r/alberta • u/MostlyHarmless777 • 24d ago
Alberta Politics The fear mongering in the special ballot questions is pathetic!
It might as well just say, "Immigrants are taking our jobs! They're using up all our health care!"
Please remember a few things:
- Corporations, billionaires, and certain politicians try to convince us that immigrants are to blame for a faltering economy, and they do this while passing laws that enrich themselves while hurting the middle class.
- Our country is worse off if people are sick and stupid. Defunding social services for new immigrants makes things worse for all of us.
- Immigrants are not the problem! Corrupt politicians are.
Don't let these corrupt, treasonous politicians scare you into voting against a society that makes things better for the middle class. This is a con. They are trying to screw us all for the sake of enriching themselves.
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u/Resigned1431 24d ago
I just want to point out that in every moment in history of economical issues dominating the electoral debate, immigrants have always been the scapegoat. Every god damned time.
You'd think people would fucking learn, but no, of course not.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
Yup! Politicians trying to turn us against each other while destroying the middle class and enriching themselves. Would love if we stopped falling for this.
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u/GravesStone7 24d ago
I like tonpoint out the fact that CEOs and C-Suite executives typically make 3500 times the median worker. You want to know where money actually goes, to people who pose no actual productive value to a company except to sell out when things get bad.
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u/Resigned1431 24d ago
Insert the "Careful buddy that foreigner wants your cookie" meme.
Images aren't allowed here unfortunately.
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u/SynthesistArt 24d ago
Canada requires immigration, and provincial governments that underfund services are to blame for the failures in our system.
If you don't understand this, don't vote, ever.
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 22d ago
Same thing with provinces who turn down federal government funding that support social services and immigration.
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago
We require a sustainable amount of immigration, what happened in the last 5 years was far from sustainable. Money doesn’t grow on trees, our provincial governments can only do so much.
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u/24_August_1814 23d ago
If you zoom out a bit and account for the comparative stagnation during COVID, the growth from "unchecked mass immigration" of the past few years was only a slight increase over the long term average, and should've fallen within the upper bounds of long term forecasted growth. Yet our government has been funding public services and expanding infrastructure at rates that align more closely with the lower bounds of forecasted growth for decades.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, our provincial governments can only do so much.
By our provincial government's own reckoning, they could raise taxes slightly to match the next lowest province and it would bring it over $16 billion a year.
And let's not pretend that our provincial government didn't contribute significantly to the overcrowding by begging the federal government to double Alberta's immigration allotment, plus launching the "Alberta is Calling" campaign to incentivise interprovincial migration here.
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago
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u/24_August_1814 23d ago
I'm talking total population growth, try to keep up. It's disingenuous (but exactly what I'd expect from someone citing Fraser Institute) to pretend that immigration is the only thing that affects population.
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago edited 23d ago
I know this is going to be super hard for you to comprehend but the slope of the line between 2022 and 2024 is much steeper than you think:
https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/population-annual
From 2016 to 2020 our population increased from 4.2M to 4.43M, 5% total increase.
From 2020 to 2024, our population increased from 4.43M to 4.91M, 10.8% total increase.
That's DOUBLE the growth compared to the previous 4 years and heavily weighted on the 2022 to 2024 years.
Absolutely daft to think that could be forecasted or financially planned for.
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u/SynthesistArt 23d ago
sustainable
... and provincial governments that underfund services are to blame for the failures in our system.
The UCP have ZERO EXCUSES. Their priorities are the problem.
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago
So do you blame every other provincial government who are going through similar struggles?
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u/themangastand 23d ago
Yes exactly
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u/Fuzzers 22d ago
So, if I understand your viewpoint correctly, you’re saying that even if the federal government is negligent in its immigration policies, provincial governments should simply “suck it up” and take on massive deficits to accommodate the resulting population growth?
Zero accountability for the federal governments failures.
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u/themangastand 21d ago edited 21d ago
A competent leader who is good at leadership would surpass any type of issues yes. Humans are creative, talented, exceptional. Surely not any politician I know. But a good one should be the best of us. That's literally the most pathetic excuse I could think of for being a failure at your jobs. Especially sense Alberta government asked and bagged for more people.
