Smith scores slim majority on immigration questions, Albertans reject constitutional changes
Smith says province will ‘proceed with caution’ on immigration policies
Most Albertan voters have sided with the province on its questions relating to immigration, but have rejected constitutional reforms in a controversial referendum this week.
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voters → score → referendum
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government asked citizens nine questions, outside the one related to separation, with all five immigration-related questions getting majority approval from voters.
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questions → ask → voters
Elections Alberta said in a Sunday afternoon statement that the count had been completed Saturday night, about three days later than the agency had aimed to complete the count and publish the results in order to meet the 48-hour deadline set under Alberta's referendum regulations.
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agency → say → regulations
Elections Alberta said it had hand-counted 20,574,612 ballots, which the agency said was the highest number of ballots ever counted by hand in any Canadian electoral event.
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agency → say → event
- Referendum ballot counting delayed by days in first provincial vote after tabulator ban
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counting → delay → ban
Alberta overhauls election laws to allow corporate donations, change referendum thresholds
Results will be made official on Oct. 29.
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Results → overhaul → Oct.
The question with the highest “yes” vote share was Question 5 — requiring proof of citizenship to vote in provincial elections — which garnered 58 per cent support.
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which → require → support
Results show about 55 per cent of voters said yes to Alberta’s pitch to take greater control of immigration, in part to decrease the number of newcomers.
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cent → show → newcomers
The three questions that suggest different methods for limiting public and social services to some non-permanent residents garnered 52.6-, 53- and 52 per cent support.
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that → suggest → support
Smith says she will 'proceed with caution'
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she → say → caution
As results were still trickling in on Wednesday, Smith told reporters she will prioritize adjusting Alberta’s approach on economic migrants.
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she → trickle → migrants
On the rest of the immigration questions, she said the province will “proceed with caution.”
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province → say → caution
“I think that people who came here and had certain expectations under one set of rules, it's always very difficult if you change things midstream.
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you → think → things
So I want to be very cautious about that and try to interpret a little bit of the result that we got back.”
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we → want → that
Lori Williams, Mount Royal University political scientist, doesn’t believe these results are the strong mandate Smith wanted.
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Smith → believe → ?
The government ran a $4-million advertising campaign advocating for Albertans to vote “yes” to the other nine questions.
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Albertans → run → questions
“The fact that she has … got the results that she does on the nine questions is, I think, a bit of a problem,” Williams said.
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Williams → get → problem
“It doesn't give her the mandate she wanted.
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she → give → mandate
It doesn't give her the authority to move forward and sort of detract from the issues that were raised by separatists because we have this very close division on all of the questions.”
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we → give → questions
With the referendum questions being less popular in Calgary and Edmonton, Smith told The Calgary Eyeopener’s Loren McGinnis on Thursday that conservatism across the country needs to figure out how to appeal to urban voters.
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conservatism → tell → voters
‘I think that’s something all conservative leaders are going to have to be thoughtful about,” she said.
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she → think → ?
“The bread and butter conservative issues that matter in rural Alberta are just different than the ones that matter in urban centres.
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that → matter → centres
All 5 immigration questions pass
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questions → pass → ?
The five questions concerning immigration included proposals for the province taking more control over immigration from Ottawa, requiring residents to have an “Alberta-approved immigration status” to be eligible for public and social services, and showing proof of citizenship before voting in elections.
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province → concern → elections
If all five of the successful proposals become law, Alberta could require some temporary residents — such as international students or temporary foreign workers — to have lived in the province for at least 12 months before they can qualify for some provincial social supports such as childcare subsidies, and charge a “reasonable fee or premium” for their use of the public health care and education systems.
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they → become → systems
Smith has floated the idea of charging temporary residents a $1,900 fee for access to public health care, akin to a premium charged by the United Kingdom.
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Smith → float → Kingdom
Calgarian Camille Katigbak, who owns the marketing agency Katigbak Technologies, is one of the more than half of voters who supported immigration changes.
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who → own → changes
To her, the proposed changes make sense.
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changes → propose → sense
She worries about too many people putting pressure on the system.
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people → worry → system
“I think if we just limit and kind of pre-qualify, we make sure okay, these people are here for the right reasons, I think that would really help our system be more streamlined and we're not overwhelmed,” she said.
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she → think → reasons
“I do know that we have to help our neighbours too.
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we → know → neighbours
Like we have to think about helping others, but at what cost, right?”
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we → have → others
The question about requiring proof of Canadian citizenship to vote in provincial elections was also something she supported.
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she → require → elections
But not everyone feels as positively about the results as Katigbak does.
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Katigbak → feel → results
Calgarian Dozie Anyaegbunam, who came to Canada from Nigeria in 2021, has been critical of the referendum and had hoped the immigration questions would fail.
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questions → come → referendum
While they did pass, the host of The Newcomers podcast said he’s encouraged by how many people voted against them.
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people → pass → them
“I think it's good to kind of see that it is not an overwhelming majority,” he said.
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he → think → ?
“Even if the government says they have a mandate, they don't have a full mandate.
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they → say → mandate
And that gives me some hope in terms of how we move forward from here as a community.”
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we → give → community
Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Tuesday that he and Smith had discussed "other priorities" facing Canadians, namely, immigration.
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he → tell → Canadians
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
