Alberta’s government is calling on Ottawa to change the Constitution to give provinces more of a say in how judges are appointed at the provincial level.

It comes after Premier Danielle Smith and the premiers of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney last week saying they would like to see only judges who are approved and recommended by their governments be appointed.

That request was quickly brushed aside by federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser, and Alberta’s government says it now needs to up the ante.

Smith and Justice Minister Mickey Amery told reporters Monday that the government will pass a motion in the Alberta legislature later this week calling for the necessary changes to the Constitution to have their call put into place. They’re hoping other provinces, Parliament and the Senate will do the same.

Quebec had passed its own motion nearly a year ago, and Smith and Amery said their motion would be identical.

“Thus far we’ve not had the progress that we were hoping for, especially through the sort of diplomatic routes,” Amery said of why the government was now formally calling for an amendment to the Constitution.

“We’re now looking for some more meaningful and consequential changes through the motion, and hopefully through the support of the Parliament.”

The Constitution currently states that Ottawa alone has the right to appoint provincial superior and appeal court judges. Changing it in this case would require approval in the House of Commons, the Senate and by at least seven provinces whose combined population represents more than half of all provinces combined.

The judicial appointment process put forward by the premiers has been criticized as a way to politicize the courts, but Smith says it’s important for provinces to have a say in how justice gets delivered.

“It’s time for Alberta to have a real voice in selecting the judges who serve Albertans,” she said.

Smith also reiterated her argument Monday that Canada is an outlier compared to some other countries, including the U.S. and Australia, where state- or provincial-level judges are appointed by state or provincial governments.

“Addressing this gap will strengthen public confidence in the justice system and ensure provinces have a meaningful voice in appointments that shape how justice is delivered in their communities,” Smith said Monday.

Bianca Kratt, the president of the Canadian Bar Association, which represents more than 40,000 lawyers, judges and other legal professions, said in her own letter to Carney last week that comparing Canada to the U.S., for example, wasn’t applicable.

She said the justice system in each country works according to the respective constitutional framework and in Canada provincial judges have the authority to strike down federal law, whereas state-level judges are largely limited to state matters.

Opposition NDP critic Irfan Sabir told reporters Monday that Smith had “no credibility” when it came to upholding the justice system, noting various instances where she has criticized judges as being “activists” or called them “unelected judges.”

“Here we are supposed to trust them that they will do something that will strengthen our judiciary? No, this government cannot be trusted,” Sabir said.

“They just find every opportunity that they can (to) pick some needless fight with the federal government.”

Smith had sent another letter to Carney earlier this year asking for judicial reform, and threatened to withhold some court funding should Ottawa ignore the call. Amery said the threat wasn’t off the table but that normal funding had been maintained for the new fiscal year.

The first proposal, which was also quickly dismissed by Fraser, would see a new type of committee be struck to assess potential judicial appointees in Alberta. It would feature an equal number of provincial and federal representatives, Smith had said.

The existing seven-person committee that assesses applications from lawyers to be appointed provincial court judges and makes recommendations to Ottawa features one representative from the provincial government and three from the federal government.

It also includes appointees from Alberta’s chief justice, the provincial law society and the Canadian Bar Association’s Alberta chapter.

Similar committees exist for every province and territory.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government is proposing major changes to its law governing citizen-led petitions for the third time in less than a year.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced Monday a bill that, if passed, would make it impossible to start a petition for a constitutional or policy referendum a year before or a year after a provincial election.

Petitions currently completed or underway wouldn’t be affected by the two-year blackout period, and corresponding deadlines for holding a referendum would be repealed.

Amery told reporters before introducing the changes that they’re about creating a consistent window for those looking to bring proposals forward.

“We want voters to be able to weigh in on election matters during elections without having citizen-led initiatives stand in the way of that,” he said.

He said the United Conservative Party government is continuing to “refine” and improve the process to make it as easy and as streamlined as possible for Albertans.

“I certainly wouldn’t foresee a scenario in which a question would be put aside or held over for 10 years,” he said.