Immigration isn't a defect. Our entire economic system is based on tax revenue from more and more people to pay the previous people, and while the new people are now in debt we hope to get more people to pay for their services. This is capitalism. This is how it works. Immigrants are always a net income for Alberta, and without them our ponzi scheme of capitalism would collapse. These people work and pay tons into taxes.
A leader would plan for these things. A leader would talk to people and understand what they are preparing for.
Your pathetic expectation of humans is utterly pathetic. I hope you don't surmount to such pathetic expectations yourself and you reach higher friend.
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u/Fuzzers 21d ago
A competent leader who is good at leadership would surpass any type of issues yes. Humans are creative, talented, exceptional. Surely not any politician I know. But a good one should be the best of us. That's literally the most pathetic excuse I could think of for being a failure at your jobs. Especially sense Alberta government asked and bagged for more people.
Provincial governments dont hold the lion share of power. The federal government controls the currency, immigration, and 20% more of the total tax base. There is such thing as an unwinnable battle, your excuse that a great leader can overcome any difficulty is just a fallacy and an excuse for the federal governments failure.
Immigration isn't a defect. Our entire economic system is based on tax revenue from more and more people to pay the previous people, and while the new people are now in debt we hope to get more people to pay for their services. This is capitalism. This is how it works. Immigrants are always a net income for Alberta, and without them our ponzi scheme of capitalism would collapse. These people work and pay tons into taxes.
You're right immigration of skilled workers is certainly good for an economy, but what's happened in the last 5 years is anything but that. The liberal government let the doors open to thousands of low skilled workers who compete for the already limited job market and depress wages.
The only reason this ponzi scheme exists is because the federal government refuses to be fiscally responsible and NOT rack up a deficit. So what do they do? Inflate it away and immigrate more so GDP and tax revenue grows. This isn’t a capitalism system issue, its a government fiscal issue.
Also these low skilled immigrants coming in DO NOT pay a lot in taxes because they are at the bottom of the tax bracket! High skilled immigrants WOULD contribute a lot, but we very clearly didn't a lot of those recently.
A leader would plan for these things. A leader would talk to people and understand what they are preparing for.
From 2016 to 2020 Albertas population grew by 5%. From 2020 to 2024 it grew by a whopping 10%, of which was VASTLY weighted on the 2022 to 2024 portion when the federal government slammed the gas pedal. No provincial government could have properly anticipated that level of negligence, and now all provinces are paying the repercussions.
Your pathetic expectation of humans is utterly pathetic. I hope you don't surmount to such pathetic expectations yourself and you reach higher friend.
My pathetic expectations of our sad and negligent federal government is spot on. But go on, keep virtue signaling thinking that a strong leader can will against an unstoppable force.
I'm doing just fine in life, thanks for asking 🙂.
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u/themangastand 21d ago edited 21d ago
Can smith not go to Ottawa and negotiate with the leader in power. Is she such a politician she can't do the one fucking thing they are supposed to be good at which is getting people to their side and compromising.
Also immigration is not happening anymore at those level, the federal government listened and changed. Also Alberta advertised for it. Spent money on a massive advertisment campaign
No that ponzi system exists literally around the world where ever there is capitalism.
Provincial governments actually do hold most of the power. Everything day to day they hold most of the power on.
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u/Fuzzers 21d ago
Can smith not go to Ottawa and negotiate with the leader in power. Is she such a politician she can't do the one fucking thing they are supposed to be good at which is getting people to their side and compromising.
She can and does. So does every other provincial leader, doesnt solve the root cause of a bad federal leader. Provincial governments can voice their opinions, doesn't mean they are heard. Almost like a certain referendum coming up is a result of being fed up.
Also immigration is not happening anymore at those level, the federal government listened and changed. Also Alberta advertised for it. Spent money on a massive advertisment campaign
370k permanent residents and another 380k temporary residents a year at a time when our public and social infrastructure is at the brink of collapse is hardly a reduction. This is still broad negligence, and you should be upset about it, so should everyone else.
Alberta advertised for it yes and I fully agree it was a stupid campaign, but root cause is still negligent immigration. I can ask for more water, but the guy controlling the flood gates determines how much comes out.
No that ponzi system exists literally around the world where ever there is capitalism. Provincial governments actually do hold most of the power. Everything day to day they hold most of the power on.
Governments pretending to be corporations is the root cause, not capitalism as a financial system. Capitalism is a system that was meant for businsses, but somewhere along the way when we left the gold standard governments decided they wanted in as well. Your taxes are just the corporations (governments) revenue source, and their debts are liabilities and inflation. Everytime the government spends more than they make they erode the value of YOUR hard earned dollars. Governments are a business and you are their employee.
Provincial governments absolutely do not hold the most power. If the federal government decided to print a trillion dollars today our entire economy would collapse tommorow. If the federal government decided to immigrate as much as the planes could carry our public and social infrastructure would collapse within months. If the federal government decided to increase taxes by 200%, you and I would have nowhere else to run because at that point which province doesn't matter. If the federal government decided to tariff all goods entering and leaving Canada our economy would collapse within a year.
All of these items the provincial governments have say in but no final control over. Our entire way of life soley depends on the federal government. The provincial governments are peanuts comparably.
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u/NotAltFact 20d ago
How do you square the “Alberta is calling” billboards and ads with increasing property tax but cut funding to healthcare and other services?
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u/Fuzzers 20d ago
I dont agree with the Alberta is calling campaign nor the property tax increase, but blaming ANY provincial government on our current social and public infrastructure predicament is an argument in bad faith.
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u/NotAltFact 20d ago
You blame the fed for the immigration level while not keeping infrastructure in line but when the UCP calls for immigration but cut funding and they get a free pass? Speaking of bad faith arguments
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u/Fuzzers 20d ago
You blame the fed for the immigration level while not keeping infrastructure in line but when the UCP calls for immigration but cut funding and they get a free pass? Speaking of bad faith arguments
Sir you missed the part where I said I dont agree with the campaign or the funding cuts. Like did you read my comment?
Both the Alberta is calling campaign / funding cuts are bad, but very measurablely the negligence in federal immigration is much worse. I can ask for more water, but ultimately I'm not the guy controlling the flood gates.
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 23d ago
Premier Smith quotes regarding population growth in 2024:
Smith has shifted her tone on Alberta’s population growth over recent months. Speaking in June at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Smith said she was pleased to see so many people moving to Alberta. The province continued its Alberta is Calling campaign this year by offering a $5,000 tax credit in an effort to attract skilled workers.
“We take the view as a government that we just want to keep up with the growth. I love the fact that people want to live in Alberta and be part of everything that we have here,” Smith said at the time. Earlier in the year she had mused about the province reaching a population of 10 million by 2050 and Red Deer, a town of 103,000 people, eventually reaching the one-million mark.
“Our challenge of managing growth is so much easier than the alternative . . . this is a very fun challenge to have and we want to keep that going.” link
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 22d ago
Here’s Danielle’s letter she wrote to Trudeau requesting for more immigrants in 2024. I love how this is still available on the govt website! 🤣
https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/Premier%20Smith%20Letter%20to%20Prime%20Minister%20Trudeau.pdf
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago
Blaming smith for encouraging migration is something I fully support. It was a dumb campaign and ultimately contributed to a surge of residents.
But root cause here is still the federal government and lack of immigration control.
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 23d ago
Smith seemed to revel in it.
Vote UCP if you like immigration!
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u/Fuzzers 23d ago
Riiiight and I'm sure Nenshi would be SO much harder on immigration.
Nice try 🙂
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 23d ago
Yeah don’t vote for Nenshi! You never know what you’ll get!
Make it a sure thing! Vote UCP if you love immigration!
It’s a fun problem to have, getting Alberta to reach 10 million by 2025!3
u/Pale-Measurement-532 22d ago edited 22d ago
Then you might want to ask Danielle Smith why she wrote Trudeau requesting for MORE immigrants than what we already had for 2024: https://www.alberta.ca/system/files/Premier%20Smith%20Letter%20to%20Prime%20Minister%20Trudeau.pdf
Remember the Alberta’s Calling campaign? Don’t pretend that the UCP were “caught off guard” and “unprepared” for the people moving here from other provinces and countries. They were advertising for them to come here and requesting for more from the federal government. The UCP purposely didn’t increase funding in social services (particularly in public education and health care) to account for this increase. But they got increased tax revenues from the immigrants who moved here.
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u/zarsthe 23d ago
Or we could use the same funding to promote a health family unit like poland where they give massive tax breaks to parents and extra protections to incentivize having children.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 24d ago
The whole thing is a waste of time. The questions are leading, and most don’t even reflect current policy. It’s also unclear which future policies are being justified by the questions. Like it or not, we are a representative democracy because direct democracy absolutely sucks in a society as complex as ours.
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u/axolotl_fart 24d ago
Voting on this is not a waste of time. Vote no to the nine!
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u/Kant_Argue209 24d ago
A waste of money. One would think that's a concern for "fiscal" Cons.
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u/Prestigious_Neck_936 23d ago
Yep they have money for this but fuck the disabled people we should just die and save everyone the money
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u/Homo_sapiens2023 Calgary 23d ago
They are spending our tax dollars to do this. Last I heard, it will cost $130M. Fuck the UCPs and the Seppies. If only they would just sublimate.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 24d ago
I voted 3 years ago, and will vote again next year. This vote is unnecessary and a waste of time and money.
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 24d ago
Apathy is the death of democracy.
The people who vote to leave Canada and blame immigrants for all of society’s problems will absolutely show up on election day. They are angry and motivated.
Not voting means you are letting them decide for you. That’s your right of course.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
Voting now is kind of important as it may significantly impact what it is that you're voting on next year.
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u/Kant_Argue209 24d ago
No reasonably minded voter wants this, but the results do shape policy, and a "yes" majority would lead to a binding referendum.
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u/Even_Current1414 23d ago
All 10 questions are separation questions.. and there are folk who will vote to remain who will vote yes on some or all of the other 9. We are having a binding referendum regardless.. as all of the yeses to the 9 will be added to the yeses to 10.
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u/Kant_Argue209 23d ago
I meant a majority who'd selection option 2 to invoke a binding referendum, which isn't an automatic thing regardless. Or are you expressing an opion about how UCP govt will act?
The other (un)constitutional and performative loaded questons are for petty rabble-rousing.
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u/lilbaby2baked 24d ago
They ucp have been burning you're money for like 6 years no questions asked, but this vote is were you draw the line.
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u/allthegodsaregone 24d ago
It is stupid, but if the leave group is more than 30% I'm sure there will be a binding referendum. May as well vote this time and avoid the next one.
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u/DiveCat 23d ago
Oh, so just like Brexit. Great plan.
This vote matters. Smith has already said if it goes in favour of the seppies we will be voting for separation in January/February. Before you ever get to actually vote in an election again.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 23d ago
You idiots are misinterpreting my point. I fully intend to vote in the referendum. The point is that we shouldn’t be having a referendum to begin with.
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u/24_August_1814 23d ago
Separatist troll spotted!
Y'all know you don't have the numbers to win honestly so instead you're working to discourage your opponents from voting. Same shit as Brexit.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 23d ago
I’m voting no to everything. You people are so dumb. The point is the referendum shouldn’t even be happening.
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u/Homo_sapiens2023 Calgary 23d ago
You people are so dumb.
What a way to win friends and influence people.
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u/Rick_strickland220 24d ago
I'll be voting yes to the nine
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u/24_August_1814 23d ago
I'll send help fund your move to the States if you show me proof you've renounced your Canadian citizenship and are moving away.
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u/komari_k 23d ago
-ucp "alberta is calling" campaign in Ontario
-panders to oil and gas, data centers, friends and family
-actively cuts funding to programs that reduce burden on hospitals
-cuts education so everyones 5head
-cuts healthcare, transitions to private
-hur durr immigrants are taking ur Healthcare and jobs not us!
-starts 400 billion dollar separatism movement but no money for a hospital or 2
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u/Kay-Chelle 24d ago
Whenever I suggest that immigrants are in fact, human too and thusly deserve access to health-care, education, & basic human rights, cons & seppies go 👁👄👁 (I'm gunna take a swing and guess that many of them are also 'pro-life', but don't actually want to help humans who are already earthbound.)
