Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is considering a health-care premium of about $1,900 per worker for temporary residents, arguing they should pay their own way while the province faces rising demand for services. She raised the proposal during a sit-down conversation with Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, and said the government is weighing how to balance the needs of residents, employers and public programs.

Smith said there is a difference between people who come to Canada seeking permanent residency and those who are in the country temporarily. “If there is somebody who has made a commitment to be an Albertan and a Canadian for a lifetime as a permanent resident, they’re going to be a lifetime taxpayer. They are entitled to the same programs as everybody else as a citizen,” she said. “But if somebody is here temporarily, they should really pay their own way.”

She pointed to the United Kingdom, where immigrants are charged between $1,400 and $1,900 in health-care premiums before entering the country. Smith also said immigrants there pay thousands more for their children to access education. She suggested Alberta could consider a $1,900 premium for each worker.

Smith framed the potential charge in terms of hiring decisions and youth employment. “Is that $1,900 fee going to make or break your business? If it is, you’re probably hiring into a low-skill profession and we want those low-skill jobs to go to youth employment. We have a 15 to 16 per cent youth unemployment rate and we want those kids to get their first chance,” she said. “I want the business community to work with us to make sure that our young people get those opportunities.”

She said employers seeking highly skilled workers would be a different case, adding: “If that’s a make-or-break, I’d have to be persuaded of that.” Smith said the broader issue is finding an approach that meets competing needs. “That’s the balance we’re trying to get - let’s get back to economic migration, let’s give the priority to the province to make sure that they’re selecting them, a clear pathway from temporary residents to permanent citizenship and let’s be sure we’re working with the business community to meet their needs.”

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi criticized the proposal, saying Smith is unfairly singling out a small group for challenges affecting the broader population. “Every Albertan is sucking money out of the health-care system. It means the health-care system is unsustainable. So, maybe she needs to admit that.”

Nenshi also said Smith is “out of touch” with the potential cost to families. “That’s nearly $8,000 for a family of four, every year,” he said. He accused the government of continuing to “bleed money through chaos and corruption in health care,” while patients wait longer in pain for needed surgeries.

“Danielle Smith and the UCP want to blame immigrants for their own failures in ruining the healthcare system. The premier said she’d fix healthcare in 90 days. She said she knew exactly how to fix the ambulances. And yet, 1,500 days later the system has never been worse. The problem is not immigrants or temporary workers, it’s Danielle Smith,” Nenshi said.

Smith cited population changes as context for pressure on schools and hospitals. She said Alberta’s population fluctuated over the past five years but has recently surged. “In the past five years, we’ve had 600,000 people move to Alberta - that’s the equivalent of a city half the size of Calgary coming here in five years,” she said.

Smith said that after COVID, following 2022, school boards discussed closing student spaces because of out-migration. She said the Calgary Board of Education needed 14,000 fewer spaces at the time, adding: “That’s what I inherited when I came in.” She said the circumstances are different in 2026, with an estimated 90,000 more students needing school seats. “You can only build schools so fast - it takes time to do. You can only build hospitals so fast. A wellness centre that I just announced takes about four years. A full-service hospital takes about 10 years,” she said.

Based on reporting by CTV News Calgary.