Smith blames federal policies for ‘out of control’ immigration policies during Trudeau years

Two years after saying she hoped to double Alberta's population, the premier says federal mismanagement of immigration has overwhelmed the province.

Danielle Smith pushed back at critics of her immigration concerns Friday morning at a Calgary press conference.

Thursday night, in a taped address, Smith announced plans for a multi-question referendum asking Albertans for their opinions on immigration and constitutional issues.

Five of the inquiries focus on immigration and access to provincially-funded services, including whether Alberta should take more control over immigration levels, restrict eligibility for some social programs and potentially charge fees to certain non-permanent residents accessing health care and education.

Smith linked projected budget deficits to falling oil prices and what she called “out-of-control” immigration, saying Alberta’s population has grown by nearly 600,000 people in five years — putting pressure on schools, hospitals and other public services.

The ballot would also ask broader constitutional questions, including whether provinces should have more authority in selecting judges, whether the federal Senate should be abolished, and whether provinces should be able to opt out of federal programs without losing funding.

In a Friday media release, the Alberta government said, “Although sustainable immigration has always been an important part of Alberta’s history as a province, the immigration policies of the federal government over the last five years have put tremendous pressure on classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems.

“Referendum questions will seek direction from Albertans on how the province should adjust provincial policies to ensure our social services remain accessible and sustainable for Albertans.”

Smith’s speech came on the heels of a contentious social media post by Bruce McAllister, a senior executive in Smith’s office on Wednesday.

In the post, McAllister said, “Why import from nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here?”

Following Smith’s Thursday night address, former Alberta deputy premier Tomas Lucaszuk weighed in on social media, saying Smith and the UCP were looking for a scapegoat.

Former premier Rachel Notley posted a reaction on social media as well.

“First they came for the trans people,” she posted. “Then they came for the unionized workers. Next it was judges. Now it’s immigrants. If you think that you or someone you love won’t be next, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Alberta NDP Deputy Leader Rakhi Pancholi accused Smith of trying to find someone to blame for the deficit that will be announced soon, which is expected to be substantial.

“Danielle Smith and the UCP did not campaign on nine new referendum questions,” Pancholi said in a media release. “They do not have a mandate from Albertans for this. Not on separatism, not on pulling out of the CPP, not on breaching the charter rights of Albertans, not on coal mining in the Eastern slopes, and not on bringing in two-tier health care. ”

“This reeks of desperation and Albertans see right through this.

“The premier is trying to distract us ahead of a UCP budget that will contain billions of dollars in deficits. She’s trying to distract us from separatism – which she put on the agenda and is already putting our province at risk.

“The premier is blaming oil prices and immigration for her poor planning and financial mismanagement.”

Politics, not policy

Friday, Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma said in an interview with CTV News that Smith’s referendum questions were more about politics than policy.

“Right now, they’re written in a way that would be hard-pressed for someone to say no to those questions,” he said.

“They’re structured in a way to elicit a specific response.”

As far as providing health care goes, he said the rules are pretty clear-cut.

“If you’re lawfully admitted to Canada and you’re a resident of Alberta, you get coverage for health care under the Alberta Health Act,” he said.

“Anyone who’s here under as a temporary foreign worker they have a job, so they’re working and paying taxes just the same as a Canadian citizen or Canadian permanent resident – so it’s going to be interesting to see if Alberta can restrict health care coverage to individuals that are paying into the system and presumably should be entitled to services.”

During the press availability, Smith said she was concerned about low-skilled workers, international students and asylum seekers who she said bring their families and place a costly burden on Alberta’s health and education systems.

She blamed Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for changing immigration policy without consulting the provinces, causing the influx of more people into the province than it could handle, creating a housing crisis, and overcrowded schools and hospitals.

“Far beyond what our health care and education systems can sustain,” she said. “That’s the crux of the challenge,” she said.

Sharma pointed out that the province doesn’t pay for the health care of asylum seekers.

“If you’re an asylum claimant, health-care coverage is on the federal dime. They’re under the interim federal health-care program – so that doesn’t use up any of Alberta’s dollars.

“And then you have the temporary foreign workers. Again, they’re here because they have a job and they’re working.

“Interestingly about a month ago, this government tried to cancel or restrict Alberta health coverage to temporary foreign workers – a subset of temporary foreign workers the International Experience Class, a working holiday types that are working in Banff or Canmore or Jasper. And that was quickly reversed because again, they’re paying into the system and they’re entitled to use those services.”

‘Thumbless grasp on immigration policy’

Sharma said he agreed on some of Smith’s grievances as far as federal immigration policies go.

“I will blame the Trudeau government and its thumbless grasp on immigration policy, particularly temporary residents,” he said. “We did let too many temporary residents in and now we’ve sort of closed the door after the horses have bolted.

“It’s going to take years for the system to reset.

“Unfortunately this has led to an undermining of the previously strong support Canadians had – and other permanent residents had – towards immigration and unfortunately it looks like politicians are sort of picking up on that," he said.

“But I think this is more about distraction from mismanagement. I don’t think you can blame newcomers for the fact that we haven’t built a hospital in Edmonton since 1988.”

He added that the timing of her announcement is curious considering the number of temporary residents has declined over the past two years.

“It’s the mixed messaging on immigration that I think people will sort of cast an eye towards,” he said.

Sharma pointed out that two years ago, Smith was lobbying for Alberta to double its population to 10 million people.

“This is the same premier who asked on two different occasions for Justin Trudeau to give Alberta more Alberta provincial nominee programs – she wanted more immigrants and more immigrants that Alberta could select.

“So again, it’s mixed messaging,” he added.

“You’ve got this premier and the (Alberta) premier before her (Jason Kenney) giving ads to Ontario that you rang the dinner bell and now you’re concerned that people have shown up to the dining table!”

Doubling the population

In a 2024 podcast on YouTube, Smith spoke to host Shaun Newman about her desire to double the province’s population.

“The fact that so many people have come to our province. I look at that as a positive. I want to keep that going,” she said.

“That’s why I’ve said, let’s have an aggressive target to double our population. I’m going to put this out there because I’ve said it in the throne speech that I want people to understand how important that is. We have to be that bastion of liberty. And people are going to want to come here And we want to embrace them.

“And we want to be able to build this place out so that we can actually have the political clout in Alberta that we actually deserve, because right now, we’re being treated as a junior partner by Ottawa.”

When asked about the comments Friday, Smith said, “My position is the same as it was three years ago.

“The pace that we were growing at was unsustainable. There’s a point where you have to look at the reality.”

With files from CTV’s Mason DePatie and Alesia Fieldberg