutional Changes

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the province will hold a referendum this October seeking a mandate to pursue sweeping changes on immigration as it relates to Alberta, as well as changes to the Constitution.

Smith made the comments during a provincial address on the evening of Feb. 19, saying the referendum is necessary because current immigration levels are straining Alberta’s health care, education, and infrastructure and are not sustainable for taxpayers.

Some of the referendum questions include topics such as seeking more provincial control over immigration, as well as limiting what category of migrants can be approved for provincially funded programs such as health care and education.

“Alberta taxpayers can no longer be asked to continue to subsidize the entire country through equalization of federal transfers, permit the federal government to flood our borders with new arrivals, and then give free access to our most-generous-in-the-country social programs to anyone who moves here,” Smith said in the televised address.

“This is not only grossly unfair to Alberta taxpayers, but also financially crippling and undercuts the quality of our health care, education, and other social services.”

She said the issue of immigration and Alberta’s place in Canada needs to be addressed now in particular because the province faces a significant deficit in next week’s provincial budget that is partly due to lower global oil prices.

“Our expenses have been growing faster than our revenue growth, and part of that is we’ve had the fastest-growing population in Canada adding 600,000 people in the last four years alone,” Smith said during a news conference Feb. 18.

The province’s budget for the fiscal year ending this March projects a $4.1 billion deficit, a sharp return to the red after an $8.3 billion budget surplus in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

The announcement of the referendum comes as pro-Alberta-separation activists collect signatures to put forward a referendum on Alberta independence. Smith, who supports keeping Alberta part of Canada, says she wants a mandate to advocate on issues that uphold the province’s interests within the confederation.

Constitutional Changes

In terms of pursuing changes to Canada’s Constitution, Smith said the referendum will ask if Albertans agree to abolish the Senate and that provinces, not Ottawa, should select justices for provincial courts of King’s Bench and appeals courts.

The subject of judicial appointments was brought up by Smith last month in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, with federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser saying Ottawa does not plan changes to its current system, in which Ottawa gets the final say on judicial appointments.

The referendum will also ask whether provinces should be permitted to opt out of federal health, education, and social services programs without losing federal funding.

Alberta Next Panel

Smith said in her address that the topics to be raised in the immigration and constitutional referendum were spurred partly by what was discussed as the province’s Alberta Next panel travelled around the province last year and heard from residents.

Last month, Smith’s government said it was pausing a decision to stop temporary foreign workers from being covered under the provincial health care program.

Prior to Smith’s address on Feb. 19, Alberta NDP Deputy Leader Rakhi Pancholi said that Smith is trying to shift blame from herself onto others for the budget deficit being faced by the province.

“After six years in power, a fourth budget, and a third multi-billion-dollar deficit, she will blame everyone but herself,” Pancholi said in a video posted on Facebook Feb. 19. “Albertans deserve a Premier who takes responsibility, not one who tells us to make hard choices while refusing to own up to her own mistakes.”

Referendum

Smith said the referendum is part of a broader plan to stabilize Alberta’s finances without any major cuts to provincial services.

Specifically, she said it will ask:

• If Albertans agree immigration should go back to “more sustainable levels” and prioritize economic migrants, while also giving Albertans first access to vacant job positions.
• Make only citizens, permanent residents, and those with “Alberta approved immigration status” eligible for provincially-funded programs.
• Require those without permanent resident legal status to have lived in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially funded support.
• Charge a “reasonable fee or premium” to those who don’t have permanent resident status in Alberta for using the province’s health care or educational services.
• Require proof of citizenship to vote, by way of a passport, citizenship certificate, or other legal identification.

On constitutional changes, the referendum asks if Albertans want the provincial government to work with other provinces to amend the Constitution regarding the following items:

• Have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?
• Abolish the unelected federal Senate?
• Allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?
• Better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict?