June 26, 2025
RED FM News Desk
Calgary, Alberta – Two members of Alberta’s newly formed $2-million panel, established to push back against federal interference, say they are not responsible for the content or messaging found on the panel’s official website — including a controversial proposal to reduce social support for some newcomers.
Adam Legge, president of the Business Council of Alberta, told reporters Wednesday that he couldn’t speak to what the province has posted online.
Legge and University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe are among the 15 members appointed by Premier Danielle Smith earlier this week to join the Alberta Next panel.
The panel, which Smith will lead, is scheduled to travel across the province this summer, gathering public input on how to resist what it calls unwelcome involvement in Alberta’s jurisdiction by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government. Based on these consultations, the panel will recommend referendum questions to be voted on next year.
At a press conference alongside Smith, Legge endorsed the panel’s claims that high housing costs and rising unemployment are linked to what it calls “disastrous” levels of immigration.
In an interview, Legge said the influx of temporary foreign workers and international students has reached unsustainable levels, straining healthcare, housing, and other social services.
However, he declined to comment on a specific proposal on the panel’s site that suggests Alberta consider reducing access to services such as health care and education for newcomers not approved by the province.
Tombe also noted in an interview that the ideas on the website come directly from the provincial government.
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