Juno News - Alberta slams “reckless” immigration surge

00:00:00.000 The Alberta government is once again sounding the alarm on Ottawa's immigration policies,

00:00:15.260 this time calling the Liberals' plan to bring in thousands of foreign parents and grandparents

00:00:20.000 reckless and unsustainable. Meanwhile, Premier Danielle Smith is calling out the legacy media,

00:00:25.760 saying the CBC's ousting of anchor Travis Donraj reveals exactly how biased this system is.

00:00:32.340 Plus, the town of Jasper is walking back comments about the province's wildfire response

00:00:37.000 after Smith demanded an apology and accused officials of blaming Alberta for federal failures.

00:00:43.120 And finally, the Conservatives are calling on Parliament to shut down ballot exploitation

00:00:47.660 ahead of Conservative leader Pierre Poliev's by-election set for August 18th in Battle River,

00:00:52.800 Crowfoot, with a growing number of protest candidates. I'm your host, Isaac Lamoureux.

00:00:58.200 Let's hop into that first story now. The Alberta government is tearing into Ottawa's immigration

00:01:02.880 plans after the federal Liberals announced they'll accept up to 10,000 new applications to sponsor

00:01:07.840 parents and grandparents in 2025. In a Tuesday release, Alberta Immigration Minister Joseph

00:01:13.640 Skow called it a careless decision that completely ignores the realities on the ground. He said,

00:01:19.740 Under the federal Liberal government, Canada's immigration levels have ballooned. Almost

00:01:24.660 2 million newcomers entered Canada last year alone without any regard for the provinces that

00:01:29.920 are tasked with delivering frontline services. This latest move will only serve to further increase

00:01:34.640 the unsustainable pressures on our hospitals, schools, and housing markets. He said that inviting

00:01:39.860 a large number of parents and grandparents into the country without consulting the provinces

00:01:43.820 will place more strain on already overburdened health systems. He said, quote,

00:01:49.240 This creates serious concerns for both Albertans and the newcomers themselves, who may not receive

00:01:54.440 timely care if our system is overwhelmed. Premier Danielle Smith had echoed those concerns in the 0.67

00:01:59.440 past, saying the Liberals blew it on immigration, leading to widespread affordability issues.

00:02:05.560 She said, quote,

00:02:06.480 You've seen the result of it. The reason why housing prices have spiked, why food affordability has

00:02:11.380 spiked, why affordability on every front has spiked, is just because if you have too many people

00:02:16.120 chasing too few jobs, too few homes, and too little employment, you're just going to end up causing

00:02:21.840 problems. The federal government blew it, and it's such a tragedy. Smith also revealed that Alberta's

00:02:27.520 Alberta is Calling campaign, aimed at attracting unemployed Canadians to move west, was completely

00:02:33.000 overwhelmed by federal immigration levels. She said, quote,

00:02:36.800 What we didn't anticipate was that the federal government was going to completely let off all

00:02:40.920 controls of all streams of immigration at the same time. The ongoing Alberta Next panels ask

00:02:46.280 questions after each of the six topic areas for immigration. The question is, quote,

00:02:51.260 Should Alberta take more control of the immigration system to counter Ottawa's open border policies?

00:02:56.580 The sentiment surrounding immigration in Alberta is at such a point that the host of the town hall in

00:03:01.080 Red Deer considered the outcome predetermined and didn't even bother conducting the poll on

00:03:06.040 immigration. More than 817,000 newcomers were admitted to Canada in the first four months of

00:03:11.600 2025 alone. A leaked memo shows that over 3 million temporary residents are now living in the country,

00:03:17.600 equal to 18.5% of the private sector workforce. Of those, nearly 130,000 are without valid permits.

00:03:25.520 SCAO is now calling for immigration to be cut below 500,000 per year and for provinces to have more say

00:03:31.080 they accept. He said, quote, Our systems need time to catch up before more pressure is added.

00:03:36.960 Immigration must be sustainable and aligned with provincial capacity and priorities.

