Richie Assaly is a freelance writer and former Toronto Star culture reporter. He writes about politics, music and books.

Imagine a future in which emergency room administrators must screen their patients for citizenship and immigration status before providing care; a future in which a doctor may refuse to treat an injured cyclist because they are a temporary foreign worker or an international student.

Picture a future in which an elementary student’s parents have to pay an extra fee for their child to attend a public school because they are a family of refugees.

This is not a dystopian mind experiment, but a very real forecast of where Alberta could head under the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith.

On Oct. 19, Albertans vote in a referendum that will determine the path forward for a province that has been destabilized by a small but highly mobilized independence movement.

But it’s not just separation on the ballot. Voters will also answer five questions on the issue of immigration. These include a proposal for Alberta to take increased control over its borders “for the purposes of decreasing immigration,” plus a series of questions about whether the non-permanent residents should be stripped of access to publicly funded services like health care and education, or required to pay a fee for access.

These questions clearly run counter to Canadian values. If successful, they have the potential to transform Alberta into a dangerous and hostile place for newcomers, where law-abiding, taxpaying residents are treated as second-class citizens.

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The immigration questions have already drawn criticism for their dubious framing: experts have described them as confusing, contradictory and filled with vague or undefined language. Meanwhile, the government’s referendum website contains misleading and exaggerated statements and statistics meant to scapegoat newcomers for the province’s economic woes, deflecting from the government’s own failures.

The gambit appears to be working. Recent polling indicates that the majority of Albertans plan to vote yes on all five immigration questions. Time is running out to steer Alberta away from a dark path.

Alberta has long been a haven for immigrants from around the world.

My own ancestors migrated from the Beqaa Valley in what is today Lebanon more than 100 years ago, chasing the promise of prosperity in the Canadian Prairies. In 1938, my great-grandmother was among a small group of Arab immigrants that founded the Al-Rashid Mosque in Edmonton. The very first mosque in Canada, it was built using funds raised by Muslim, Jewish and Christian families, and was constructed in an Eastern Orthodox architectural style by a Ukrainian contractor – a testament to Alberta’s early spirit of multiculturalism and interfaith co-operation.

Though never free from the systemic impacts of racism and xenophobia – not to mention the continuing colonial dispossession of First Nations – Alberta has for decades welcomed newcomers, and celebrated them as an engine of economic growth.

Just a few years ago, the UCP was actively courting migrants, while Ms. Smith mused about an Alberta inhabited by 10 million souls.

Only recently did the party embrace the type of anti-immigrant rhetoric that paints newcomers as a burden. In February, Ms. Smith stated, without evidence, that immigration has “flooded our classrooms, emergency rooms and social support systems.”

This argument falls apart under scrutiny. Immigrants, including temporary residents, pay taxes. If classrooms and hospitals are overflowing, it’s because the UCP has failed to adequately invest in them.

Scapegoating immigrants is a common tactic in Western democracies. But in Alberta, this plays directly into the hands of the separatist movement – a movement that is not only staunchly anti-immigrant, but a hotbed of xenophobia and racist conspiracy theories.

Voting yes to the immigration questions will normalize the type of reactionary politics typically associated with MAGA and far-right movements in Europe.

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Indeed, this normalization is already under way.

This month, following a victory by the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), AfD leader Alice Weidel promised to close the country’s borders and eliminate social benefits for migrants without residency status – the exact kind of policies that Albertans will be voting on this fall.

On X, the executive director of Ms. Smith’s office celebrated the AfD’s victory, writing: “Finally someone on a major stage saying it out loud instead of hiding behind slogans.”

Albertans should not be duped by the UCP’s brazen attempt to placate separatists at the expense of newcomers.

In recent months, politicians of all stripes have loudly stated their opposition to independence, from Prime Minister Mark Carney to former Alberta premier Jason Kenney. Yet those same voices have been silent regarding immigration. Even ostensibly progressive groups such as Forever Canadian have focused almost exclusively on the question of federalism.

It’s not too late to rally in support of Alberta’s immigrant communities. A failure to reject Ms. Smith’s brazen politicking will tear at the very moral and economic fabric of the province.

Opinion: Alberta’s shameless attempt to scapegoat immigrants