UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says lies are circulating in the media about the Alberta Sovereignty Act.."For months, Albertans have been fed a big lie that if we stand up for our province under the Sovereignty Act, it would lead to investment loss," Smith said..Under the Sovereignty Act, Smith said in her campaign the province could refuse to enforce specific federal laws or policies violating the provincial rights of Alberta or breaching the individual rights of Albertans..According to Smith, defending Alberta from Ottawa’s continuous economic and constitutional attacks against the Wildrose province and her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act have been the central issues of the UCP leadership campaign..During Smith's campaign, UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews said the act would scare away investment in Alberta. Brian Jean and several other candidates shared the same opinion and questioned Smith on the act several times during various debates, claiming it would "Kill business in Alberta.".On Thursday, De Havilland made a historic announcement that airplanes would be built in Alberta. The major investment will bring roughly 1500 jobs to the province. .READ MORE: SKY'S THE LIMIT: Kenney confirms airplane manufacturing plant east of Calgary.It appears the talks of a Sovereignty Act didn’t affect the company big with big plans for Alberta.“I can tell you the words ‘Sovereignty Act’ never came up once,” De Havilland vice-president Neil Sweeney told Postmedia..“We’re focused on building aircraft, supporting our customers, and supporting the planes we have in our fleet. We’re not a political company. We’re an aircraft manufacturer.”.READ MORE: Kenney attacks Smith's proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act.During the leadership race, several candidates and Albertan politicians, including Rachel Notley and Premier Jason Kenney, blasted the Sovereignty Act..READ MORE: Notley blasts Smith and Sovereignty Act.On his weekly radio show, Kenney said Smith's key talking point and the key piece of her campaign is "nuts.".“The proposal is for Alberta basically to ignore and violate the Constitution in a way that is unprecedented in Canadian history. To not enforce the laws of the land, including federal laws which include the Criminal Code, is nuts,” Kenney said..According to Smith, the premier and other “experts” should reserve their opinion on this legislation until they read the full document.."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..Kenney said airplane manufacturing beginning in Alberta is a game-changing investment for manufacturing in the province. .According to Kenney, this is just another "very major sign of the economic growth job opportunities and diversification happening."