Last year, Smith’s government first dropped a signature threshold and extended signature collection periods by a month for citizens to put referendum questions on a ballot.

In December, the government passed a law clearing legal hurdles faced by those aiming to hold a separatist referendum, and it later changed regulations to increase the application fee to $25,000 from $5,000.

The petition seeking a referendum question on Alberta leaving Canada has until May 2 to collect just under 178,000 signatures.

Three other citizen-led initiative petitions have also kicked off since last June.

A successful one in December aims to make it policy that Alberta won’t leave Canada. It was carried out under previous rules.

Another petition lobbying against public funding for private schools failed in February.

And a petition asking to outlaw new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains has until June 10 to collect signatures.

Amery’s new legislation also proposes lowering thresholds for publishing public sector salaries.

That means the provincial Sunshine List would capture those earning $130,000 in base salary per year, rather than a minimum of $133,819 for government employees or $159,676 for those working for broader public sector bodies.

The government would also disclose public sector severance payouts once a year instead of twice. Amery said the move is about cutting red tape.

“It will create less duplication for those that are required to produce two separate reporting requirements and make it one, which I still think captures all of the information that Albertans want and deserve,” he said.

The proposed legislation also aims to ban “misleading” digitally created media of politicians or election officials known as deepfakes.

Elections Alberta would enforce fines of up to $10,000 for individuals and $100,000 for entities who produce or share deepfakes that mislead voters.

“We want to keep our elections fair and honest, and a lot of this is driven by the desire to proactively meet the threats as they come,” Amery said.

He pointed to other legislation in the works under Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish that would allow lawsuits over sharing deepfake intimate images.

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Alberta’s premier says she welcomes diverse opinions in her caucus after a legislature member of her United Conservative Party opined a referendum on separation is good for the province.

Danielle Smith reiterated on her provincewide radio show Saturday her government supports a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada despite the views Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan expressed a day before in an op-ed published on an online conservative media outlet’s website.

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Smith said she has taken steps to obtain that sovereignty, such as signing the Alberta-Canada energy memorandum of understanding with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Stephan, who is also the premier’s parliamentary secretary for constitutional affairs,  wrote in the op-ed published Friday that he invites all who love freedom and prosperity to sign a petition pushing for a referendum on separation.

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He says Ottawa is trying to gaslight Albertans into thinking a referendum will cause economic uncertainty but a referendum is about holding Ottawa accountable for its “stupid laws.”

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The Alberta Chambers of Commerce said earlier this month talk of the province potentially quitting Confederation is bad for business.

More than a dozen First Nations chiefs and even more band councillors and elders were at Alberta’s legislature Monday, calling on Premier Danielle Smith’s government to stomp out the push for the province to quit Canada.

“Our rights are being minimized,” Confederacy of Treaty 8 First Nations Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi told reporters.

“Our people are being minimized at every level.”

The comments came after First Nations chiefs across the province unanimously called on members of the legislature to hold a non-confidence vote against the government in part for how it has handled the budding separatist movement.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi tabled a motion to hold such a vote Monday, but it was promptly shut down by Smith’s majority United Conservative Party government.

Government house leader Joseph Schow called it a “political stunt” and questioned whether Nenshi believes in direct democracy.

“Who do you think you are … to say Albertans don’t have a right to have their voices heard?” Schow told the house.

Chiefs and other Indigenous leaders in the gallery voiced frustration before leaving, with some yelling at the politicians below to denounce separatism.

“Traitors!” shouted one.

Cold Lake First Nations Chief Kelsey Jacko said after the non-confidence vote that it was an attempt to “hold the premier to account.”

“No matter what we say, (Smith) doesn’t seem to hear us,” Jacko said outside the legislature.

“We have been trying to work with her and (her caucus) for years now. She keeps saying we have a great relationship. But how do you have a great relationship with someone who doesn’t listen?”

Mercredi said he knew the vote wouldn’t pass but that it was important to take a stand.

“We knew what (we were) in for when we came to this legislature,” he said.

“We’ve seen it time and time again — the disrespect that the MLAs have for our people in those rooms when they’re yawning, texting, leaning back on their chairs (and) smiling. It’s very unprofessional.”