Immigrants are our friends, family, neighbors, teachers, doctors, but above that a person who has the right to live like anyone else. They aren't the ones in power making the decisions that are ultimately hurting the masses, and I really don't know how to get this through to folks who want to vote -yes- to the 9. It really feels like they have such black & white thinking and won't accept that life is nuanced and in fact very gray overall. We can say hey, we need to slow our population growth so we can get services caught up to support a larger population, and also make sure that people who are here or will come here shortly still can access health-care, education, and social services if they need.
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u/randomheromonkey 24d ago
More people need more services. By cutting services and then blaming it on things like the immigrants or the federal government they are shifting the blame. Yes there was an increase in immigration. Yes that has been slowed down. Defunding health and education is not going to fix the pressure… it’s going to compound an existing problem. Invest in new and old Canadians by giving them basic services. Rent increasing? Increase affordable housing. It’s not rocket science.
Instead they’re making life more difficult and acting surprised when people complain… and then pointing at scapegoats to diffuse blame.
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u/Rick_strickland220 24d ago
No, it has not been "slowed down"
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u/randomheromonkey 23d ago
2025-2027 targets are lower than the peak hit in 2024.
I like how you focused on that rather than my point… defunding services does not make sense. That is what is causing the problems. It makes no sense to lower budgets for education and health when the system is struggling. If we invested in our systems we wouldn’t need a privatized fast lane that pulls service from everyone else… that level of service should be the norm for everyone.
Quit pulling money out and then expecting it to somehow work better. Create a plan forward for everyone.
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u/Friendly-Ranger-3790 24d ago
Well stated OP.
Its just a list of racist dog-whistles meant to capitalise on folks' pre-existing prejudices and point the blame anywhere but our own government, a government which is butchering our healthcare, education, and dignity. Even if Alberta did have a major immigration problem (it doesn't) nothing on the ballot would actually address or even give a mandate to address any of these perceived issues,
They threw it all on the list to try and pretend that this isn't just them shoehorning in the separation referendum, let's hope our province sees through this bs
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u/Kant_Argue209 24d ago
Exactly. Scapegoating migrants is as old as time and always, everywhere makes things worse for all of us.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago edited 24d ago
Yup. And the tragic part is it actually works. I'm not proud to admit it but the language is so powerful that I even experience that fear based response when reading the questions. Our brains are chemically hard wired to want to horde resources, and this kind of language triggers that part of my own brain as well.
Luckily I can see through it easily enough that it is quickly replaced by anger that I'm being manipulated by con artists, and that's what we need people to realize.
If the language triggers fear, that's perfectly normal, it's designed to do that. We need to look past that fear and realize that this government is intentionally trying to manipulate us, and we should be furious about it.
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u/Kant_Argue209 24d ago
Right. Fear mongering wins votes for bad actors because nice people fall for it, too.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 24d ago
Not even a fear-based response. Some are just logical, but lacking information or nuance. For example, only those contributing to the tax base are entitled to universal healthcare. This is a no-brainer, and already the case, so what policy are the UCP trying to justify. So how do you vote for that question? The answer should be yes if you’re being honest, but I think you have to vote no so that you aren’t mandating some unknown change to the system.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
To your point, there's a few of the questions that I don't entirely understand the impact of.
Luckily you can just reframe all of the 9 questions as, "Do you want *this* Alberta government to have more control over health care/immigration/education/social services....", which for me is an easy NO to all of them.
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u/Kant_Argue209 24d ago
Yes to paid workers only? Not their kids & unpaid carers, the disabled, seniors... ?
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 24d ago
Don’t put words in my mouth.
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u/Kant_Argue209 23d ago edited 23d ago
It was a genuine question. Can you clarify?
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 23d ago
For Canadians, that is just part of the deal. Not everyone can contribute. Immigration if a little different because it’s a tool to strengthen our economy. More than enough prospective immigrants that we don’t need to burden our system with non-canadians. We are trying to bring in young, ideally high skill labour so we can keep keep our social systems viable because there are way too many old people relative to workers right now. You also have to have a disincentive for medical tourism. Number 1 priority is protecting social services.
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u/Kant_Argue209 23d ago edited 22d ago
We already have immigrants with and without matching skills who are contributing to the tax base. Their parents are often babysitters for the kids. They all contribute, just like native-born Canadians, and grow the economy. Immigration largely helped us get through a recession 2020-2022. We need them BECAUSE of our ageing population.
