When Vanesa Ortiz arrived in Calgary from Mexico a decade ago, she found a city that welcomed her with open arms. Now, she fears the opportunities she had to build a life there could soon be closed to others. This week's referendum asked Albertans whether the province should introduce laws restricting access to healthcare and education to only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and those with an Alberta-approved immigration status. Another question proposed a 12-month residency requirement before temporary residents could qualify for certain social support programmes, and would allow the province to charge some temporary residents fees for healthcare and education.
Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party government has blamed rapid population growth for overcrowded schools and underfunded hospitals. Smith said in a social media post that for every dollar of tax a guest worker generates, taxpayers cover ten dollars in services. The federal Liberal government under Justin Trudeau has since trimmed immigration targets and tightened restrictions on the temporary foreign worker program amid criticism of its misuse by large companies.
But critics argue the proposed solutions could leave migrant workers and their families more vulnerable without addressing the root causes of the strain. Ortiz, who works with the non-profit Asociación de Mexicanos en Calgary, worries that growing skepticism towards migrant workers will push them into the shadows and increase their risk of labour exploitation. "I can't imagine the scale of the harm that a policy like this might create," she said, noting that thousands of farm workers in Alberta already lack healthcare.
Ximena González, a Calgary-based writer who came to Canada 16 years ago as an international student, said the provincial government initially wanted more workers to exploit, bringing people in on temporary permits. "Now, the message feels more out in the open: 'We wanted you to come, to exploit you. And now, we don't need you any more – so we will punish you,'" she said.
The provincial government has claimed that temporary residents, who make up almost 6 percent of Alberta's population, contribute roughly $150 million in tax revenues but cost more than $1 billion annually in health, education and other social services. But economist Gillian Petit noted that temporary residents also pay taxes to the federal government, which helps fund Alberta's healthcare, meaning their contribution is likely higher than the province acknowledges. She added that if they contribute less in total tax dollars than other Albertans, it is because they earn less than the median resident, and they are less likely to use healthcare and education resources than the average Albertan.
Economist Jim Stanford said hundreds of thousands of voters skipped the immigration questions entirely, choosing only to answer the one on separation. "This cannot remotely be interpreted as a mandate for the government to crack down on immigration," he said, adding that the province lacks the power to act unilaterally on these proposals. "This was a symbolic ideological exercise and gives a cast of legitimacy to some of these very rightwing nativist sentiments that are bubbling in the far right of Alberta politics."
For Ortiz, the government's shift represents a betrayal of the workers who have helped build the province. "We're asking people if we should remove the right to access healthcare and education from taxpayers who are, quite literally, building our communities," she said. "They are not just labour. They work, study and raise their children here."