Danielle Smith is expected to address immigration as part of her Thursday evening televised address after a staffer and former Alberta Next Panel moderator came under fire for social media posts about current immigration policies.--CP FILE PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Premier Danielle Smith spoke briefly on immigration Wednesday following online comments by two high-ranking staffers. The premier suggested immigration will be a topic she will touch on during Thursday evening’s televised address.
Smith’s chief of staff Rob Anderson responded to a post on X about population growth in comparative perspective, which showed Canada’s population growth outpacing a selection of other nations.
The nations selected did not include frequent comparisons like the United Kingdom, Australia or the United States. Rather, Canada’s population growth between 2000 and 2024 is compared to countries such as Slovenia, Czechia and the Slovak Republic.
It is unclear what the source of the data is, or on what basis the comparisons were selected.
Anderson’s post advised Albertans to tune into Smith’s address, which will be broadcast Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
“This absolute insanity needs to stop,” he wrote. “It will.”
Another high-ranking staffer in Smith’s office shared similar sentiments on his X account on Wednesday.
Executive director of the premier’s office Bruce McAllister penned a lengthy response to the same chart.
“The people orchestrating this reckless, unsustainable mass immigration into Canada fill me with profound disgust. To deliberately engineer and champion such explosive, unmanageable population growth in your own nation? That’s the height of civic irresponsibility,” he wrote.
“Or does their contempt for Canada’s core values and traditions drive them to flood our borders with millions from societies not built on the same foundations that have made us thrive? Why import from nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here?”
Smith responded to questions about her staffer’s comments at an unrelated press conference Wednesday. She said she believed Canada had experienced the most rapid population growth of any country in the world.
According to the most recent United Nations statistics from 2023, while Canada ranks high among the world’s countries for net migration rate, it experiences the 24th highest rate per 1,000 population. However, the countries ranking above are mainly small nations, where the rate can be skewed due to low population.
Canada also has the fifth highest net number of migrants, behind fellow NATO countries Germany and the United Kingdom.
“This clearly needs to change. This is not sustainable. So I’ll have more to say about that in the address, and then we’ll see the conversations about what needs to happen next.”
Smith says the pace of immigration was the No. 1 issue she heard from attendees during the Alberta Next Panel tour.
“We need to get back to the kind of more rational policy that we had. Stephen Harper had a reasonable amount of newcomers that were able to integrate easily to the society. That shows especially because they came with a good paying job,” said Smith.
Smith did not provide a response to a question about whether McAllister’s comments represented the views of the premier, the premier’s office or the United Conservative Party.
“Western society is based on the Socratic Judeo-Christian tradition. If you go back about why we have the society we do there’s no question that there are some foundational influences. However, Alberta was also created in 1905 based on the immense diaspora communities that come here.”
Smith said Alberta has historically worked because newcomers were able to find well-paying work and contribute to Canadian society as taxpayers.
“That system broke in the last four years. There’s no question about it.”
Smith said she believed the graph her staff was responding to showed six million people coming to Canada in the post-COVID era. However, what the graph showed was population growth as a whole – not just immigration – between the years 2000 and 2024.
It suggested Canada’s population grew by 10.6 million people in the 25-year span, which is roughly accurate according to Statistics Canada figures.
The premier’s address will be televised on CTV, Global and Rogers. It will also be livestreamed on the Alberta government news webpage and on Smith’s Facebook and X accounts.
McAllister moderated the Alberta Next Panel last fall. He previously came under fire for a comment made to a high school student asking a question about the province’s spending on private schools.
The 17-year-old’s microphone was cut off mid-question. McAllister told the student, “I know you’d love some chaos but your parents should turn you over your knee.”
