Albertans will vote Oct. 19 on five questions about immigration, including whether Alberta should gain more control over who can come to the province and whether some newcomers should face fees or waiting periods before accessing core services. The questions are part of a 10-question ballot that also asks whether Alberta should remain in Canada or hold a second binding referendum on leaving Confederation. Key details about the proposed immigration rules remain unsettled.

Premier Danielle Smith and Finance Minister Jason Nixon said earlier this week that it remains to be determined whether any rule changes would apply to people already living in Alberta. They said that would be considered only if voters approve the questions on Oct. 19. “We have to talk about that as a cabinet. I want to see if we even have a mandate to do it,” Smith said.

The five immigration questions followed town halls Smith held across the province last summer to discuss ways to shield Alberta from federal overreach. The meetings included heated exchanges about immigration. At one town hall in Lloydminster, proposals for mass deportations drew loud cheers.

Smith has faced criticism that charging some newcomers premiums for education and health care would amount to a discriminatory head tax. She has rejected that criticism, arguing that other jurisdictions also charge temporary residents premiums for public health care. The questions have nevertheless prompted uncertainty over how Alberta would take greater control, what limits it might set, which newcomers might pay fees and whether new rules could affect people who have already arrived.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the questions are not about public finances or the economy, but about assigning blame to newcomers. “The government doesn’t know what these questions mean,” he said. Nenshi pointed to Smith’s 2024 appeal to the federal government to help Alberta fast-track more newcomers, saying she now warns that high immigration levels are unsustainable.

“She suddenly realized that immigrants were a helpful scapegoat for her government’s failures, so now she’s become anti-immigrant,” Nenshi told reporters Friday. Immigration Minister Joseph Schow disputed that characterization in an interview Friday, saying the questions are intended to put Alberta’s economic needs first.

“(The discrimination argument) is a very narrow-minded view of what we’re trying to do as a province,” Schow said. He said Alberta pays bills for the country and wants to remain its economic driver, but cautioned that poor management of immigration could threaten that role. “The prime minister knows that he has bills to pay, and he knows that Alberta pays those bills and we want to continue to be that economic driver of the country. “But with poor management of immigration within the country, that may not always be able to be the case.”

The province says temporary workers cost Alberta $1 billion annually in health care and education, while contributing $150 million in taxes. Schow said the services are important but expensive, and argued taxpayers should have the ability to access them. He described a 12-month requirement to live in Alberta as “at least a reasonable starting block.”

Schow said the government has not settled the definition of an Alberta-approved immigration status. Asked about the finer points, he said: “in terms of the finer parameters, we’re still working that out.” He also said the province is seeking a mandate before deciding what fees newcomers might pay for health care or education. “Then we’ll make a path forward about what that number looks like for us,” he said.

Asked why the government had not set an immigration target before the vote, Schow said the figure would change from year to year. He said Alberta wants to set priorities for workers in industries with high demand and that labour mobility remains important. “This comes down to industries that are in need and us submitting our allocation requests particularly in the provincial nominee program,” he said.

The Canadian Press report was first published Sept. 26, 2026, by Dayne Patterson.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton.