Opinion: Referendum questions are meant to divide Albertans
Originally published at EdmontonJournal.com on September 2, 2026.
On Oct. 19, Albertans are being asked to vote on 10 troubling referendum questions. We believe the five discriminatory and hateful questions targeting new Albertans deserve more attention, and we are united in calling out the divisive politics and poor leadership behind them.
The question of Alberta’s independence has sucked up most of the oxygen, but the other questions deserve scrutiny for what they reveal about the politics of the day. Rejecting them all, particularly the mean-spirited immigration questions, offers a chance to stand up for a welcoming Alberta within a stronger united Canada.
Four questions seek to treat some immigrants differently, limiting or withholding their access — or, appallingly, their children’s access — to education, health care and other social supports. These questions are framed as fiscal measures, as if human beings are nothing but the cost of the services they use. As elected leaders, we all took oaths to serve and respect everyone who lives here, even our guests.
That used to go without saying. By contrast, the thrust of these four questions would effectively create a caste system in Alberta. We reject that inhospitable worldview — that’s not the Alberta we know.
Another question asks whether folks should have to show proof of citizenship at the time they vote (regardless of whether they are already on the voters list). However, there is not one shred of evidence that anyone is voting illegally. This question is there simply to imply that some immigrants are voting improperly — which has troubling echoes of the American far right’s campaign in the 1960s to keep Black voters from casting ballots, and is making it needlessly harder for all of us to exercise our democratic rights.
(On this point, along with the cumbersome multi-ballot process that will likely create longx lines, we strongly recommend eligible voters request mail-in ballots for your own convenience, and to make space at the polls for others.)