Alberta voted for more control over immigration, while Ontario's premier says he's happy to leave it with Ottawa.

On Thursday's Rebel Roundup, Sheila Gunn Reid and Tamara Ugolini played Doug Ford's answer to a National Post reporter who asked whether Ontario wants more constitutional powers over immigration and whether he agrees with the prime minister that current levels are sustainable.

“I'm never in disagreement with the federal government,” Ford said. “We work collaboratively together. When it comes to immigration, we need economic immigration to continue growing our economies.”

Tamara said the premier is out of step with his own province. Ontario and Quebec receive the lion's share of newcomers, she said, most of them funnelled into the Greater Toronto Area, where “the infrastructure was never prepared adequately enough for this massive influx.”

Immigration is a federal issue, she said, “but it gets downloaded into the province, and then even more so into the municipalities.”

Sheila pointed to housing. “Try buying a house in the GTA,” she said. “You'll get a shanty for $2.5 million, which in some suburban communities of Edmonton would be around $399,000 for a nice McMansion with a backyard.”

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She also urged Ford to listen to his own mayors, citing a group chat among Ontario mayors obtained by the Toronto Star. In it, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton wrote in 2024 that Ottawa “broke the housing market with an unsustainable and unpredicted and unprepared for increase in demand from their massive increase in immigration.”

Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath replied that “they just forgot about the fact that people need somewhere to actually live, not just work.”

Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe said Ottawa had created an “untenable situation” for Ukrainian newcomers hit with international student fees, and told the federal government to talk to municipalities before setting targets. When Ford said money was pouring in for shelters, Burton replied the money was “news to Halton,” and St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe asked where Niagara could find “the location of the money spigots.”

Sheila had a question for the premier. “You're in lockstep with the federal government. So why does anybody need a premier of Ontario? Just let it become a territory and let the federal government govern it.”

Both hosts said Ford is leaving conservative Ontarians politically homeless, and pointed out that Premiers Danielle Smith and Scott Moe are fighting Ottawa without an ally in the country's largest province. “We have to do these fights alone,” Sheila added.

Sheila also cited figures from a chart Ezra Levant pulled, showing Canada's foreign-born population grew by seven million between 2000 and 2024, with a sharp spike after Justin Trudeau took office.

Rebel Roundup streams live Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. MT / 1 p.m. ET.