WIECHNIK: Smith got her immigration mandate — time to deliver

CALGARY — Albertans weren’t ready to leave Canada, but they certainly appear willing to take back some semblance of control over their immigration policies.While the referendum question on Alberta independence failed to win — with a little over 24% of Albertans voting in favour of Option 2 — those who are looking for immigration reform in Alberta and perhaps across Canada shouldn’t feel disheartened..On Tuesday morning, question one on the referendum ballot, which asked if Albertans wanted their government to take “increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities,” managed to pick up support from just under 55% of voters (more than 820,000 votes at the time of writing).The other questions on immigration also each received more than 55% of the vote, giving Premier Danielle Smith the mandate she has been asking for over the last several months.It’s obvious Alberta isn’t happy with how the Liberal government has been running immigration, and how could it be when it’s becoming more obvious that there are only so many newcomers Alberta and Canada can reasonably accommodate?"In just the last five years of Trudeau’s tenure, Alberta grew by almost 600,000 people to more than five million,” Premier Smith has previously said.Albertans are tired of pretending that adding hundreds of thousands of people to their province in one big wave over the last several years hasn’t put additional pressure on housing, employment, infrastructure, and services..That was evident in how people voted on question four, which asked whether or not the Alberta government should charge a fee to individuals with non-permanent immigration status for using the education and healthcare systems.It received over 57% support (over 640,000 votes).Not surprisingly, there was a geographical divide, with numerous ridings in Calgary and Edmonton voting no on question one, along with Banff-Kananaskis and Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo.However, all other rural ridings and urban centres in Alberta, such as Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge, voted yes.Despite an urban-rural divide, the immigration questions found broad support overall, and that matters, not just in Alberta but across Canada.Public opinion polling has suggested in recent years that immigration concerns extend well beyond Alberta’s borders..A September 2025 Environics Institute survey found that 67% of Albertans believed there was too much immigration to Canada, compared with 56% nationally.Furthermore, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) own 2025–26 annual tracking survey found that 47% of Canadians believed too many immigrants were coming to Canada, while 48% said too many were coming to their province or territory.Those aren’t fringe opinions, and Alberta’s referendum just proved that.However, just as Smith has received the good news that almost all of her questions have passed muster, there is talk of Ottawa once again floating the possibility of increasing immigration into the country.On Friday, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab hinted that immigration levels could rise again as Canada’s population growth has slowed.“We’ve taken a step backwards on immigration. Our population increase. It was the slowest population growth since World War II. Again, that’s not me saying it. That’s the numbers,” Diab stated.“We have an ambitious agenda. We are going to want to drive growth. We do need people.”.That was the same sentiment Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed in a recent interview with the New York Times, in which he told the publication, “The question starts to become, when do we resume some controlled increase in population?”“That will happen, and we just want to make sure that we’ve got it under control,” he stated.Sounds like the same sort of immigration talk Canadians heard throughout the Trudeau years.We need more immigration to address labour shortages. We need more newcomers to support an aging population, and on and on it goes.Interestingly, last Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney travelled to Calgary to campaign for Alberta to stay in Canada and reject the nine other referendum questions."No to the nine," he told supporters in the Calgary neighbourhood of Bridgeland..As someone who was present, I instantly thought, “Weren’t you trying to work with Premier Smith on a bunch of issues? This doesn’t bode well.”.Albertans certainly listened to Carney on independence, but many clearly have other ideas on immigration.Daniel Tyrie, president of the Dominion Society, called the results a mandate for Alberta to put pressure on Ottawa.“This is a huge mandate the Alberta government can use to put pressure on the federal government. Be bold,” Tyrie said on the social media platform X.“Demand the exact same powers over immigration policy that Quebec has. Protect Alberta against the wave of irresponsible immigration Carney is preparing.”.I agree. Smith went into the referendum asking her fellow Albertans for a mandate to negotiate greater provincial authority.She now has majority support for the immigration proposals.A non-binding referendum doesn’t automatically transfer immigration powers from Ottawa to Edmonton, but now the real work begins.Smith has to demonstrate that this referendum actually meant something and exercise all the political power her office grants her.The question now is: will she use it, and will Ottawa listen?Because Albertans have given their answer, and they’re not going to take kindly to being ignored.

WIECHNIK: Smith got her immigration mandate — time to deliver

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