UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith released an overview of the proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act on Tuesday..According to Smith, defending Alberta from Ottawa’s continuous economic and constitutional attacks against Alberta and her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act have been the central issues of the UCP leadership campaign.."The majority of Albertans are frustrated with the ineffective letter writing campaigns and empty rhetoric employed by past premiers in dealing with attacks on Alberta by our federal government, and want effective action to deal with the ‘Ottawa Problem’ without further delay," Smith said..Smith said the act is proposed law that would affirm the authority of the provincial legislature to refuse provincial enforcement of specific federal laws or policies that violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta under Sections 92-95 of the Constitution or that breaches the Charter Rights of Albertans.."Tens of thousands of Albertans have embraced the idea of the Alberta Sovereignty Act, and many more are open to learning more about how it could be practically and effectively deployed," Smith said..However, Smith said the Alberta Sovereignty Act is not about separation from Canada..According to Smith, the entire objective of the Alberta Sovereignty Act is to assert Alberta’s Constitutional Rights within Canada to the furthest extent possible by effectively governing itself as a nation within a nation, just as Quebec has done for decades and as Saskatchewan is also now proposing.."In my view, the restoration and reassertion of provincial rights across our country will protect all provinces from the destructive overreach of Ottawa, and is likely the only viable way for Canada to remain a unified nation long into the future. Ottawa’s ‘divide, control and conquer’ policies have placed Canada on a path of division and disunity. Alberta can and must lead on this issue going forward and the Alberta Sovereignty Act is the first step in doing so," Smith stated..In a statement to media Smith explained how the act would work despite the negative attention it has received from some.."Unsurprisingly, many in the ‘woke’ media, entrenched interests and the political establishment do not support the idea of the Alberta Sovereignty Act and have turned to the tried and tested methods of fear mongering and disinformation to discredit the idea outright. Some, for example, have falsely equated it to separatism and the 1995 Quebec vote on leaving Canada. Others have resorted to lashing out at the idea as entirely 'nuts' or 'unconstitutional'," said Smith..Smith said: "Prior to being introduced in the Legislature for debate and vote this fall, I will work with Cabinet and Caucus to draft the Alberta Sovereignty Act in accordance with sound constitutional language and principles.".However, as a starting point for discussion, Smith said in a statement this proposed legislation is intended to function as follows:."When the federal government institutes a law or policy that appears to violate Alberta’s jurisdictional rights under the Canadian Constitution or Albertans’ Charter rights, the Government of Alberta may introduce a special motion for a free vote of all MLAs in the Legislature," said Smith .According to Smith, each "special motion" would need to include the following detailed information:.1. Identification of the federal law or policy that is deemed to be in violation of the Constitution or Charter, and the constitutional explanation for making that claim.2. Explanation of the harms that the specified violation of the Constitution or Charter imposes on the citizens of Alberta.3. Detailed description of the specific actions the province and its agencies will take to refuse or otherwise oppose the enforcement of that specified federal law or policy within Alberta.4. A declaration that by authority of the Alberta Sovereignty Act, and notwithstanding the specific federal law or policy in question, it shall not be enforced by the provincial government within Alberta in the manner outlined by the special motion.5. Imposition of a date to review and debate, in the Legislature, whether or not to amend, end or continue the actions outlined in the special motion. This review date shall be no later than the earlier of 24 months or within 90 days of a court staying or deeming all or a portion of a special motion unconstitutional..Examples of when the act could be used by Smith .According to Smith, invoking the Alberta Sovereignty Act via special motion against a specific federal law or policy will likely be done relatively sparingly and only upon passing a special motion (as previously detailed) via free vote of the entire Legislative Assembly of Alberta.."However, in my view, if the federal government continues to violate provincial rights and Albertans’ Charter freedoms, our provincial government should not hesitate to use it to protect Albertans," Smith said..Smith outlined one example, "if Justin Trudeau announces tomorrow that under authority of the Federal Emergencies Act, all school-aged children must be vaccinated for COVID in order to attend in-person learning.".Smith said the Alberta government would have the following options:.1) Take the NDP approach, follow federal law and have AHS and Alberta Education enforce this policy on our children..2) Take the establishment UCP approach which would likely be to write an angry letter to Ottawa and possibly take the federal government to court for roughly two years, during which time, AHS and Alberta Education fully carry out the federal government’s vaccination policy, thereby nullifying the entire point of the lawsuit..3) Invoke the Alberta Sovereignty Act, via special