Indigenous leaders have been vocally opposed to the separatist movement in Alberta. Multiple First Nations are challenging in court provincial legislation permitting citizen-led petitions that seek referendum votes, such as the ongoing campaign to put separation on a ballot.

While numerous Indigenous leaders were in Edmonton, others travelled to England, where a delegation from the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations is to meet with King Charles.

Grand Chief Joey Pete said in a news release he plans to discuss the separation push with the King and “remind (him) that our relationship is not with provinces or Canada — it is with the Crown.”

“Treaties are recognized in international law and any attempt to override them is a violation of the original agreements made between First Nations and the Crown,” the release said.

Pete was not available for an interview, and Buckingham Palace didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney called it a “tremendous opportunity” for the delegation to meet with the King.

“First Nation leaders have a right to engage with the Crown,” Sawhney said. “I think it’s totally fine that they’re doing so.”

Sawhney said she was hoping to meet with some of the leaders at the legislature and that she believed she was addressing their concerns about the separation movement.

“I do engage on a regular basis, and I always do affirm that the Constitution is the highest law in the land, and Section 35 rights (which protect treaty rights) are entrenched in the Constitution,” she said.

“There’s no legislation, policy or decision that will ever supersede that.”

Separation and what the NDP called a “fundamentally broken” relationship between Smith’s UCP and First Nations dominated question period.

Nearly a dozen chiefs, many wearing ceremonial headdresses, watched in the gallery. At times, chiefs and other Indigenous leaders cheered and clapped for NDP questions, especially when Nenshi accused the premier of undoing treaty rights “step by step.”

Nenshi also accused Smith of ignoring the chief’s declaration of non-confidence in her government and pandering to both sides of the separatism debate.

Smith and her ministers said the government is trying to renegotiate its relationship with Ottawa and continue building on its connections with First Nations leaders, and that the Constitution is the “highest law of the land.”

“Sovereignty is not the same as separation,” Smith said.

Smith, asked how she would make a separatist petition constitutional, said it’s not her petition.

“We’re addressing the real grievances that Alberta has with the 10 years of mistreatment by Ottawa,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce released a report indicating 51 per cent of Calgary respondents believe the current separatism debate is affecting the provincial economy, with 93 per cent of those believing the impact is negative.

“Our province has worked to enhance its competitiveness and attract investment and labour, yet this conversation introduces a new level of uncertainty that reduces business confidence in growth opportunities,” president Deborah Yedlin said in a news release.

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“In my seven years as president, I have not witnessed such a significant investment into our schools, one that is a meaningful step forward towards addressing the challenging learning conditions that have hindered our students and teachers for far too long.”

That’s how Alberta Teacher Association president Jason Schilling reacted to the Alberta government’s announcement that next year’s budget, to be tabled in the legislature on Thursday, will include $143 million to hire 1,600 teachers and 800 support staff “in the coming years” to help combat the classroom overcrowding and complexity issues.

“Alberta has one of the best school systems in the entire world and we are determined to ensure that it has what it needs to keep it that way,” said Premier Danielle Smith, during a Wednesday morning press conference in Edmonton.

“Budget 26 will provide a record $10.8 billion for our education system. That is a $722-million increase or a 7-per cent increase from last year,” added Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

“Over the next three years, education funding will reach $11.5 billion by 2028-29, helping to hire more than 5,000 teachers, educational assistants, and support staff.”

While Schilling called the announcement “a historic investment in our classroom,” he also cautioned that success will be measured not just by dollars on paper, but “by the number of new staff and new supports that arrive in our classrooms.”

“A top priority must be the expansion of complexity teams across all schools, including junior and senior high schools, and ensuring that the 1,600 new teachers can begin to address large class sizes,” added Schilling.

“Promising to uphold Alberta as a world-class education system means nothing unless government and school boards deliver these resources and more.”

The Alberta NDP, however, is skeptical. “Where are these teachers going to come from? This is a profession that is struggling to retain and attract new people,” said NDP shadow minister for education, Amanda Chapman.

