VICTORIA, B.C. – Is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government now planning to introduce a new, tougher Sovereignty Act to fight Ottawa’s proposed emissions regulations? Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). As is well known, the plainly unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act has
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: What Is The Goal of the Alberta Sovereignty Act?
Since Danielle Smith first started advocating for the so-called “Alberta Sovereignty Act”, much digital ink has been spilled over how it’s unconstitutional, if not downright illegal under Canada’s laws today. In general I agree with this perspective, but I also do not think the intent is “to play within the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s a big deal when a judge rules that if cabinet secrecy isn’t in the public interest it can be tossed aside
The British North America Act of 1867 said Canada would have “a constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom,” and cabinet confidentiality is part of the bedrock upon which the unwritten British Constitution and therefore Canada’s Parliamentary government rests. Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw
Continue readingAlberta Politics: On the 40th anniversary of proclamation of the Constitution Act, Conservative distrust of the Charter still runs deep
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982 – including, importantly, our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The English-language version of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Image: Government of Canada). Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C4 – Conversion Therapy Passed – Now What?
To my surprise, Bill C4 made it through parliament in record time. Personally, I think this is a good thing. However, I also know that Social Conservatives and Gender Critical factions will ally with each other to challenge the legislation in the courts. I suspect there was an agreement
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Conservatives love the monarchy, and how without a Canadian monarch real republicans could be democrats
It’s been more than a week since the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, but his pale blue eyes still stare resolutely from the home page of the Government of Alberta’s website. Given the challenges facing Alberta, a number of social media commentators have crossly suggested this is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Canada Day! Or, as the UCP would have it in some corners of rural Alberta, Grumpy Dominion Day
Happy Canada Day! Alberta is the only place in Canada, I’d wager, where someone who was barely out of diapers when our country’s national holiday was renamed Canada Day would make the point they really think it oughtta still be Dominion Day. But these are strange times and Wild Rose
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Referenda are ‘a device for dictators and demagogues’ — but never mind about that, Alberta, or who said it …
Referenda, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once observed, “are a device for dictators and demagogues.” I mention this in light of of Alberta’s new referendum legislation — Bill 26, the Constitutional Referendum Amendment Act — which our province’s United Conservative Party Government introduced yesterday. Clement Attlee, Labour Prime Minister from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Parole boards! Rodeo! Guns! The U.S. may be in flames while the world goes viral, but Alberta’s legislators cut to the chase!
The great republic to our south is in flames, led by an American Nero and seemingly teetering on the brink of martial law. At the same moment, the world is convulsed by an entirely new disease, the first truly global pandemic in history. So what are Premier Jason Kenney and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s self-selecting separation survey — unscientific, biased, tendentious, and a poor use of tax dollars
Is the Kenney Government trying to persuade Albertans, one step at a time, that separation from Canada would be a good idea? How else do we explain the gratuitous inclusion of a question giving respondents the opportunity to express support for Alberta’s separation from Canada in an online questionnaire published
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kenney to Trudeau: Adopt Andrew Scheer’s energy platform or Alberta will hold a meaningless equalization referendum!
If you concluded as New Brunswick’s Conservative premier just did that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s somewhat reduced victory in Monday’s federal election indicates a certain level of support for carbon taxes and like policies in Canada, the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan beg to differ. Blaine Higgs told reporters in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government opts to use sophomoric sarcastic tweets to counter visit by teenaged environmental activist
Apparently uncertain how to respond to news Greta Thunberg will soon visit Alberta, the Kenney Government seems to have opted for adolescent sarcasm as an appropriate counter to the 16-year-Old Swedish environmental activist’s message. “We trust that Ms. Thunberg will recognize Alberta’s leading human rights and environmental standards,” said Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Canadian media won’t call post-Brexit protests ‘pro-democracy demonstrations’
If there are riots in Britain after the hard Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party cronies have scheduled for Halloween, will mainstream media in Canada describe them as “pro-democracy demonstrations” as they do when similar violent outbursts take place nowadays in Hong Kong or Moscow? On the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Professors protest Moe Government plan to shutter archives in four locations, including University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon
SASKATOON, Sask. No sooner did the government of Saskatchewan oh-so-discreetly announce it is about to close four branches of the provincial archives and consolidate it all in one location in Regina than more than 30 Canadian scholars had an open letter of protest circulating on the Internet. When the branch
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thank you, Doug Ford, for making it clear our Constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s written on!
By making use of the Canadian Constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause to wreak petty vengeance on his old adversaries at Toronto City Hall, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has actually done Canadians a favour. After 36 years of delusional complacency, we have now had confirmed what anyone who was really paying attention knew
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Doug Ford achieves the impossible: he’s gotten Canadians interested in constitutional reform!
Office-holding Conservative politicians and operatives of their well-funded Astro-Turf and think tank support network across Canada have now virtually to a man and woman jumped aboard Ontario Conservative Premier Doug Ford’s runaway constitutional train, defending his use of Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ override clause to gerrymander electoral districts in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Dougtatorship notwithstanding, what have you got to fear, Mr. Scheer?
What have you got to fear, Andrew Scheer? Is there a single office-holding Conservative in this country who is willing to stand up for the fundamental rights of Canadians as they are assaulted by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his unrestrained Dougtatorship? What an opportunity this could have been for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Labour Day! Despite constant propaganda, the number of workers who wish they had a union is growing
Happy Labour Day! Overall union membership may be shrinking, but the number of workers who wish they had a union and would vote to join one if they could appears to on the rise. This tells an interesting story about the state of affairs in North America as the last
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government and AUPE sign tentative agreement for three-year public service contract
The Alberta Government and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees both announced yesterday they’ve signed a tentative agreement on a new collective agreement covering the union’s approximately 23,000 members who work directly for the provincial government. This is the group of public employees the union accurately calls “front-line government service
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Saskatchewan Catholic school funding case likely to drag on despite deadline; cabinet shuffle today in Alberta
You’d think the province of Saskatchewan would be almost out of time to figure out how to deal with a judge’s ruling last year that non-Catholic students may not receive public funding if they attend separate schools. After all, the bombshell decision by Mr. Justice Donald Layh of the Saskatchewan
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