Coyne: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is targeting immigration. But what do the numbers say?

Valid critique:

….But never mind. Isn’t Alberta being overrun by immigrants? Hasn’t there been a sudden and extraordinary surge in immigration to Alberta, particularly temporary immigration, that has forced the Premier to take bold, decisive action, or at least ask the public for permission to do so?

No, actually. Leave aside that Ms. Smith was begging for immigration to Alberta to be accelerated not so long ago: a doubling of the province’s allocation under federal immigration quotas, in addition to another 10,000 Ukrainian refugees. The immigrant share of Alberta’s population, while it has been growing faster than in most other provinces – no kidding: you say that immigrants want to live in the richest province in the country? – remains below the national average.

As for the dreaded “non-permanent residents” (including refugees, foreign students, temporary foreign workers and their families): not only are their numbers, at 5.5 per cent of the province’s population, well below the national average (6.7 per cent), they’re lower than they are in Quebec (5.9 per cent)….In any event we are no longer admitting high numbers of immigrants, permanent or non-permanent, and haven’t been for some time. It’s striking, indeed, how the focus of the debate has changed. It used to be the issue was “illegal” immigration: asylum-seekers crossing the border (it is not illegal to claim asylum) thereby “jumping the queue” (there is no such queue). Then it was “out of control” immigration. Then it was “high” immigration. Increasingly, the target now is just “immigration.”

Which at least has the virtue of being honest.

Source: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is targeting immigration. But what do the numbers say?