The Roller Coaster of Provincial-Federal Jockeying Over Immigration Powers

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s promise to hold a referendum that will give her province a chance to demand greater control over immigration is the latest episode in the long-standing, ever-evolving drama between the provinces and Ottawa over immigration jurisdiction.

The October referendum will ask nine questions, including four on constitutional issues. But the major spark igniting a firestorm of debate across Canada is the five immigration questions.

One question asks whether Alberta should have greater control over immigration, three focus on whether temporary residents—such as foreign workers and students—should receive provincially funded services like health care and education, and the final question asks whether provincial elections should require proof of citizenship.

This is just the latest yank of the rope in a multi-decade tug-of-war between Ottawa and the provinces over immigration.

The tension stems from a unique feature of the Canadian system. Unlike most other countries with federal systems, Canada’s provinces and territories share jurisdiction over immigration with the federal government, although the federal government retains ultimate authority under the Constitution.

For more than a century after Confederation in 1867, provincial power over immigration went largely unexercised, existing mainly on paper.

In the 1970s, the federal government began loosening its grip. The Immigration Act of 1976–77 explicitly laid out that Ottawa “may enter into an agreement with any province or group of provinces” on immigration.

In 1991, Quebec signed a major agreement known as the Canada-Quebec Accord, obtaining the power to select all economic immigrants—a sweeping transfer of immigration control never achieved before or since by any other province.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at an event in Ottawa on April 10, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Following this unique arrangement, a series of bilateral agreements were struck with the other provinces and territories in the 1990s and 2000s, conferring some power over immigration—but far less than is held by Quebec.

Apart from Quebec, the provinces and territories other than Nunavut exercise most of their immigration authority through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which allows them to nominate individuals for permanent residency and target specific sectors to address local labour shortages. While Nunavut doesn’t have the PNP or any other immigration pathway specifically for the territory, anyone who has obtained permanent residency through a federal program can enter and is entitled to free services in the settlement process.

For the 11 provinces and territories that have joined the PNP, there are two notable limits: the number of PNP slots is set annually by the federal government, which also holds the final power of approval for nominees.

According to the Carney government’s Immigration Levels Plan, 91,500 of the 380,000 overall permanent resident admissions planned for 2026 will fall under the PNP.

Provincial Pushback

The Provincial Nominee Program has not satisfied most provincial governments, which continue to seek more control over immigration.

At a Feb. 20 press conference on the upcoming October referendum, Premier Smith said her ultimate goal is for Alberta to have the same deal as Quebec.

“What we’re looking at is a model very similar to what Quebec has had since 1991 with their Quebec-Canada Accord, where they have total control over their economic migrants,” Smith said.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe wants this same deal for his province. His government’s 2022 Throne Speech vowed to “press for greater provincial control over immigration, as has long been guaranteed to Quebec.”

While Smith’s government is the first to hold a referendum on immigration, other provinces are testing the limits of provincial immigration powers in other ways.

Simmering tension over immigration jurisdiction boiled over dramatically last summer at a July 2025 meeting of the Council of the Federation, an organization of Canada’s premiers.

At the meeting’s closing press conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who chaired the Council of the Federation that year, declared that “Canada’s premiers agreed to work together to use our authorities under Section 95 of the Constitution” to expand provincial control over immigration.

Section 95 relates to federal and provincial jurisdiction over agriculture and immigration.

Later at the same conference, Ford made it clear what that would look like for Ontario: unilaterally issuing work permits for asylum-seekers.

“There’s jobs available in Ontario and we need to give them work permits and make sure that they’re out there working and contributing back to society; I’m not waiting any longer,” he said.

While Ford walked back this pledge later that month, he reiterated the demand for greater provincial control, arguing that all provincial governments want a deal like Quebec’s.

“Would I like to be treated the same way as Quebec? Yes. And so would every other province and territory,” he said.

‘Unable to Keep Up’

The fundamental tension lies in the fact that, while the federal government sets the overall number of new immigrants each year, the provinces are the ones that deal with the strain posed by population growth on services.

Pressure on the education system is a major concern for the Alberta government. A frequently cited document from the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) notes that about 31 percent of students (44,000) in CBE schools are not native English speakers—17.6 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

In British Columbia, one of the chief sources of frustration surrounding federal immigration policy is pressure on housing. At a press conference in July 2024, Premier David Eby criticized Ottawa for what he called “completely overwhelming” immigration levels, saying “our schools are full“ and ”we are unable to keep up with housing starts.”

While no province has yet achieved a Quebec-style immigration deal, many are exercising as much power as they can within existing arrangements—and the consequences can be chaotic.

In February 2024, Prince Edward Island abruptly slashed its immigration nominations by 25 percent for the year in a bid to “slow down population growth.”

Canada’s astronomic immigration-fuelled population growth after the pandemic, which saw the population rise by nearly 1.3 million in 2023 alone, extended to the Maritimes—historically known for population decline rather than growth.

In the five years between 2020 and 2024, tiny P.E.I. added 22,276 residents—more than it had in the previous two decades combined.

P.E.I.’s move to cut immigration and relieve what then-Premier Dennis King described as an “increasingly stressed public services and infrastructure system” ignited raucous protests in Charlottetown, as foreigners on work visas saw their dreams of permanent residency fall apart.