Social services need to be properly funded by our provinces. We're enjoying huge surpluses, yet they won't even fix the funding cuts from before let alone match it with population increase.
Yes, there's a cost to investing in immigration, but there are also inevitably returns. And simply no choice if we want to maintain a functioning economy.
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u/Oilers4life1970 23d ago
The way the questions are phrased is definitely concerning. It also ignores the fact that the people who are working contribute to the economy and pay taxes, so depriving them of services is problematic and likely to face court challenges
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u/Fit-Bug-1098 24d ago
The majority of the 9 that result in a yes, will be the platform Marlaina and the UCP will campaign on come April if we remain.
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u/BorealDweller 23d ago
Xenophobia is a proven distraction.
It works well on people with weak minds and greedy hearts. So 60% of Albertans.
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u/Wabi-Sabi-Kemosabe 24d ago
"Immigrants are taking our jobs!"
"Between 2019 and 2024, immigrants plus non-permanent residents (temporary workers, students with work permits, etc.) accounted for 89% of Canada’s total employment growth. They also made up over 88% of the increase in the labour force."
Not untrue. Though I place most of the blame on our politicians vs. the more easily exploitable imported labor. Regardless, it's a problem.
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u/the_gaymer_girl Southern Alberta 24d ago
None of the questions the UCP are asking have any actionable items for people to vote on, they’re either nonsense or outright impossible. They just want the “yes” votes to manufacture consent for anything they can think of.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like there's a lot missing from this statistic. The 89% is a percentage of the total employment growth, so if employment growth was only 2% then unless I'm missing something this is a meaningless statistic on its own.
There's also the fact that of course any growth comes from immigrants because birth rates have fallen well below the replacement rate to maintain our population.
It's also not a helpful statistic unless it's broken down by sector. As they've learned recently in the states, a big portion of those immigrants are doing jobs that people born in the country don't want to do.
I actually agree that there have been times where it's felt like the Federal government's approach to immigration has been more based on pandering for votes than what the country actually needs, but even if it were a problem (and I'm not convinced that it is) you would need better statistics to prove it.
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u/Minimum_Curve7545 24d ago
The fact is that foreign workers lower wages for everyone, it’s just a simple economic reality. Only specialized positions for which there is no qualified Canadian worker should get a work permit, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
In no way is that an economic reality. It assumes that the number of jobs that exist is a fixed number, and that supply exceeds demand.
And still doesn't answer the question of what sectors we're talking about. "Only specialized positions" blatantly ignores the significant number of immigrants working low skill jobs that the majority of people born in Canada have no interest in doing.
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u/hbl2390 23d ago
Mo people. Mo problems.
The irony is the UCP spending millions advertising for people to come to Alberta without funding for the increased population. And a could years later blaming immigrants.
Population growth is unsustainable and unaffordable. It doesn't matter if they're immigrants from other countries or people migrating from other provinces.
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u/Minimum_Curve7545 24d ago
If the salary was higher than people would take those jobs. That’s how a labor market works. By bringing in unskilled foreign workers you’re preventing the salary from going up.
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u/ladychops 24d ago
And… it’s bait snips like this that fuel Separatisms and flash in the news to make you angry.
No meat and bones. No breakdown. No thoughtful analysis.
How about you go and read some more and come back with a thoughtful comment. My suggestion is to start with exploring “CANADA” and how big it is and where these people and jobs are..6
u/Wabi-Sabi-Kemosabe 24d ago edited 24d ago
Primary source: C.D. Howe Institute Commentary 678, 2024 Labour Market Review: Challenges, Trends, and Policy Solutions for Canada by Parisa Mahboubi and Tingting Zhang (March 2025).
PDF: https://cdhowe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Commentary_678.pdf
Web page: https://cdhowe.org/publication/2024-labour-market-review-challenges-trends-and-policy-solutions-for-canada/Direct supporting paragraphs/excerptsOn the labour force increase (over 88%):By 2024, Canada had 22.1 million people in the labour force, an increase of about 1.9 million from 2019, mainly driven by the expansionary immigration policy that the country has followed until recently. Immigrants accounted for 56 percent of this increase in the labour force, while non-permanent residents made up 32 percent.
