Critics blast Smith’s immigration, Constitutional plans following TV address

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on February 21, 2026.

newsdesk@medicinehatnews.com

A variety of public advocacy groups, unions and opponents have responded to Premier Danielle Smith’s Thursday night address to the province.

In Thursday’s speech, Smith addressed low oil prices, immigration and Alberta’s relationship to the Canadian federation. She also announced a nine-question referendum coming Oct. 19.

Alberta Union for Provincial Employees president Sandra Azocar described the address as “a shameful display.”

“The government’s role during hard times is to stimulate the economy, not pile on to our suffering, launch pointless referendums and restrict access to critical public services,” said Azocar.

“The price of oil crashed again, so it is more convenient for Smith to blame immigrants than accept responsibility for her refusal to invest in Alberta, create jobs and address our infrastructure deficit.”

On the Shaun Newman Podcast in January 2024, Smith said she wanted to aggressively increase Alberta’s population to 10 million. However, in comments this week, Smith said the growth of Alberta’s population, adding 600,000 in the past four years, has proceeded at an unsustainable rate.

The opposition NDP released a statement criticizing Smith’s address and asking the premier to call an election.

“The premier is blaming oil prices and immigration for her poor planning and financial mismanagement,” read the NDP statement. “But oil production is hitting record levels, and resource revenue from the past five years is the highest it has been in decades.”

The NDP also pointed to Smith’s promotion of the ‘Alberta is Calling’ ad campaign, which promoted migration to Alberta and contributed to record-breaking levels of interprovincial migration over the last four years.

In a letter to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2024, Smith asked Ottawa to increase immigration to Alberta.

She also asked for greater involvement in decisions regarding immigration, referring to the Canada-Quebec Accord, a demand that is also articulated in the questions she is putting to referendum this fall.

The NDP called the premier’s Thursday comments “hypocritical.”

“She did all this without a thought or plan for how to create the jobs, build the houses, schools and hospitals that we already needed,” read the statement. “She wants to champion direct democracy? We have a direct democracy, and it’s called a general election. Call it.”

Environmental advocacy organization Environmental Defence Canada is asking the province to reconsider its policy on renewable energy, which it says would help mitigate the deficit Smith warns is coming due to low oil prices.

“Premier Smith appears more interested in petroleum industry CEOs than in reviving the jobs and revenue that could come from the province’s halted renewable energy business sector,” reads a statement from Environmental Defence Canada’s senior manager for Alberta energy transition Stephen Legault.

“In doing so, the Premier’s government has scuttled more than $30 billion in investment in the province’s economy in just one year.”

A report released by the Pembina institute in 2023 warned that 118 projects representing a combined $33 billion in investment were awaiting approval at the time of the government’s seven-month moratorium on renewable energy development.

The Narwhal reported last month that corporate investment in Alberta’s renewable energy market dropped 99 per cent in 2025.

“(Smith) should understand that killing 99 per cent of the investment in the world’s fastest-growing energy sector isn’t the path to a balanced budget,” wrote Legault.

In a statement released ahead of Thursday’s address, Public Interest Alberta anticipated some of the themes of Smith’s comments.

“We are urging Albertans to be on the lookout for these tell-tale signs when Danielle Smith and the UCP will be staying on course on their reckless Trumpian agenda,” read their statement. “One: blaming newcomers, refugees and immigrants; two: blaming Ottawa; and three: blaming oil prices.”

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