Premier Says Budget Deficit Caused by Newcomers, Not Decades of Boom-and-Bust Budgeting

In a 13-minute televised address, Danielle Smith announced that Alberta will hold an Oct. 19 referendum on immigration and constitutional change, arguing “out-of-control” newcomer levels are overwhelming schools, hospitals and the provincial piggy bank.

The premier, leader of the United Conservative Party, said Albertans can no longer “subsidize the entire country” while Ottawa “floods our borders,” a reference to federal policies in Canada. She also noted that every $1 drop in oil prices costs the province roughly $750 million, though critics observed that barrels of crude have yet to apply for health cards.

Opponents called the speech a high-gloss attempt to pin a looming deficit on people with accents.

While official wording is pending, observers joked the nine referendum questions might include: whether residents should report suspiciously diverse potlucks; audit playgrounds for foreign-born toddlers; require neighbours to produce grandparents on demand; install tip lines for “excessive multilingualism”; and otherwise deputize Albertans into a census-by-snitch.

Blaming immigrants, critics note, isn’t fiscal policy; it’s just racism with a ballot.

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