Last week, Premier Danielle Smith told Albertans they would have their opportunity to weigh in on immigration through a provincial referendum this October. 

“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 during the televised address.

“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.

On Monday's Rebel Roundup livestream, hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and David Menzies weighed in on Alberta's planned referendum and Ontario Premier Doug Ford's response when asked for his thoughts on the topic.

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“My problem is what Doug Ford said he actually wants as far as immigration goes,” noted Sheila. “He said, 'get them here,' then 'train them up.' So, support them for two years, then train them up, then unleash them in the economy. Why aren't you just training Ontario workers?”

David highlighted how Ford's remarks touched on two topics — skilled immigration and economic immigration. “That's not the same thing,” he said. “That is somebody in a country that's not as well off as Canada and wants to get out of their country and come here and probably jump the queue by claiming bogus refugee status so that they can improve themselves economically.”

A source the Toronto-based Rebel News reporter has spoken to told him “When you have the class of people that are coming over from India right now, it is not doctors and lawyers and engineers. That ship has sailed; it's basically Tim Hortons workers.”

Canada's youth unemployment is “sky high,” added Sheila, saying it's “not just a today” problem but will lead to “down the road economic problems,” creating “a generation of people who don't know how to work.”

Alberta, meanwhile, has among the lowest rates of youth unemployment relative to the rest of the country. Ontario's premier, however, “doesn't seem to be willing to take any of the measures to alleviate the unemployment rate in some of those key places like Windsor, like Oshawa, like Toronto even,” Sheila said.

“He's not really doing anything about it — and I think it has a lot to do with the fact he doesn't want to cause friction with his on-again, off-again boyfriend Mark Carney.”