“If you talk to teachers — and I talk to a lot of teachers these days; they stop me literally wherever I am — it is a profession that is feeling disrespected, it’s feeling a lot of concern about the rates at which they’re losing new teachers.” said Chapman.

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“We know that the sub shortage is real across this province,” agreed Schilling. “We do not have enough teachers who are working in that capacity. So what I also expect to see from government in their announcement (Budget 26) is to build the capacity of programs in universities to provide the funding that has been cut to universities over the years so that they can expand their programs, get more people who are interested in being teachers, so that we can graduate more people within the province who will be willing to work within our schools.”

Despite Wednesday’s announcement, Schilling’s skepticism remains high.

“There was no direct conversations between the ATA and the government to direct this funding. We’ll need to see some more specifics in terms of what the funding increases are for certain envelopes, for example, targeted funding for special needs students,” added Schilling.

Schilling pointed to last October’s three-week-long strike by Alberta’s 51,000 teachers and the public support it generated, as key to convincing the provincial to increase education spending — a suggestion the premier responded to by saying, “I think they’re tied.”

But the ATA president is also still angry about the UCP government’s decision to legislate an end to the strike.

“My cynicism around the use of the notwithstanding clause in the way that government approaches labour is very high,” said Schilling.

“Until we actually see them do something different, act in a way that is different, act in the away that is more authentic, that is engaging, then maybe I’ll change my mind.”

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the province’s Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides will be holding a news conference on Wednesday to discuss how this week’s provincial budget will affect education funding.

The announcement comes a day before the budget is scheduled to be tabled in the Alberta legislature amidst government warnings that it will include a deficit of at least $6.4 billion.

Education funding and classroom makeup have been a major point of contention between the provincial government and Alberta’s 51,000 teachers.

Teachers staged a three-week-long strike last fall that ended when the UCP passed back-to-work legislation and invoked the Canadian Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to prevent educators from challenging the legislation in court.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association is also expected to respond to the government announcement Wednesday afternoon.

The Premier and education minister are scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. Global News will livestream it in the video player above.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says out-of-control immigration levels are overwhelming the province’s core social services and has announced a referendum will take place nine months from now, asking residents to weigh in on nine questions addressing both that and possible changes to Canada’s Constitution.

(Scroll down to see the questions)

In a televised speech Thursday night, Smith said the Oct. 19, provincial referendum will be primarily focused on finding out how Albertans want the government to “deal with the issue of immigration, as well as steps we can take as a province to strengthen our constitutional and fiscal position within a united Canada.”

Smith said the changes her UCP government has determined the province needs to make to immigration are a significant departure from the status quo.

“These were far and away the issues most strongly identified by Albertans during last year’s Alberta Next panel town halls and online submissions, and in my view, it is time to act on them,” Smith said in a 13-minute televised speech that the government paid to air during the 6 p.m. primetime news hour.

“The fact is, Alberta taxpayers can no longer be asked to continue to subsidize the entire country through equalization and federal transfers, permit the federal government to flood our borders with new arrivals, and then give free access to our most-generous-in-the-country social programs to anyone who moves here,” Smith said.

The premier noted the province will be unveiling a large deficit in next week’s budget and lower oil prices have contributed to less revenue.

According to the Alberta government, each $1 drop in the price of oil means roughly $750 million fewer royalties for the province.

However, Smith said social services costs going to more new residents is making Alberta’s budget woes even worse.

“This is not only grossly unfair to Alberta taxpayers, but also financially crippling and undercuts the quality of our health care, education and other social services.”

Mount Royal political scientist Lori Williams challenges that assertion.

“To suggest that this budget deficit is primarily caused by immigration — that non-citizens who come to Alberta are filling emergency rooms and classrooms and that’s where problems coming from — it creates, I think, a distorted picture of what’s actually going on,” Williams said after Smith’s speech aired.

Danielle Smith has been Alberta premier since 2022 and Williams believes Thursday’s speech aimed to redirect public attention away from the province.