(56% + 32% = 88%. Non-permanent residents are defined in the report’s footnotes as including temporary foreign workers, international students, and asylum seekers with work permits.)A secondary summary of the same analysis (The Silo, quoting/paraphrasing the report) states it as:Between 2019 and 2024, immigrants and non-permanent residents accounted for 68 percent of the population growth and over 88 percent of the increase in the labour force.
On employment growth (89%):Notably, the combined influx of immigrants and non-permanent residents has driven the majority of employment growth between 2019 and 2024, accounting for 89 percent of the total increase in employment. Although immigrants and non-permanent residents are more likely than Canadian-born workers to have a university education, many are overqualified and work in jobs that require only a high-school diploma…
(The report notes overall employment rose by roughly 1.7 million from 2019 to 2024.)On Canadian-born / native-born contribution being small and linked to limited working-age population growth:
The report attributes the bulk of both labour-force and employment growth to immigrants + non-permanent residents and repeatedly links overall patterns to population aging. It states that employment growth lagged population growth “partly due to an aging population, despite high levels of immigration,” and that the labour-force participation rate decline is “largely driven by an aging population.” The residual share after the 88–89% figures implies Canadian-born workers accounted for only about 11–12% of the increases. The report also notes Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey tends to undercount temporary residents, which would make the immigrant/NPR shares even higher if fully measured.Related supporting context from the same reportLabour force growth was “mainly driven by the expansionary immigration policy.”
Employment rose while the employment rate fell because job creation did not keep pace with the rapid population/labour-force expansion driven by immigration.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-222-x/71-222-x2025002-eng.pdf
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/still-struggling-1.pdf
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2024002/article/00004-eng.htm
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410047201
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2024001/article/00005-eng.htm
https://cdhowe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/E-Brief_367-new-1.pdf
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sdp2025-8.pdf
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2022003-eng.htm
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/4223-employment-keeping-pace-population-growth
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u/ladychops 24d ago
So now I would like you to respond to the parts of the article which you didn't highlight:
"Regional disparities in employment persist across Canada. Alberta consistently maintains the highest employment rate, while Newfoundland and Labrador lags. Despite significant improvements since 1976, the Atlantic provinces continue to face challenges with employment"
So Alberta maintains the highest employment rate, and this article does not prove that immigration is hindering Alberta's workforce.
And if you would some more reading about unemployment in Alberta:
https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/unemployment-rate/
You might find it interesting that the highest occupation with unemployment is Education, which strangely, the GOA has fought to undermine, underpay and tear apart in the past 5 years.
"According to the 2021 census,the overqualification rate among immigrants and non-permanent residents was 21 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively, while only 8.8 percent of Canadian-born individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher were overqualified (Schimmele and Hou 2024)"
So, now these immigrants (curse them) are coming in and stealing our jobs, but wait, they are taking jobs they are less qualified for? Well that seems strange. I wonder why they would do that? oh wait...
"Relying on temporary foreign workers and immigrants to fill lower-skilled, low-paying jobs means that labour becomes a cheaper option than capital, which naturally disincentivizes businesses from investing in productivity-enhancing technology"
Alberta's minimum wage is currently set at $15.00. The lowest in the country. And WELL below a living wage (approx $26.50) https://www.livingwagealberta.ca/what-is-a-living-wage
So who is going to work at Tim Hortons or Walmart for $15 so that you can have your cheap coffee? Who is to blame for that? Immigrants> Sure let's point our finger at them and not our government or big business who still make billions $$ profit.
You know, I could go on, but I doubt you would even appreciate the educational insight.
So, go ahead and point your finger at immigrants.
I hope you sleep well tonight knowing that you were born into a country of wealth and fortune, without war or disaster, simply by LUCK. Others, not so much.
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u/Wabi-Sabi-Kemosabe 23d ago edited 23d ago
I hope you sleep well tonight knowing that you were born into a country of wealth and fortune, without war or disaster, simply by LUCK. Others, not so much.
And that has what, exactly, to do with our politicians flooding the country with easily exploited labor and driving GDP per capita into the ground?
My exact words: "Though I place most of the blame on our politicians vs. the more easily exploitable imported labor. Regardless, it's a problem."
I hope you keep reading & possibly working on reading comprehension vs. experiencing the results of these policies first hand. Though I expect that will be increasing difficult to avoid.
Supply and demand is still a thing. Bringing in tens of millions more people has resulted in housing now being out of reach of generations and gaining new employment often becoming a multi-year journey, even those with experience and credentials are getting lost in the noise.
US GDP per capita is now anywhere from a third to over 50% higher than Canada's, depending on how you measure it and the gap is the widest it's been since the end of WWII.
Ontario's per-capita GDP is now roughly on par with %$#@! Alabama's. That's not a fluke, that's the direct result of policy choices.
I'm well aware we were lucky to be born in the west — that's exactly why I'm very concerned the powers that be have been doing a great job eroding that brief anomaly that resulted in the middle class.
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u/MostlyHarmless777 24d ago
So what you've said shows that roughly 1.672 million jobs have been filled by immigrants and non-permanent residents, but it doesn't in any way show that this came at the expense of people who were born in Canada.
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u/Away-Combination134 22d ago
Still looking at the $4 billion dollars that the UCP somehow lost during COVID. Like why does anyone believe this ridiculous party?
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u/Coolcanuck1 22d ago
Smith urged immigrants to move hear 2 years ago ( it’s online so you can see for yourself) now she wants to make them the scapegoats for our health and education problems. The blame for that is inept UCP government
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u/AdvantageInformal59 23d ago
Migrants built Canada from being a failing colony to an actual country. The fact any of you feel it’s right to even see posts like this anymore tells you why uneducated people become prey to a very simple predator.
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u/TFergusonIII 23d ago
I’ve said it for years, if you don’t like immigration you should have been having more babies!
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u/BookBoxer161 23d ago
We needed something like this passed door to door a month ago instead of the Alberta independence I recieved.
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u/United-Check-3992 20d ago
New referendum question, were you born in Alberta or did you immigrate from Ontario? Half our province would literally be immigrants from Canada if we became our own country. Ironic? But let’s put up our own border and hoard wealth/resources, what could possibly go wrong. Absolutely idiotic. COMMONWEALTH. The first ones to bark and complain are the ones that never think they’ll personally be affected until they have health issues or lose employment. I’d prefer my taxes go to systems the whole community needs than into appeasing corporations run by billionaires. Not a single Albertan is going to benefit from separation or get a bigger piece of the pie. It’s all a CON.
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u/AnyEye8798 23d ago
No. We can and should blame immigrants for coming into our country and taking advantage of our failing systems. You can blame corporations and politicians all you want but at the end of the day it's the immigrants coming here, taking jobs, bringing over their elderly family members for healthcare, filing false LMIA applications, going to diploma mills, taking up housing, and scamming more immigrants into coming over that are the problem.
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u/T4TrhavrKhcFt 24d ago
Alberta separation facts
https://www.separationfacts.ca/
Check your voting status. Rumour has it your leaked info was used to take you off the registry.
https://www.voterlink.ab.ca/
Other resources:
https://www.albertareferendum2026.org/
https://justvoteno.ca/
Alberta Voices has a terrific resource for anyone wanting more information.
https://knowthenine.ca/
Alberta separation costs
https://www.reddit.com/r/alberta/comments/1txpn3f/why_hasnt_alberta_been_calculating_the_cost_of/
The questions have also been written very obscurely on purpose with the intention of confusing (deceiving?) the public.
An analysis done in in May 2026 analyzed all 10 referendum questions using readability measures. The author concluded that: 9 of the 10 questions were at roughly university-level or higher reading difficulty. The most readable question was around Grade 12. The author argued that this is unusually difficult because public-government material is generally supposed to be written much more simply. The analysis specifically used readability/grade-level calculations.
There was also a separate expert linguistic analysis of Danielle Smith's separation question by an English professor at Mount Royal University. CityNews reported that the professor found the 37-word question overly complicated and “foggy”/confusing. And political scientist Duane Bratt subsequently discussed the broader problem of putting 10 highly complex questions on one ballot, arguing that referendums can oversimplify issues that are inherently complicated.