A similar situation is now playing out in Ontario.

In November 2025, Premier Ford’s government suspended an immigration program known as the Skilled Trades Stream and returned all pending applications after finding that it was “vulnerable to systemic misrepresentation and/or fraud.”

The move has left many applicants in limbo, sparking protests outside Queen’s Park and denunciations from advocacy groups.

This highlights another bone of contention between the federal government and the provinces: Ottawa sets immigration levels, but in many cases the provinces need to act to clean up immigration fraud.

Saskatchewan passed the Immigration Services Act in July 2024, which Premier Scott Moe’s government said imposed the “highest fines for violations in the country.” In January 2025, Saskatchewan used its new powers under the act to lay charges against an unlicensed immigration consultant.

Attracting Newcomers

The provinces’ push to exert power over immigration does not always mean restricting immigration. Sometimes, it means boosting it.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has long aspired to use immigration to double his small Maritime province’s population to two million by 2060.

In 2022, Houston described this goal as crucial to avoiding population decline.

“People drive economies, so we need people. ... We know what happens when communities lose people. Schools close, stores close, and then you get caught in that negative vortex because oftentimes those that remain are aging,” he said.

Planes at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Sept. 13, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

Nova Scotia did see a post-pandemic population boom, becoming the first Atlantic province to top one million people, but this has since cooled as Ottawa has slowed immigration levels.

A January projection from Statistics Canada sees the province growing to 1.1 million by 2050, or perhaps to as much as 1.39 million in a high-growth scenario.

Nova Scotia is not alone in its push, Premier Smith has long advocated for an ambitious target to double Alberta’s population.

In a 2024 interview, Smith explained that doubling Alberta’s population to 10 million would boost her province’s power in relation to the federal government.

“We have to be that bastion of liberty, and people are going to want to come here, and we want to embrace them,“ she said. ”And we want to be able to build this place out, so that we can actually have the political clout in Alberta that we deserve, because right now we’re being treated as a junior partner by Ottawa.”

In 2024, Smith sent a letter to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “requesting that your government immediately increase Alberta’s Provincial Nomination Program allocation” in order “to address critical labour shortages.”

At her Feb. 20 press conference on the October referendum, Smith was asked if she still stood by her goal of doubling Alberta’s population. She affirmed that this is still her aspiration but emphasized that growth should occur more slowly than it did during Canada’s post-pandemic population boom.

“It’s a matter of time scale. … We certainly can’t double our population in three years, which it seems a lot like the federal government was bent on doing. You can probably double your population by 2100, maybe. In Alberta, we might go a little bit faster than that because people do want to move here.”

The previous Alberta government under Premier Jason Kenney also tried to boost the population through its “Alberta is Calling” marketing campaign in 2022—an advertising blitz persuading Canadians in other provinces to move to Alberta.

After taking power, Smith’s government continued the campaign, offering a $5,000 “moving bonus” for skilled tradespeople.

The “Alberta is Calling” campaign highlights the creative methods provinces outside Quebec sometimes use to get around their lack of immigration power. While they have little direct control over immigration, they can always employ the power of persuasion.

B.C. is also experimenting with this strategy. In May 2025, the province unveiled a campaign to attract American nurses and doctors by streamlining credential recognition and running advertisements in Oregon, Washington, and California.

Quebec Premier François Legault responds to a question during a news conference following the First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2026. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Quebec Lobbies for Greater Control

The premiers outside Quebec have been vocal about their aspiration for Quebec-style immigration powers to be extended to the other provinces. Meanwhile, the Quebec government is not satisfied with its deal and has repeatedly come into conflict with Ottawa as it seeks even greater immigration power.

The source of tension lies in the fact that, while Quebec sets its own permanent resident levels and criteria, temporary residents—largely foreign workers, international students, and asylum-seekers—remain under federal control.

As the percentage of Canada’s population made up by temporary residents skyrocketed from 3.3 percent in 2018 to 7.5 percent in 2024, Quebec’s lack of authority became an increasing irritant for the province.

In 2024, Premier François Legault called on Ottawa to physically transfer half of the asylum-seekers in Quebec to other provinces, saying Quebec is home to a disproportionate share of asylum-seekers compared to the rest of the country.

Legault also requested that all power over immigration be transferred from Ottawa to Quebec, an ask that then-Prime Minister Trudeau declined.

Ministers in the Quebec government have also repeatedly threatened to cut social assistance to asylum-seekers.

The Quebec-Ottawa irritation goes both ways, with the federal government at times expressing its frustration over Quebec immigration policy.

In 2024, then-Immigration Minister Marc Miller instructed his ministry to overrule Quebec’s family reunification levels, which he called “artificially low.” Against the Quebec government’s objections, the federal government decided to process more than 20,000 family reunification applications.

Though Quebec’s immigration deal with Ottawa may be looked at with envy by other provincial governments, it has clearly not managed to dissolve tensions over immigration powers.

Canada’s struggle over immigration jurisdiction shows no signs of slowing down, with provinces in English Canada seeking a Quebec-style arrangement, Quebec itself lobbying for even greater control, and the federal government attempting to stop any further erosion of its power.