Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is urging the federal government to provide substantial support to address the overwhelming influx of immigrants into the province.
Despite housing starts increasing in Alberta by 60% last year, it still wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with immigration, which saw 200,000 people come to Alberta in 2023. The housing starts were enough to accommodate around 100,000 people, said Smith.
Immigration to Alberta was bolstered by the province’s Alberta is Calling campaign, which Smith implemented after 13 quarters of outward migration from the province.
“We now have, by our numbers, about 22% of newcomers seeking to come to Alberta, even though we’re only about 12% of the population, and there’s a lot of pressure that goes along with that,” said Smith.
The comments were made to True North during a brief conference as Smith attended the annual opening of Klondike Days in Edmonton.
“We would ask, along with Quebec, for the federal government to assist us with the funding, with emergency income support, with emergency hotel support, assisting with English as a second language learning, making sure that people have appropriate healthcare, as well,” said Smith.
She added that newcomers mean new families, increasing the burden on the education system. She said that she intends to build many more schools to meet the demand.
According to Smith, Alberta’s influx of immigrants has resulted in 22,500 new unfunded students.
“We believe that there is a pace of growth that is sustainable. I think people are feeling the pressure now. I would hope that the federal government would be able to assist us in the same way that they have in Quebec,” said Smith.
All of Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers met at the recently concluded 2024 Council of the Federation in Halifax. During the closing news conference, Quebec Premier François Legault raised his concerns about the number of asylum seekers entering Quebec.
Smith said that Alberta welcomed 70,000 Ukrainian asylum seekers last year. She reiterated Quebec’s point, stating that anyone shouldering the additional pressures of a large influx of asylum seekers should be supported.
Alberta’s premier said that conversations with the federal government to address specific pressures with support are ongoing.
Legault was not the only premier who raised concerns at the council meeting.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he was particularly open to receiving francophone asylum seekers to bolster the provincial francophone community.
“In order for us to be able to collaborate effectively with Quebec or Ontario or other regions, we really need the federal government, who have the fiscal resources to be able to move the needle here, to do so,” said Kinew.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said that he doesn’t understand the Liberal government’s immigration policies and that immigration in his province has exploded threefold in the last few years.
“I think we’re all kind of bursting at the seams in relation to keeping up with housing. We’re getting pushback from many citizens about the cost, affordability, and the availability,” he said.
Legault said that it’s not fair that Quebec receives $750 million while other provinces get nothing despite a large number of asylum seekers coming to their provinces.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that his province spends over $1 billion annually on asylum seekers but only received $162 million from the Liberals. Money aside, he said that asylum seekers are waiting too long for work permits, forced to live in hotels and unable to work.
“It’s heartbreaking. They want a better life. They want to work like everyone else and contribute to society. They’re really good folks. We need support from the federal government,” said Ford.
True North previously reported that 2.2 million newcomers immigrate to Canada every year, after accounting for permanent residents, temporary foreign workers, international students, and illegal immigrants.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that immigration will be “much lower” if he’s elected.