Opinion | The most worrying part of the Alberta referendum isn’t separatism - Toronto Star

Five questions are about immigration and immigrants. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed both immigration and anti-immigration messages, writes Jeremy Appel. 

Jeremy Appel is an Edmonton-based journalist who writes the Orchard newsletter and is the author of the forthcoming “Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall, and Re-emergence of Danielle Smith.” 

With Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendums fast approaching, it’s understandable that the national media’s focus is largely on the question of the province’s potential secession.

Albertans aren’t being directly asked whether they want to secede; rather, they’re being asked whether they want to remain in Canada or initiate the process of holding a future binding independence referendum.

But it’s not the referendum on whether to have another referendum that we should be most concerned about.

There are nine other questions on the ballot in October, five of which are directly related to immigration. These include whether social services such as health care and education should be restricted to citizens and permanent residents, whether non-permanent residents should have to reside in Alberta for a year before being able to access social services, and whether they should be required to pay a fee to access these services.

Premier Danielle Smith has said she will vote to remain in Canada, although a significant proportion of her party’s supporters are at the very least separatist-sympathetic. The nine other questions, however, give Smith an opportunity to align with separatists on 90 per cent of the referendum issues. 

Concerns over lineups contributed to what Elections Alberta is reporting as a surge in requests for mail-in ballots, also known as special ballots.