Immigration can strengthen a country. It can bring workers, entrepreneurs, investment, and families who become proud and productive citizens. But immigration without enforceable limits, credible screening, or a reasonable expectation of integration undermines public confidence and damages the fabric of the existing society.A country is not simply an economy with a flag. It is a community built around laws, common values, shared customs, and civic obligations.That is the point behind Stockwell Day’s warning about illegal immigration and cultural integration. His language is blunt, but the underlying distinction is legitimate. Individuals must be treated equally before the law. Cultural practices and political doctrines are not beyond judgment.An independent Alberta should welcome people who respect individual freedom, equality before the law, democratic government, and the rights of women. But it badly needs immigration with standards, limits, and consequences. It is under no obligation to accommodate imported sectarian conflicts, religious extremism, hostility toward free expression, or contempt for the society newcomers have chosen to join.This federal Liberal government has badly mishandled its responsibility in this area.For the last decade, they have dramatically expanded immigration while housing, healthcare, schools, and infrastructure failed to keep pace. It announced ambitious population targets and left provinces and municipalities to absorb the consequences. The Bank of Canada has acknowledged that housing construction did not keep up with population growth. Even Ottawa has recognized its error and since reduced its targets, promising to restore control to the system. No one speaks to the level of illegal and unknown immigrants and asylum seekers that have crossed our porous borders. Governments do not promise to restore control unless control has been lost..Canada’s asylum and deportation systems have also become seriously overloaded. The Immigration and Refugee Board has reported an enormous inventory of unresolved claims, while the Canada Border Services Agency continues to carry thousands of removal cases.An asylum claim is not illegal simply because it has been filed. Nor should immigrants be blamed for policies created in Ottawa. But a system that cannot promptly decide who qualifies, enforce its decisions, or remove those ordered to leave is not a functioning immigration system.An independent Alberta could replace that failure with a policy designed around Alberta’s needs. The immigration proposal in The Value of Freedom is a draft for public discussion, not completed legislation. Its central principle is that Alberta should decide how many people it can responsibly admit, what qualifications it requires, and who may remain.The plan would return to a transparent points-based system modelled on Canada’s 2005 Federal Skilled Worker Program. Applicants would be assessed on education, English proficiency, skilled employment, trade certification, age, Alberta job offers, financial independence, and business investment.Immigration would be directed toward real Alberta requirements, particularly in energy, agriculture, technology, and the skilled trades.The annual intake would be controlled and adjusted according to labour demand, housing availability, healthcare capacity, schools, and infrastructure. The draft proposes separate streams for skilled workers, employer nominees, immediate families, and a limited number of properly screened refugees..That is how immigration should operate. The government should first determine what the country can absorb and then set its intake; not announce a politically attractive number and demand that communities somehow cope with it.Qualifications would also be verified. Canadian academic credentials would be checked against approved institutions. Foreign degrees would require recognized equivalency assessments. Tradespeople would be certified through Red Seal standards or Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, with examinations or additional training where necessary. That is not discrimination. It is basic quality control.It protects Alberta employers, public safety, and legitimate immigrants whose genuine credentials are undermined when fraudulent documents are accepted.The most difficult issue would be the status of people already living in Alberta under Canadian work permits or permanent residency. The proposal does not simply call for their removal. It establishes a separate transition process lasting up to two years.People with stable employment, successful businesses, families, and established community ties would receive favourable treatment. Work history in Alberta would count toward qualification, while long-term permanent residents who could prove their employment or self-employment would have a direct route to Alberta residency.A private sponsorship system would provide another path. Qualified Alberta citizens could sponsor a limited number of people, provided they demonstrated the means to support them, guaranteed that they would not become dependent on public assistance, and posted a financial bond. Sponsorship should be a genuine responsibility, not a signature followed by a taxpayer bailout..The proposal is firmest on criminality. A non-citizen convicted of an offence carrying a jail sentence would normally face deportation. Dangerous offenders could be detained until removal, with appeals limited to wrongful convictions, procedural failures, and compelling humanitarian circumstances.Citizenship and permanent residence carry rights. Temporary residence is conditional. Alberta would have no obligation to provide indefinite residency to a non-citizen who repays that privilege with serious criminal conduct.The draft still requires considerable refinement. Preferential points based on whether a Canadian is natural-born or naturalized would face serious objections. Automatic deportation for every offence involving jail could produce unjust results. Its medical criteria require credible scientific and legal scrutiny. Broad retrospective screening would also need due process and reasonable humanitarian exemptions.The document itself acknowledges legal challenges, diplomatic friction, labour disruption, and significant transitional costs. Those weaknesses can be debated and corrected. Alberta’s lack of authority cannot.Under Section 95 of the Constitution, provincial immigration laws remain subordinate to federal legislation. Alberta may nominate certain applicants, but Ottawa retains final authority over admission and removal.That leaves Alberta carrying much of the cost of population growth while lacking control over the policy creating it.Independence would end that contradiction.Alberta could welcome people who want to work, raise families, obey the law, and become part of our civic culture. It could match immigration to available housing and services, verify qualifications, protect legitimate refugees, and remove non-citizens who abuse the privilege of remaining here. That is not anti-immigrant. It is pro-integration, pro-accountability, and pro-Alberta.A sovereign country decides who enters, who stays, and under what conditions. Anything less is sovereignty in name only.
