Alberta can charge non-permanent residents fees for health care and education.
Claimed by: Framing around the 2026 referendum immigration questions
True: True as written according to the settled evidence. How we rate.
Summary
As a matter of law the answer is yes. Health care and education are provincial responsibilities, and the Canada Health Act's protections against user charges and extra-billing apply only to insured persons, which the Act defines as residents and expressly excludes tourists, transients and visitors. Whether a given temporary resident is covered at all is set by each province; where they are not enrolled as insured persons, charging them does not engage the Act. Alberta already works this way in practice, and international students already pay fees, so a province can charge non-permanent residents for these services. The detail to keep straight is who counts as an insured person, but it does not change the basic answer.
Evidence
The Canada Health Act defines a resident, and so an insured person, to exclude tourists, transients and visitors, and its user-charge and extra-billing rules protect only insured persons.
Health care and education are provincial responsibilities, so a province sets coverage for temporary residents and the fees that non-covered individuals, such as international students, pay.