“People are concerned very much about affordability, they’re concerned about health care, and they are concerned about education. And the government has invested in some areas, has been addressing some of the problems that have been raised — but they persist.”

“People, when a government has been in power for years, start to notice if promises aren’t fulfilled. They start ask questions and they start make more demands of a government.”

Bradley Lafortune, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, said a bad news budget is not unheard of in a province that gleans so much of its income from oil and gas royalties.

“That’s nothing new in Alberta. But what is new, I think — at least with this degree of focus and tone — is the shift in blame towards immigration and newcomers,” he said after listening to the speech.

“Fundamentally, this is a Trump-style, MAGA government that is doing their best to imitate the current Republicans in the United States,” Lafortune said.

“And what that means is blaming newcomers, cutting services, reducing taxes, and then telling everyone that we need to do more with less, at the same time as friends and insiders are receiving massive amounts of grift on the public dollar.”

Lafortune thinks Albertans should prepare for a “very bad budget” next Thursday that he predicts will contain more cuts to frontline services and the administration of them.

“What I mean by bad is it’s going to be bad for Albertans, working middle-class Albertans. I think its gonna be very bad.”

Smith said in the short-term, the government will not be implementing drastic cuts in the 2026 budget but will instead be cutting unnecessary bureaucracy, improving efficiencies in program delivery (such as more income testing for social programs) and prioritizing needs before wants as much as possible.

“The approved wage increases for our doctors, nurses, and teachers will remain in place so we can continue to attract the skilled professionals needed to catch up with our growth,” Smith said.

According to Statistics Canada, Alberta’s population surged by 202,324 residents in 2023. That’s the largest annual increase in the province’s history, the equivalent of 550 people moving to Alberta every day.

While the bulk of the growth came from international migration, Alberta also shattered a national record for interprovincial migration, most of whom came from Ontario and B.C.

The province’s population growth peaked in the third quarter of 2023, with it dropping off significantly in 2024 and 2025, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data.

“I think the federal government started realizing that they’ve been pushing too strongly on the population growth through different types of migration, international migration,” Carleton University economics professor Christopher Worswick said of the decline that began in 2024.

“So we saw caps on the number of international students coming in. I think that needed to be done because the program was growing just way too fast.”

Premier Smith blames the former Justin Trudeau Liberal government for Alberta’s population woes, saying over five years almost 600,000 people moved to Alberta, pushing the population over five million people.

“Ottawa throttled our most important job creating industries and prioritized immigration away from economic migrants and instead focused on international students, temporary workers and asylum seekers,” Smith said.

In 2022-23, the province ran a $4.95 million “Alberta is Calling” campaign aimed at attracting skilled workers to the province from other parts of the country.

“Although sustainable immigration has always been an important part of our provincial growth model, throwing the doors wide open to anyone and everyone across the globe has flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems with far too many people, far too quickly,” Smith said.

Overcrowded classrooms and a strained health-care system has been a documented issue in Alberta for well over a decade and Williams said blaming it on newer residents is a deflexion of responsibility.

“There’s no question that we have seen very large numbers of newcomers to Alberta. Part of that is because the Alberta government has invited people, citizens of Canada to come here and to work in Alberta.

“To somehow suggest that the problem has been created by immigration — as if these problems didn’t exist before those immigration numbers ticked up — I think is inaccurate.”

She fears it will create strife and inflame racial tensions.

“I think that impression is potentially quite problematic, particularly for those who are already struggling with people’s hostility toward them.”

The October referendum, a year before the province’s scheduled general election, could be even longer.

Last year, Smith promised a referendum on separation in 2026 if citizens gathered the required number of signatures on a petition.

One citizen-led petition to be put to lawmakers this spring could lead to a referendum vote on making it a provincial policy that Alberta stay in Canada.

Another petition effort, with a deadline for signatures in early May, seeks a referendum question about pulling the province out of Confederation.

Smith said Thursday that strengthening Alberta’s “constitutional and fiscal position within a united Canada” and immigration were the biggest issues her Alberta Next panel heard as it toured the province last year.