00:03:41.580 The federal government cannot continue to make unilateral decisions that ignore the realities on

00:03:46.700 the ground. For our next story, we'll look at Smith taking a swing at legacy media and providing

00:03:52.180 recent receipts. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is calling out legacy media bias, this time pointing to

00:03:58.720 the resignation of CBC anchor Travis Donraj. Shortly thereafter, another former CBC journalist

00:04:04.640 blew the whistle on the state broadcaster with claims of censorship, bias, and ideological gatekeeping.

00:04:11.140 On a recent episode of the Pagan podcast, Smith was asked whether Canada's institutions,

00:04:15.860 like the courts, public service, and media, lean conservative or liberal. Smith said the CBC's

00:04:20.640 recent controversy painted the picture clearly. Former CBC anchor Travis Donraj recently said he was,

00:04:26.760 quote, forced to resign from the public broadcaster after raising concerns about tokenism, editorial

00:04:32.180 bias, and a culture of exclusion. Smith said, quote, I think part of the reason why the decline in

00:04:37.240 mainstream media and the rise of alternative media is because, for some reason, they decided they didn't

00:04:42.060 want conservative voices and didn't want conservative viewers. Conservative viewers have complied and gone

00:04:46.920 elsewhere. She also shared an anecdote about one of her ministers being interviewed by a journalist who

00:04:51.540 contacted 12 sources but quoted none of them because they all agreed with the UCP's position.

00:04:57.540 Instead, the reporter searched for a lone dissenter outside the province just to publish an oppositional

00:05:03.320 take. Donraj's lawyer later claimed he was offered a demotion and a non-disclosure agreement in an effort

00:05:08.840 to silence him. Now, another former CBC journalist is backing him up. Jason Unrau, who previously worked in

00:05:15.060 both Yellowknife and Ottawa, wrote in a True North column that he witnessed, quote, the CBC's culture of

00:05:20.780 ideological conformity and censorship up close, adding that it would shock most Canadians. Unrau said he was

00:05:27.180 repeatedly blocked from airing skeptical views on climate change or indigenous issues and recalled one case where an

00:05:34.040 interview with a geologist questioning anthropogenic climate change was scrapped because CBC brass

00:05:39.080 insisted he find someone to debunk it and he refused. He said, quote, same deal in Ottawa. Overbearing woke

00:05:46.320 managers in our editorial meetings squashed any opposing views. So we ended up with the same old

00:05:52.260 predictable one-sided stories. In another case, Unrau was told he couldn't book Ontario MPP Randy Hillier

00:05:58.280 to speak on indigenous land claims with editors simply calling Hillier crazy. He also pointed out that David

00:06:03.960 Suzuki could appear unchallenged on the CBC. Unrau's allegations follow those of former CBC producer

00:06:09.620 Tara Henley, who resigned in 2022, and said the state broadcaster pushed a radical political agenda

00:06:15.220 that stifled critical thinking. Henley described a workplace where dialogue itself can be harmful,

00:06:21.240 and race-based guest booking practices replace genuine journalistic inquiry. Unrau said, quote,

00:06:27.360 the best way to remain at the CBC, either casually or otherwise, is to toe the ideological lines.

00:06:32.780 Employees toe it because the pay and benefits are fantastic. Then there are the true believers at

00:06:38.020 the CBC who are also in abundance. Smith said that despite left-wing bias influencing young minds

00:06:43.360 through academia, young adults are graduating from university with sometimes over $100,000 in school

00:06:48.720 debt, yet are still unable to find a job, buy a house, or financially support children. She said, quote,

00:06:55.620 I feel like young people are having a really tough time right now. They're asking questions. Why is it so

00:07:00.380 expensive? Why don't I have a job? Why can't I buy a house? Why is so much of my paycheck going to pay

00:07:06.060 for taxes for programs that I don't even use? I think we've got to restore hope and opportunity

00:07:11.260 to kids. Despite expressing that the urge for Albertans to separate from Canada continues to

00:07:16.160 rise, citing polls as high as 37%, Smith explained she swore an oath to His Majesty and remains a monarchist.

