The Alberta government intends to hold a referendum on immigrants’ status, their access to social services and federal influence over provincial laws and services in October this year.
In a televised address on Thursday night, Premier Danielle Smith outlined upcoming budget deficits amid crashing oil prices and what she says is “out-of-control” immigration.
Smith cited previous “disastrous” federal open border immigration policies for creating an “unprecedented strain” on health-care, education and other social programs, noting Alberta’s growth by almost 600,000 people in the last five years.
“Although sustainable immigration has always been an important part of our provincial growth model, throwing the doors wide open to anyone and everyone across the globe has flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems with far too many people, far too quickly,” she said.
Smith did outline a three-pronged strategy which would look to cut “unnecessary bureaucracy” and limit spending increases in the long, medium and short term.
She championed the continuing work on the Alberta-Ottawa agreement for a potential pipeline that would get oil to Asian markets.
That energy agreement ties into a plan to double oil and gas production by 2035, which in turn would help top up Alberta’s Heritage Fund, a rainy-day trust for use in the event of future oil market crashes, she explained.
In the short-term, however, Smith said addressing immigration head-on was a large component of limiting those spending increases instead of waiting for the price of oil to stabilize.
“Alberta taxpayers can no longer be asked to continue to subsidize the entire country through equalization and 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 on Thursday night.
The referendum ballot Smith announced would fall on Oct. 19, 2026, and ask Albertans five questions on immigration levels and immigrant status that are a “significant departure from the status quo,” she said.
Those questions include whether the provincial government should take more control over immigration levels and prioritize economic migration.
A second question asks if the Alberta government should introduce laws mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and those with Alberta-approved immigration statuses should be eligible for provincially funded health, education and other social services.
A third question asks whether there should be a law requiring those with non-permanent legal immigration status to be living in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for provincial social support programs.
The fourth asks if the provincial government should charge a fee or premium to immigrants with a non-permanent status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the health-care and education system.
The final question asks if the government should introduce legislation requiring people to provide proof of citizenship – a passport, birth certificate or citizenship card – to be eligible to vote in a provincial election.
‘Blame game’: NDP
Ahead of Smith’s address, Alberta NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi said Albertans are looking for solutions to health-care, education and cost of living crises.
“That’s not what they’ll get,” she said in a press release.
“Instead, Smith will distract, scapegoat, and play the blame game. She will not be accountable for the issues Albertans are facing – problems she and her government created.”
The Alberta NDP are set to react to Smith’s speech in a media availability Friday morning.
After Smith’s address, Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said the details of Smith’s immigration referendum questions were “out of the blue to a certain degree,” even after one of the premier’s senior staff members publicly criticized Canadian immigration levels on social media the day prior.
She cautioned Albertans against using international immigration as the sole factor blamed for the province’s growth and budget pressures.
“The reality is many of the problems that she addressed, specifically health care and education … Those challenges predated the increase in immigration,” she told CTV News Edmonton.
“This notion that, some way or another, immigrants are causing these problems, as opposed to bigger and much more complex forces, is oversimplified. I think it fuels hostility toward people that really don’t deserve it.”
Williams pointed to former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s “Alberta is Calling” campaign – which successfully bolstered migration from other provinces in Canada – as another reason for population surges since 2022.
“A lot of those 600,000 folks that have come to Alberta are working in Alberta. They’re paying taxes in Alberta. They’re making contributions in Alberta.”
Legal and constitutional question on the ballot
Smith’s government would also ask Albertans if they would support inter-provincial work to reform the Canadian Constitution.
The ballot mentions having provincial governments select justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts, abolish the federal Senate, allow provinces to opt out of federal programs “without losing any of the associated federal funding for use in their own provincial social programs,” and bolstering provincial legal priority over federal laws “when in conflict with one another.”
Williams noted that amendments to the Constitution are historically not easy to make, pointing to recent attempts in history like the Meech Lake or Charlottetown Accords.
“That’s just not very realistic … These comments, these referendum questions, are meant to respond to the people who are in that sort of separatist wing,” she said.
“I think she’s raising expectations, in some respects. Expectations that, if she doesn’t deliver on, could be problematic for her leadership.”
Smith told Albertans she looked forward to debating over the referendum ballot and making Alberta “stronger and more sovereign within a united Canada.”
The provincial budget for 2026 is to be tabled next Thursday.
With files from CTV News Calgary’s Mark Villani, CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg and The Canadian Press
