Advocates flag contributions, not costs, of newcomers in Alberta referendum aftermath

A union representative for a beef processing plant south of Calgary is warning of worsening labour shortages if immigration policy proposals that narrowly passed in Alberta’s referendum are enacted.

“These are tough and high turnover jobs with few candidates lining up to fill them,” said Faduma Ahmed, with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 at Cargill’s abattoir in High River, Alta.

With 98 per cent of polls reporting in Monday’s referendum, a slim majority of votes were cast in favour of limiting access to or charging a fee for provincially funded services based on immigration status. Premier Danielle Smith’s government had argued that the cost to provide health care and education to temporary Alberta residents amounts to $1 billion a year and that a surge in newcomers has strained affordability and services.

But critics have warned that the referendum’s outcome could make Alberta less attractive to newcomers at a time when jobs desperately need to be filled.

At the Cargill plant, temporary foreign workers, refugees, permanent residents and citizens from all over the globe work side by side and all pay taxes, said Ahmed. It’s back-breaking work, with staffers often having to hoist whole carcasses.

“When we sit down to eat, we rarely think about the intense and the gruelling labour it takes to get the food onto our tables, right on our plate,” she said, adding that workers have come to her concerned about their ability to pay for health care and school for their children.

“They are foundational to keeping our economy moving, and they are navigating the exact same punishing affordability crisis as every other Albertan.”

Ahmed said the union will draw a “hard line” if the proposals become law.

“We will fight to ensure immigrant workers receive the same services they do today, up to and including making the employers pay at the bargaining table to fund the differences.”

Another sector that relies heavily on immigration is health care for seniors.

“Often we’ll find they’ll work in roles that maybe some Canadians may not be interested in,” said Leah Lechelt, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Alberta, which represents non-profits that employ 22,000 staff across the province.

She said some college programs for health-care aides have closed or reduced their enrolment simply because there haven’t been enough applications domestically.

The workforce hails from around the world, and are mostly health-care aides, but also cleaning and food-service staff, Lechelt said. They deal with vulnerable patients, so regulations largely limit those jobs to permanent residents and citizens.

“It’s really a very attractive role for somebody who is fairly new to Canada and sometimes is working on some English language proficiency skills.”

The association has established an apprenticeship program that enables those in entry-level jobs, like housekeeping, to train on-site to become health-care aides and pursue a better-paying career path.

“And then we can backfill those positions with other newcomers, maybe starting out in their journey in Canada.”

One of the referendum proposals asked whether Albertans would support the province taking more control of immigration from the federal government.

It was an idea the Business Council of Alberta has long advocated, said president Adam Legge.

“There’s a bit of a better on-the-ground intel perspective compared to a centralized decision in Ottawa,” he said.

“Oftentimes there are some skills and geographic mismatches between what Ottawa approves on an immigration basis and what is needed.”

For instance, he said there’s a huge demand for workers in the skilled trades, like heavy-duty mechanics, welders and electricians.

He said he heard from members generally that they don’t want to see anything deter people from choosing to live in Alberta.

Research by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe commissioned by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce found immigrants paid an estimated $4.1 billion in Alberta personal income taxes in 2026.

It also found immigrants younger than 40 had a net fiscal contribution of almost $1 billion, after the cost of provincial family programs, workers’ compensation and social assistance are accounted for.