00:07:23.160 However, she explained that Carney's clock was ticking. She said, quote,

00:07:27.380 We've seen that Ottawa's actions can either create that opposition and dissent, or it can also be

00:07:32.180 alleviated by Ottawa's actions. I don't think he has a lot of time. One last interesting thing Smith

00:07:38.120 shared on the podcast was her real name, which she said nobody calls her. The name is Marlena Danielle

00:07:43.300 Smith, and despite the different spelling, she was named after the song Marlena by the Four Seasons.

00:07:47.560 We'll stick with Smith, but move over to Jasper for our next story. The town of Jasper has officially

00:07:52.400 clarified some comments highlighted in its wildfire recovery report, claiming the report was never

00:07:57.220 intended to criticize the province. Just days before Jasper's clarification, Premier Danielle

00:08:02.080 Smith rejected the findings from the report and demanded an apology. At a press conference last

00:08:07.040 Friday, shortly after the report's release, Smith said, quote, Whatever it is that they are trying to

00:08:11.800 do, deflect blame, I'm not impressed with it, and I would ask for an apology from the city. She also

00:08:16.560 called on Parks Canada to, quote, swallow its ego and work towards a unified command structure.

00:08:22.200 She said that many of the wildfires in the province have been started due to poor forest

00:08:26.340 management by the federal government. The municipality of Jasper released an update on Monday. The update

00:08:31.400 reads, quote, We take exception to the politicization of the after-action review and its observations,

00:08:37.500 especially in the media. Jasper is committed to transparency and constructive reflection, and we

00:08:42.840 believe emergency response deserves thoughtful dialogue, not division. Unfortunately, much of

00:08:48.680 recent media coverage has narrowly focused on a single sentence within a 50-page report. The isolated

00:08:54.760 passage does not reflect the broader findings or the spirit of the after-action review. The line in

00:09:00.300 question from the report was, quote, Provincial involvement added complexity to the response as the

00:09:05.280 province of Alberta, though not jurisdictionally responsible to lead the incident, regularly requested

00:09:10.300 information and sought to exercise decision-making authority. Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland said on

00:09:15.840 Monday that the intention of the report was not to ascribe blame. He said, quote, The report is the

00:09:21.340 report. It was not intended to ascribe blame. It does not ascribe blame and is not a political instrument.

00:09:27.280 Our regret is that it has been used as a political instrument. Jasper's recent update acknowledged the

00:09:32.080 importance of the province's role, providing numerous examples of how the province helped during and after

00:09:37.460 the event. Among the highlights were providing crews, equipment, and expertise from the outset.

00:09:42.520 The province also deployed firefighting and search and rescue teams to help with the evacuation.

00:09:46.760 Additionally, the province invested $181 million in nine different programs to help Jasper and its residents.

00:09:54.660 Smith said she appreciated the clarification and that Jasper had acknowledged the province's critical

00:09:58.840 support in fighting the 2024 wildfire that burned most of the town to the ground. She said, quote,

00:10:04.640 We appreciate that the town of Jasper has clarified the intent of their recovery report and acknowledged

00:10:10.240 that it never intended to be critical of the province's contributions.

00:10:14.520 Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis also expressed gratitude to the town while simultaneously criticizing

00:10:19.780 the media. He said, quote,

00:10:21.480 I appreciate the town of Jasper setting the record straight on the recent recovery report and

00:10:26.180 recognizing the province's support during the wildfire crisis. Misrepresentation of the findings by

00:10:31.880 some media outlets was not only misleading but also divisive. Let's stick to facts over sensationalism

00:10:38.160 and stay focused on supporting Jasper's recovery.

00:10:41.000 Smith said that she and the town of Jasper had found some common ground. She said, quote,

00:10:45.460 We share their concerns about how some media outlets chose to misrepresent and politicize the content

00:10:50.980 and tone of the report. Our focus remains on working to build a stronger, more resilient future for Jasper

00:10:56.720 and all Albertans affected by wildfires.

