The Ugly Underbelly of Alberta Separatism

For the Smith government and the Alberta separatist movement, there’s no shortage of grievances against Ottawa to nurse—everything from environmental policy, to equalization, to the structure of national institutions.

But in this latest round of airing of grievances, immigration has been added to the list. Ottawa has admitted too many immigrants, and they aren’t the kind of immigrants Alberta wants.

This most recent wave of immigrants, according to the video on the Alberta Next Panel’s website, is responsible for unaffordable housing and high unemployment. “If Alberta isn’t satisfied with the number or kind of newcomers moving to our province, we may have the option to withhold provincial social programs to any non-citizen or non-permanent resident who does not have an Alberta-approved immigration status.”

Now, if Alberta were to remain in Canada, it’s unlikely that the province would be able to pick and choose which immigrants are worthy of healthcare or other services. The pesky Canadian courts would get in the way.

So the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project came up with a plan, embedded in its “Value of Freedom” document released yesterday. Deportations! (Just like the Americans!!)

In this document, which makes bold claims about Alberta’s low-tax future as a country, pages are devoted to setting out an immigration policy for an independent Alberta. “Natural born Canadians” will have preference and “naturalized citizens” of Canada will be awarded lesser points. Why? Well, folks born in Canada will fit in better and “they understand Canada and its winters and have at least a fighting chance of being able to drive acceptably on snow and ice.” I’m not making this up.

For anyone wanting to immigrate to the Free Alberta, there will be a points system. Being born in Canada gets you 40 points; 20 if naturalized. (Surprisingly, a driver’s license does not get you points…) Education counts (25 points for a PhD, if this is tempting to any of my academic friends elsewhere in Canada). So does language proficiency, merit, youth, “merit” and “health.” To get the 10 health points, you can’t have had a serious illness or an “experimental mRNA injection.” I’m not making this up.

Now, this wouldn’t just be the policy moving forward in Free Alberta. Anyone without citizenship who arrived under the “extremely unsatisfactory policies implemented by Canada since 2015” will have to requalify under the new screening program. The document projects that some 45,000-76,000 individuals who fail to qualify will be deported to Ottawa. I’m not making this up.

If either Smith or the APP was accused of racism, their response would likely be that these complaints aren’t racist; they are merely objections to bad Liberal policies. This gives them — and others — cover to articulate views that not so long ago would have been considered unacceptable in mainstream conversations. By turning antipathy toward immigration into yet another grievance against Ottawa, they are creating space for Albertans to indulge in their worst inclinations.

To have a panel led by the premier indulging in these ideas is simply shameful.