More than half of Edmontonians feel newcomers are not having a positive impact on the city: CityNews poll

More people are moving to Alberta every year.

Between immigration and a provincial campaign calling residents from other provinces to set up shop here, Alberta’s population has boomed.

Earlier this year, the number of people calling Alberta home grew to five million – up 4.4 per cent from the year before.

Alberta’s jobs, economy and immigration minister says the numbers tell a tale of immigration being too much for the province to handle – despite the federal government introducing immigration limits earlier this year.

“That is just too high for us,” Minister Joseph Schow said. “Too high for any subnational jurisdiction or nation in general. It’s very difficult to keep up with things like housing, health care education, really social services we as a province support.”

A new Canada Pulse Insights poll commissioned exclusively for CityNews reveals Edmontonians support limits on how many people move to Canada each year.

Fifty-three per cent say Ottawa should continue to welcome newcomers but maintain current reduced levels, and 37 per cent favour halting any further immigration altogether.

Only one-in-10 Edmontonians think Canada can do better at bringing in more people by loosening restrictions for some groups.

Crowded emergency rooms, housing crisis

Edmontonians link most hot topic local issues to immigration.

Fifty-nine per cent believe higher immigration volumes are more responsible for crowded hospital emergency rooms than a lack of doctors or medical services.

And 64 per cent feel there is shortage of affordable housing due to immigration, rather than developers or landlords raising prices for profit.

That sentiment grows when discussing young Edmontonians having a hard time finding jobs, with 69 per cent of poll respondents believing higher foreign worker permit levels is to blame – not a slowing economy.

Eight-in-10 believe most companies hire foreign workers primarily to reduce labour costs rather than to address genuine labour shortages.

Positive or negative impact?

Overall, 52 per cent of Edmontonians polled say newcomers are not having a positive impact on the city.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has mentioned before she would like to see the provincial population double to 10 million by 2050. Immigration Minister Schow says future migration needs to be economically driven.

“There is no question that as we develop into new industries like tech and agri-tech, there are workers we don’t have here that we need immediately, and so we have to find them outside of the province, outside of the country,” Schow said.

Among the 63 per cent who support keeping or modestly expanding immigration, Edmontonians prioritize economic streams: 71 per cent favour skilled or business immigrants, followed by international students (53 per cent), family‑sponsored immigrants (45 per cent), refugees or protected persons (44 per cent), and temporary foreign workers (35 per cent).

Levels of government

When asked which level of government is best suited to oversee immigration, Edmontonians are divided.

Forty-one per cent believe Ottawa should take the lead, while 19 per cent say the Alberta government should step up and take on a greater role. Exactly one‑third (33 per cent) favour shared jurisdiction.

One-quarter (24 per cent) of Edmontonians believe Ottawa is handling immigration better than a year ago, while just over half see no change, and 26 per cent say Ottawa’s performance has worsened.

Meanwhile, when asked whether Edmonton is receiving adequate support for its intake of newcomers, residents are divided.

Twenty‑eight per cent say the city does not receive enough funding; 41 per cent believe the amount is about right; and 31 per cent say too much assistance is being provided, and funds should be redirected elsewhere.

That pattern mirrors similar findings in companion CityNews- Canada Pulse Insights polls undertaken in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver.

–With files from Elliott Knopp

The CityNews–Canada Pulse Insights online poll was conducted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 among a random selection of 423 members of the Sago online panel living in Edmonton. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of 4.8%, 19 times out of 20.