motion, stating this federal policy is a breach of the Charter, forbid AHS and Alberta Education from implementing the policy on our children,and wait for the federal government to bring a constitutional challenge against the Province which we would fight, probably win, and during which time, the Charter rights of Alberta parents and children will have been protected..Other examples which Smith provided of federal legislation and policies the Alberta Sovereignty Act, via special motion, could be used to oppose include (though there are many more) are:.Federal mandatory vaccination policies involving enforcement activities by a provincial agency (Charter violation)Use of Emergencies Act to jail and freeze accounts of peaceful protesters (Charter violation)Authorizing immediate commencement of private and public projects being held up by federal agencies under authority of the Bill C-69 ‘No New Pipelines’ Law (which law has already been found unconstitutional by the Alberta Court of Appeal, but is still holding up projects waiting on a Supreme Court hearing and decision, which could take years)Mandatory cuts to fertilizer use by Alberta Farmers (violation of s.95 of the Constitution)Mandatory emissions and production cuts to Alberta energy companies (violation of s.92A of the Constitution)Mandatory cuts to electricity generation and use from fossil fuels as recently announced by Canada’s environment minister (likely violation of both the Charter and a.92A of the Constitution)Provincial takeover of firearms licensing and refusing to enforce federal firearms ownership regulations (violation of s.92(13) of the Constitution)Federal censorship or inappropriate sanction of Albertans or independent media based in Alberta (violation of the Charter)Mandatory participation by Albertans or information sharing by provincial agencies of Albertans’ personal data for the purpose of a Federal digital identification program (Charter violation)."Obviously, none of these so-called ‘experts’, media members or politicos have read the bill (as drafting legislation is not typically done during political campaigns as most understand), and are simply assuming the legislation will be unconstitutional in order to justify their knee-jerk opposition to the concept," Smith said..Smith said the description of how the Alberta Sovereignty Act would function is clearly constitutional.."Where disagreements surrounding constitutionality may arise between the Federal and Alberta Governments, are the specific actions the Alberta Government and Legislature choose to utilize via the special motion process outlined above. These may then have to be litigated accordingly. However, during that litigation process, the non-enforcement actions undertaken by the province via special motion will continue to remain in force unless otherwise stayed by court order," Smith said..According to Smith, this is another advantage of the Alberta Sovereignty Act.."Currently, it is the federal government that regularly passes and declares unconstitutional laws and policies on a regular basis knowing that it will take years for Alberta to successfully challenge them, if ever, in court. The Alberta Sovereignty Act reverses this and places that onerous process and cost back on the federal government," Smith said..According to Smith, if a court stays or ultimately deems the actions undertaken by the province under a specific Alberta Sovereignty Act special motion is unconstitutional, then the government and Legislature will have to review the special motion actions in question and make a decision as to whether or not to amend, end or continue with them, understanding the legal implications such a decision could cause. That decision will be up to the government and Legislature at the time in question, as each such situation would be unique and case specific..Smith said the act would not cause chaos as some UCP leadership candidates have suggested.."No, just the opposite," Smith said..According to Smith, over the last several years the federal government has triggered a constitutional crisis through repeated lawless attacks on provincial constitutional jurisdictional rights and the Charter.."The Trudeau Government has effectively imposed economic sanctions against Alberta (and parts of Saskatchewan and BC) that have resulted in economic chaos. Hundreds of billions in investment and tax revenues, and hundreds of thousands of jobs, have been lost to these sanctions as investors around the world find it too risky to do business in Alberta’s energy industry. In fact, no new major development of our world class oil sands has been commenced in almost 20 years as a result," Smith said..Smith believes the idea expressed by some that the Alberta Sovereignty Act would cause “chaos” in the markets is "naive in the extreme."."The chaos is already here and has been caused by both Ottawa’s unlawful policies and an utter lack of provincial leadership on effectively pushing back against those attacks. The fact is the Alberta Sovereignty Act reimposes constitutional rule of law on a lawless Ottawa by reaffirming the critical import of respecting the powers, responsibilities and exclusive jurisdictions of the Provinces under the Canadian Constitution, as well as the Charter rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Albertans," said Smith.."My hope in releasing this overview of the proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act, is that even more Albertans, their MLAs and perhaps even some critical thinkers in the mainstream media, will take a thoughtful look at this policy proposal, and join the growing number of Albertans who want to see our Province stand up to Ottawa, restore our constitutional rights, and take control of our future," Smith said.
