Alberta's immigration curbs passed at about 52%. The province didn't need a referendum to enact them
Four of the 10 questions in Alberta's referendum concerned immigration or potential new rules for newcomers. Three of them floated possible limits on how or when newcomers and temporary residents could use health care, education and other social services, and all three passed by narrow majorities: 52.4, 53.1 and 52 per cent.
Smith's government holds a majority in the Alberta legislature and did not need a referendum to pursue any of these initiatives. None of the immigration questions won a majority in Calgary, a result that may give Smith reason to hesitate.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi argued that Smith was scapegoating immigrants. The structural awkwardness is that a government able to act without a vote can treat a 52 per cent answer as a mandate or as a shrug, whichever suits the week.
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A 52 per cent result is not a mandate; it is a coin toss with paperwork attached. Three questions landing within a point or two of even suggests a province divided on immigration, not one that has decided.
The division is precisely what makes the exercise interesting: the government could have legislated the whole lot without asking anyone, so the ballot was less a permission slip than a measure of how much noise Smith wants to absorb. Calgary voting no on every immigration question is the loudest number in the results.