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One of the issues tabled for debate was whether Alberta should withhold social services from some immigrants. The panel was propped up by calls from in-person attendees who at times called for mass deportations.

In January, Smith’s United Conservative Party government walked back what it called a “premature” decision to cut off temporary foreign workers from provincial health-care coverage, including those who had already obtained work permits.

The ministry in charge said, at the time, the move was on pause pending review.

On Wednesday, Smith’s chief of staff, Rob Anderson, reposted a social media infographic about immigration numbers and invited readers to watch the premier’s televised address.

“This absolute insanity needs to stop. It will,” he wrote.

The executive director of the premier’s office, Bruce McAllister, also pointed to the same social media post to sound off on population growth.

“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?” McAllister said on X.

“Why import from nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here? It almost feels like these elites are ashamed of what built this great country.”

Smith was asked Wednesday if her government shared McAllister’s values. She didn’t directly answer but said western society is based on “the Socratic Judeo-Christian tradition.”

“However, Alberta was also created since 1905 based on the immense diaspora communities that come here,” she said.

She said the federal government has made changes to refocus on economic migrants and that the previous system “broke.”

“It was the No. 1 issue that we heard,” she said, referring to the Alberta Next panel.

As it stands right now, the referendum in October will ask Albertans nine questions concerning immigration and the Constitution:

Immigration

1. Do you support the Government of Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels, prioritizing economic migration and giving Albertans first priority on new employment opportunities?

2. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law mandating that only Canadian citizens, permanent residents and individuals with an Alberta-approved immigration status will be eligible for provincially-funded programs, such as health care, education and other social services?

3. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for social support programs as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring all individuals with a non-permanent legal immigration status to reside in Alberta for at least 12 months before qualifying for any provincially-funded social support programs?

4. Assuming that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents continue to qualify for public health care and education as they do now, do you support the Government of Alberta charging a reasonable fee or premium to individuals with a non-permanent immigration status living in Alberta for their and their family’s use of the healthcare and education systems?

5. Do you support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate, or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election?

Constitution

6. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to have provincial governments, and not the federal government, select the justices appointed to provincial King’s Bench and Appeal courts?

7. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to abolish the unelected federal Senate?

8. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction such as health care, education, and social services, without a province losing any of the associated federal funding for use in its social programs?

9. Do you support the Government of Alberta working with the governments of other willing provinces to amend the Canadian Constitution to better protect provincial rights from federal interference by giving a province’s laws dealing with provincial or shared areas of constitutional jurisdiction priority over federal laws when the province’s laws and federal laws conflict?

With files from Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says immigration is one of the topics she will discuss during her province-wide televised address to Albertans on Thursday.

Smith was reacting to online comments made by one of her staffers, Bruce McAllister, who is the executive director of the Premier’s office in Calgary.

In comments posted online, McAllister said “unsustainable mass immigration into Canada” fills him “with profound disgust.”

“‘Why import from nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here?’” asks McAllister.

Asked about the comments during an unrelated news conference in Calgary on Wednesday, Smith said the province faces plenty of challenges ahead of next week’s provincial budget.

“Our expenses have been growing faster than our revenue growth, and part of that is we’ve had the fastest-growing population in Canada adding 600,000 people in the last four years alone,” said Smith.

“I think there’s only one country in the world that’s exceeded the level of population growth that Canada has had and so this clearly needs to change. This is not sustainable, so I will have more to say about that in the address and we will begin the conversation with Albertans about what happens next,” added Smith.

Canada’s transport minister, Steve MacKinnon, who was also in Calgary on Wednesday to attend an event hosted by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, stood by the federal government’s immigration policies.

“Canada has an immigration system that is admired the world over that has helped build this country and this province,” said MacKinnon.

“‘How have we done that? Well, we’ve focused on the skills that we require and attracting the best and the brightest.”

“It is simply math that we will require people, particularly in rural parts in this country to staff some of these jobs we need to meet our own ambitions, to meet Alberta’s ambitions, to meet Canada’s ambitions,” added MacKinnon.

Albertans will be able to watch the premier’s province-wide address Thursday evening at 6:45 p.m. on Global Television.

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