On Wednesday's Buffalo Roundtable live stream, Ezra Levant, Sheila Gunn Reid, and Cory Morgan reacted to Premier Smith laying out the numbers behind one of the more consequential questions on Alberta's October referendum ballot: whether temporary residents should keep receiving the same taxpayer-funded services as citizens.

Asked about her government's referendum ads, Smith rejected the suggestion they downplay Canada. The ads, she said, explicitly frame the vote as keeping Alberta strong within Confederation, with the nine questions serving as the list of things her government wants permission to change.

The temporary resident question, she explained, comes down to arithmetic. Alberta is home to about 246,000 temporary residents, whose 48,000 children attend provincial schools. Their combined health care and education costs run to roughly $1 billion a year, against just $150 million in revenue.

Smith argued that no other country operates this way. In the United Kingdom, she noted, guest workers pay health premiums before arriving, and in many jurisdictions temporary workers pay for their own children's education. Her proposal, she said, would simply bring Alberta in line with international norms while leaving permanent residents on a path to citizenship untouched.

She also pointed out that Ottawa itself has sharply cut its international student and temporary foreign worker intake, describing the problem as one governments of every stripe have acknowledged — a system that got out of whack and now needs a mandate to repair.

The panel found little to fault. Ezra said the premier came across as measured and persuasive, with no trace of rage or resentment. Cory credited her for using the tools a province actually holds, and Sheila predicted the issue would prove an 80-20 winner once Albertans grasp how lopsided the costs have become.

Remigration Now!

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Goal: 15,000 signatures

Canada’s immigration system must put Canadian citizens, Canadian workers and Canadian values first. Temporary foreign workers and international students should be required to leave when their permits expire, citizenship should not be granted to those who support terrorism or reject Canada’s laws and values, and the federal government must reverse the damaging consequences of unchecked mass migration. We call on Canada’s leaders to restore order, enforce the rules, and to protect Canadian jobs and communities.

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