Businesses could shoulder $1,900 premium for temporary residents, she says
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has put a price on a referendum proposal to charge temporary residents for public health care, suggesting a fee of $1,900 per person.
Smith floated the figure at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce fireside chat, CBC News reported.
It ties to an Oct. 19, 2026, referendum question asking whether Alberta should charge people with non-permanent immigration status a "reasonable fee or premium" for health care and education.
"I gave you the idea of what we're looking at ... $1,900 per person," Smith said, referring to premiums charged in the United Kingdom.
The Globe and Mail reported the government is weighing a range of $1,400 to $1,900 per person; Smith has said the province's roughly 246,000 temporary residents cost the government about $1 billion a year.
"This is a new conversation. I recognize that we have been generous for a long time, but it's put too much strain on our system," she told the business audience, according to the report.
Should employers pay the fee?
Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, asked Smith whether the fee would add to the cost of recruiting and retaining employees.
"I guess that's the question: is $1,900 – for the business to take on that fee – is that going to make or break your business? If it is, you're probably hiring into a low-skilled profession and we want those low-skill jobs to go to youth employment," Smith said, according to CBC News.
Yedlin later told reporters that lower-wage sectors would feel the charge most. "A low-skilled worker, obviously, is not going to be making the same wage as a software engineer. And so that'll be harder for them to support that extra cost. Their employer will probably have to do that instead," she said.
The Globe reported she also warned that the proposal could become a drag on finding the labour needed to build major projects in Alberta, and that it would add to business costs. "This is not necessarily going to make businesses more competitive in Alberta," Yedlin said.
The proposal follows other provincial measures aimed at employers of foreign workers. In April 2026, Alberta moved to tighten oversight of its immigration system through Bill 26. Since then, Alberta employers have warned of red tape tied to proposed immigration changes.
Unanswered questions for employers
Key details remain undecided. According to the Globe, Smith said her government has not settled whether the fee would apply to temporary residents already living in Alberta or only to new arrivals.
"We have to talk about that as a Cabinet," she said. "I want to see if we even have a mandate to do it."
Meanwhile, Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Naheed Nenshi called Smith "out of touch." He said the fee distracts from the United Conservative Party (UCP) government's "failure with the health care system."
"Her math doesn't make sense either because, let's remember, the temporary workers pay taxes," he said, according to CBC.
Public sentiment is already divided. An Abacus Data survey found that 54% of Albertans supported ending the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the highest share of any region.