00:10:59.480 For our next story, we'll switch to a more national angle, if you would, despite still happening in Alberta.

00:11:04.960 The Conservatives are asking the Liberals to fix a loophole in Canada's election laws,

00:11:09.440 which is currently being abused by a group to flood Conservative leader Pierre Polyev's ballot

00:11:13.800 with a number of protest candidates.

00:11:16.880 In a letter to government House leader Stephen McKinnon, Conservative leader Pierre Polyev

00:11:20.640 and Conservative MP Michael Cooper demanded swift action to stop the longest ballot committee

00:11:25.800 from exploiting the nomination system and stuffing the candidate list.

00:11:30.020 The letter reads, quote,

00:11:31.520 This is not democracy in action. It is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the rules,

00:11:37.040 confuse voters, and undermine confidence in our elections.

00:11:40.840 The two Conservatives demanded that action be taken immediately upon Parliament's return in September.

00:11:45.740 However, even if the federal government does abide, the change will come too late for Polyev's

00:11:51.340 upcoming by-election in Battle River Crowfoot, which is scheduled for August 18th.

00:11:55.700 When I originally wrote the article on Tuesday morning, the ballot had 152 candidates.

00:12:01.160 When Polyev called the election protest group a scam the Friday before that,

00:12:04.960 102 candidates were registered, and as of Thursday, the list had grown to 192 candidates.

00:12:10.720 The Conservatives have issued three demands. Firstly, they argue that candidate nominations

00:12:15.780 should require 0.5% of the population in a writing, not just 100 signatories. As for those

00:12:22.380 signatories, the Conservatives demanded that signatures be limited to signing for one candidate.

00:12:29.240 And lastly, they demanded that official agents can only represent one candidate at a time.

00:12:34.800 The letter reads, quote,

00:12:35.960 So yeah, on Tuesday morning, 155 of the 152 candidates, which is just over 95%

00:12:55.020 in the writing, have Thomas Schuich listed as their official agent. By Thursday,

00:12:59.340 this grew to 183 of 192, which is still just above 95.3%. Assuming every one of those is

00:13:05.680 associated with the longest ballot committee, there were only seven other candidates on Tuesday,

00:13:09.860 and now there are nine. Currently, the law only requires 100 signatures from local electors for

00:13:15.400 someone to run. There is no rule preventing an individual from signing nomination papers for

00:13:20.200 multiple candidates, nor is there a limit on how many candidates a single agent can represent.

00:13:25.480 Polyev and Cooper said, quote,

00:13:27.100 These aren't real candidates. They aren't campaigning. They aren't engaging with constituents.

00:13:32.240 This is a coordinated scheme to weaponize the ballot and disrupt our democratic process.

00:13:37.100 This blatant abuse undermines the integrity of our elections.

00:13:40.800 And Elections Canada addressed the controversy on X, confirming they have previously raised the

00:13:45.160 concern with the federal government, but that the Liberals did nothing. The agency confirmed that

00:13:49.520 no changes can be made without an act of Parliament. Elections Canada wrote, quote,

00:13:54.200 Our role is to administer the Canada Elections Act, which is set by Parliament. While the chief

00:13:59.120 electoral officer can make recommendations, it's up to parliamentarians to change the act.

00:14:04.000 The longest ballot committee was similarly behind the 91-candidate ballot in Polyev's Carleton

00:14:08.360 riding, where he lost to Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy. Comments on Elections Canada's post to X saw a

00:14:13.040 recurring call from users, and that was for the agency to at least put candidates with official

00:14:16.920 parties at the top of the ballot, instead of being buried somewhere in the middle. The vast majority of the

00:14:21.940 replies were negative, citing electoral distrust. One user said, quote,

00:14:26.600 Figure it out before the election. If you don't, you serve no actual purpose.

00:14:30.800 And that wraps up this week's Alberta Roundup. My name's Isaac Lamoureux.

00:14:33.980 Have a great weekend. Thank you, and God bless.

Juno News - July 27, 2025

Alberta slams “reckless” immigration surge

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