In 2023, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith mused that she would like to see the province’s population to grow 10 million people. But by 2026, faced with an astronomical budget deficit of $9.4 billion, Smith recently said the “federal experiments in open borders” have contributed to Alberta’s current fiscal woes. Smith is inviting a public debate on immigration, proposing five immigration-related questions in an October referendum.Leading questionsThe immigration referendum questions are replete with mis- and disinformation, confusing, inaccurate and leading language, and shaped by problematic assumptions unsupported by evidence. For example, one question asks whether respondents support giving Albertans “first priority to new employment opportunities” while another asks whether only those with “Alberta-approved immigration status” should be eligible for provincially funded social programsAnother question asks if Albertans “support the Government of Alberta introducing a law requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate, or citizenship card, to vote in an Alberta provincial election.”Taken together, these questions present the voting public with an “us versus them” narrative, suggesting there’s one group of people called “Albertans” and another called “immigrants.” While race is not explicitly mentioned in these questions, they enact what French philosopher Étienne Balibar, whose scholarship is seminal to understanding new forms of racism, has described as “racism without race” — when cultural differences are mobilized to marginalize minority communities; in this case, immigrants to Alberta. An example of this can be seen in a recent social media post written by Bruce McAllister, executive director of the premier’s office: “Why import nations with failed systems when our Judeo-Christian heritage and principles have worked so well here?” Smith defended his statement.Far-right playbookWho is considered an Albertan by Smith’s United Conservative Party? Is it people born in Alberta? People born in Canada? Or those who have “Judeo-Christian” heritage?Like other initiatives by Smith’s government, the scapegoating of immigrants follows a far-right playbook that has been effective in other places, including, most visibly, the United States and parts of Europe. Ultra-nationalist policies are evident in both the Alberta separatist movement and in the provincial government’s attacks on trans kids in the name of parental rights, book bans and cancelling equity, diversion and inclusion programs. Read more: The war on DEI reflects the quiet normalization of white nationalism — in the U.S. and beyond Alberta’s population has grown by about 600,000 people in the last five years. At least some of this growth is likely attributed to a multi-million dollar campaign by the Alberta Government called “Alberta is Calling” that sought to recruit people to the province.Alberta has what scholars have described as a “prototypical boom region economy” with no provincial sales tax and the lowest corporate and personal tax rates in the country. Spending for social programs, health care and education is contingent on the price of a barrel of oil. A possibly apocryphal story in Alberta describes a famous bumper sticker that read: “Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away this time.” Unacknowledged contributionsThe combination of Alberta’s petro-economy and the rise of far-right conservative ideology is leading to a more explicitly reactionary and xenophobic politics in the province.In the years following the Second World War, Germany brought in thousands of “guest workers” from Turkey to help rebuild the country. Eventually, these mostly male workers sought to remain in Germany and bring their spouses and children. There is a quote attributed to the Swiss novelist Max Frisch about these guest workers: “We asked for workers; we got people instead.”This quote applies to Alberta: The provincial government has spent millions of dollars attracting needed workers to the province. Immigrant workers are over-represented in critical parts of the economy including agriculture, care work and tourism. Other Albertans have benefited — and continue to benefit from — the enormous economic contributions that immigration provides. Much of this economic contribution is unacknowledged because often the work that immigrants do is out of sight, including jobs in meatpacking plants, trucking, cleaning and low-wage service jobs, often performed under precarious conditions.Immigrants have been essential to the Albertan economy, but they are, most importantly, human beings. Immigration to Alberta has not been accompanied by investment in housing, health care or education. In fact, investment in K-12 education remains the lowest in the country. The scandal-ridden health-care system is in disarray, with people dying in the emergency rooms and doctors describing it as a “crisis.”Causing harmWhen Smith, the most politically powerful person in the province, launches a frontal attack on marginalized communities using the sanitized language of “direct democracy” and “public debate,” there can be real consequences and harm. Even before the proposed October referendum, immigrant-serving organizations have reported an increase in racism in Alberta. In the premier’s own riding — the small community of Brooks, Alta., population 15,000 with a large immigrant population — stickers with the words “Make Brooks White Again” have appeared around town alongside racist graffiti.Historically, targeting racialized groups is a dangerous tactic that has culminated in violence and death. We must resist and call these politics out wherever possible.Bronwyn Bragg receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.Esra Ari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.