2026-10-04: Alberta Referendum

I received a brochure about the upcoming referendum in the mail, and I must say, it sure reads like a propaganda piece. Did my tax dollars pay for this? Why?? Moreover, this referendum is going to cost something north of $120,000,000!. And that's definitely my tax dollars. To what end? Is there an upside to this?

Some of the arguments made in the brochure seem quite reasonable, at least at first. Until I thought about them some more. So I decided to put down my thoughts about each one - what makes sense, what doesn't, and why.

• Immigration is a federal power - like it or not.
• Excess immigration was a problem caused by Trudeau (arguably the worst / dumbest PM in Canadian history, but I digress). It's over. We are under new management. There is not a current problem.
• I agree that we should encourage more economic immigration and less of the other categories. To do that, we should negotiate with the feds, rather than try to change the constitution (which isn't going to happen anyways) - a waste of time.
• Conclusion: this is trying to solve yesterday's problem with a useless tool. Just play nice with the feds, and hope that we continue to have competent leadership in Ottawa, as we now do (and previously didn't).
• NO.

• We are talking about legal immigrants here, not illegals - just to be clear.
• There are basically three categories (that I can think of): VISA students, temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers (refugees).
• VISA students: are usually young and have no kids, so they don't really consume educational resources. They tend to use very little healthcare for the same reasons. In any case, there are only about 30,000 of them in Alberta, and their high tuition supports our Universities. Do we really want to discourage them from coming?
• Temporary foreign workers: pay tax. They don't usually bring their kids. They presumably use healthcare like anyone else (though they tend not to be old, so not as much as the general population, which includes the very young and the elderly). Because they are already paying tax (source deductions), asking them to pay more, even though they use fewer services per capita (I assume), seems unfair and honestly asinine.
• Asylum seekers: Don't pay tax, may have kids and presumably need healthcare. These are really central, but the federal government pays to support them, so Alberta taxpayers are not carrying this burden.
• Conclusion: this question doesn't mention tax revenue from temporary foreign workers or financial support from the federal government. It's totally disingenuous. I don't think there is actually a problem to solve here.
• NO.

• This is just another way to tackle the same "issue" as Q2.
• NO.

• This is yet another way to tackle the same "issue" as Q2.
• NO.

• Oh, this sounds soooooo reasonable, but...
• What problem are we trying to solve here? Is there evidence of any electoral fraud? No!
• Adding friction to elections seems like paying a cost to solve an imaginary problem.
• I'm pretty sure I know where this comes from. The UCP base consumes a lot of right wing American media (Fox News, etc.). They hear a lot about supposed voter fraud (which is not a thing in the US either, but I digress). They want to "solve" this imaginary problem here.
• This is a possibly expensive solution to an imaginary problem.
• NO.

• We're talking about constitutional reform here.
• It won't happen. Too much national consensus is required, and it simply does not exist.
• This also presupposes that we have a problem with judge selection. Do we? I'm not aware of a problem.
• A total waste of taxpayer resources trying to accomplish the impossible, in order to solve an imagined problem.
• NO.

• As with Q6 - this is impossible.
• I agree that a more regionally fairly distributed senate would be nice, but the way to move in that direction is to ask the current federal government, nicely, to do that. Not this.
• I've met some senators. They are smart, thoughtful people. They do provide a mature second look at issues to Parliament. I don't buy that the senate has no utility.
• An overblown problem and an impossible solution.
• NO.

• I actually don't mind this - leave provincial responsibilities with the provinces, and don't attach strings to federal money.
• It's not realistic and won't succeed, however.
• It won't work, so don't waste my tax dollars chasing it.
• NO.

• As with Q8, I actually don't mind this - give provinces a tiny bit more autonomy at the margins.
• It's not realistic and won't succeed, however.
• It won't work, so don't waste my tax dollars chasing it.
• NO.

• This is the big one.
• Alberta separation, or even noises about same, are just a way to chase away talent and capital.
• We can't afford to have our own foreign service, military, currency, pension system, etc. That's just insanity.
• At least tens of thousands would flee the province, creating economic disaster.
• Billions of capital would likewise flee, and cause harm.
• We really want pipelines built here. Through foreign countries (BC to the West, Saskatchewan and ultimately Ontario/Quebec to the East)? Good luck getting approval!
• The Americans would use the opportunity to extract monstrous concessions from a newly independent Alberta.
• Perhaps the separatists imagine this will lead to American statehood. (a) that's not on the ballot and I think would be incredibly unpopular and (b) it presupposes that the US would want to tack-on a state that would reliably vote Democratic (and on their political spectrum, even an independent Alberta would be that). No chance.
• Just talking about this is harming our economy. So dumb.
• NO.

Bottom line:

• This whole referendum is one big circle-jerk for right wing UCP members.
• We taxpayers are paying over $120 million for this exercise.
• There is exactly nothing useful in the offered questions.
• Albertans should reject the whole thing and send the UCP packing.
• Caveat: the NDP could arguably be worse!
  The left wing stupids are no better than the right wing stupids.
  But that's a discussion for another day.

P.S. - Bonus rant
One reason this referendum is going to be so expensive is that the UCP has outlawed automation to count ballots. That's also due to consuming too much American right wing conspiracy theory content. That too, pisses me off, as it's my tax dollars being squandered.