Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says temporary residents are costing the province more than $1 billion a year in health care and education while contributing just $150 million to provincial tax revenues.
Smith made the claim while defending Alberta’s upcoming immigration referendum, arguing the federal temporary resident system has grown beyond what it was designed to handle.
“We have, I believe, 246,000 temporary residents,” Smith said. “They have 48,000 children in our health care system.”
“They’re responsible for $1 billion worth of healthcare and education costs, and yet they only generate $150 million in revenue.”
“No other country does this,” she added.
Smith pointed to countries such as the United Kingdom, where some temporary residents are required to pay healthcare charges, arguing Alberta should consider similar measures.
She stressed that Canadian citizens and permanent residents would continue qualifying for provincial services as they do now.
“Permanent residents, those who are on a pathway to citizenship, those whose children will be born here and raised as Canadians, they will be treated just as Canadian citizens,” Smith said.
“So it’s really a question about, do we take a different approach on temporary residents?”
Smith has made immigration a central part of her government’s push to address pressure on provincial services.
In a televised address earlier this year, she said Alberta had added nearly 600,000 residents over five years and blamed federal immigration policy for straining classrooms, emergency rooms and social programs.
“Throwing the doors wide open to anyone and everyone across the globe has flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems with far too many people, far too quickly,” Smith said on February 19.
She argued rapid population growth was also contributing to Alberta’s fiscal pressures and said the province needed to “directly confront” federal immigration levels.
“The changes we need to make to immigration are a significant departure from the status quo,” Smith said. “I am seeking a referendum mandate from Albertans to implement them.”
Albertans will vote October 19 on referendum questions covering immigration levels, fees for non-permanent residents accessing health care and education, and eligibility for social supports.
Smith said Ottawa itself has recognized that temporary immigration grew too quickly, pointing to reductions in international student and temporary foreign worker programs.
“It got out of whack, and we need to fix it,” she said. “So we’re just trying to get some — a mandate from Albertans to do that.”
Smith’s $1-billion cost and $150-million revenue estimates have faced scrutiny, particularly over how the revenue figure was calculated.
The debate comes amid rising federal spending on health coverage for refugees and asylum claimants.
Ottawa’s Interim Federal Health Program cost $896.5 million in 2024–25, providing coverage to more than 623,000 beneficiaries, including roughly 440,500 asylum claimants.
Ottawa introduced co-payments in May to cut costs, but later restored some coverage while maintaining projected annual savings of roughly $200 million.
An August Research Co. poll found all five immigration proposals had majority support, including 60 per cent for health and education fees and 65 per cent for greater provincial control over immigration.