'Not open': Alberta's government criticizes federal asylum claimant plan

Premier Danielle Smith says Alberta is not open to having additional asylum seekers settled in the province.

Smith joined the back-and-forth political battle, taking the side of the leaders of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The dispute stems from a federal initiative to relocate tens of thousands of asylum seekers across Canada to take the pressure off of Quebec and Ontario.

It's garnered immense pushback from local leaders, who believe more people will only increase the cost of living for their current residents and further strain public services.

But as premiers across the country criticize the federal government's proposal to relocate asylum seekers, Smith says she's not opposed to every kind of newcomer.

'Shared values'

In a statement, Alberta's premier mentioned the province "has always welcomed newcomers who possess our shared values – and we will continue to do so."

When pressed on what those "shared values" are, a representative told CTV News "freedom, family, faith, community and free enterprise" are important.

"We expect newcomers to leave behind the conflicts or disputes from the country they are coming from so they can participate in all the peace and prosperity that Alberta has to offer," a sent message reads.

Some experts believe the statement is unfair.

"It's a little bit of a dog whistle to what you would think of this kind of 'traditional Albertan': European, English-speaking, etc.," political scientist Trevor Harrison said.

"It's fairly dangerous rhetoric."

Harrison also believes Ottawa hasn't done itself any favours on the file.

"The federal government has not done a very good job in terms of putting the resources to actually integrate people into society well," he said.

"So it's a legitimate question of how many people at any time can Canada absorb into society, without them also suffering as they come in as newcomers."

However, Harrison insists some governments have purposely convoluted the "immigrant and refugee titles," which has led to a growing anger within Canada.

"Smith knows they're not the same," he said.

"So I think that what you see here from the province is a little bit of 'let's hit the feds because we love doing that.'"

Back and forth

The federal immigration minister promised the eventual relocation plan would not be without compensation.

Wednesday, when asked about the criticism, Marc Miller said he will eventually use what levers he has available to get uncooperative provinces to take more people.

But he also pushed back against provincial claims that the plan was not workshopped.

He said federal and provincial officials had met during the summer to discuss federal funding and responsibilities for distributing asylum seekers across the country.

Miller posted a letter on social media from Smith late Thursday, where the Alberta premier expressed concern at the low number of immigrants allocated for the province for the year.

The province requested 14,000 immigrants in 2024 but only got 9,750, she said in the letter.

With files from The Canadian Press