Some of the Eastern Canadian pundit class exploded in outrage this week after I pledged to pass the Alberta Sovereignty Act as my first bill if I am elected premier on October 6..After the events of the last several years it should be no surprise that Albertans are prepared to draw a hard line to push Ottawa back into its own domain and firmly out of ours. Sovereignty, at its heart, is simply the authority of a jurisdiction to govern itself. Our constitution was written so that matters affecting a single province would fall under provincial jurisdiction. Ottawa has trampled all over that..The Alberta Sovereignty Act affirms the constitution, by stating that we are going to govern ourselves in our own way in our areas of exclusive jurisdiction..There is ample precedent for this. Last June the federal Parliament agreed to recognize Quebec as a nation within Canada by recognizing French “as the common language of the Quebec nation.” What followed was Bill 96, a bill that allows Quebec to actively discriminate against those who speak the English language. Federal politicians have generally held their tongue, which means they accept that Quebec has the power to do this. Saskatchewan followed suit in November, by stating they are also a nation within a nation, and Premier Scott Moe has said he wants to take more control over child care and immigration, just like Quebec. In BC, the provincial government recently got an exemption from enforcing the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, so people can now possess and use fentanyl, crystal meth, heroin and other hard drugs without prosecution..Yet when Alberta says we are going to seek the same treatment as other provinces in asserting our constitutional rights to make decisions within our own boundaries, we are told it is an outrage. It is not..Simply put, the Alberta Sovereignty Act would state that we won’t enforce federal laws that intrude in our areas of provincial jurisdiction, or violate the rights of Albertans..We just want to be treated the same way Quebec is treated. I doubt very much Quebec is cowering and worried that the federal government is going to come in and cancel development projects in Quebec. I’ve watched while Quebec got special treatment to continue mining asbestos, decades after other jurisdictions in the world banned the export of this deadly product. I watched while Quebec approved a massive cement plant, bypassing the usual environmental approvals. I watched while Montreal dumped two billion gallons of raw sewage into the St Lawrence River..Yet at the same time, Alberta is told our oil and natural gas industry is going to face caps on growth. Teck’s Frontier Mine was cancelled. Suncor – which is part of the net zero Pathways project and has publicly pledged to be net zero by 2050 – has been told it won’t get approval to expand. The federal government has threatened to stop SAGD development. We can’t even approve small modular reactors to develop our oilsands because they will generate more than 200 MW of power and heat, a new restriction imposed on us by Bill C-69..This act puts Ottawa on notice: we will be approving projects within our own boundaries, just like Quebec. Far from creating uncertainty for investors, this will tell the world that we will create a fast track approval process for projects that meet our already very high environmental standards..There’s more..If Ottawa tries to impose mandatory vaccination again in the fall, we will say no. If they try to impose mandatory shots on children, we will say no. If they demand that we segregate the unvaccinated from normal activities, we will say no. If they demand we quarantine healthy people, we will say no..If Ottawa invokes the Emergencies Act without cause again, we will convene our legislative assembly and say we won’t enforce it here..If Ottawa starts to seize or freeze bank accounts, we will encourage people to open accounts at provincially regulated banks and credit unions and say we won’t enforce that here..As for law enforcement, our priorities in Alberta are to focus on rural property crime, gang violence, organized crime, human trafficking, and violent crime. Our priority is not to confiscate legally purchased firearms from law abiding hunters, sports shooters and collectors..Asserting our sovereignty also means we will take the lead on developing economic corridors. We have been talking about this since the 1930s. It’s clear Ottawa won’t do it, so we will. We will start by partnering with First Nations, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to establish a 10 km wide rail and economic corridor to Churchill, Manitoba. It would mean resolving the environmental and First Nations concerns upfront, then building out infrastructure such as rail lines, roads, fiberoptic, transmission lines, water and pipelines. Once we’ve started on assembling this corridor to Churchill, Thunder Bay, Tuktoyaktuk and Prince Rupert will be next..Asserting our sovereignty means we will begin acting like the senior partner in Confederation that we are, rather than continuing to act like a junior player. It means collecting our own income tax and starting our own provincial police force to start, followed by a pension plan, employment insurance and managing our own immigration to match the needs of our growing economy. These are all things Quebec does already. We will too..Asserting our sovereignty means we will not have Ottawa dictate to us how we deliver our social programs. They can’t even figure out how to effectively issue passports and visas. They will not dictate to us how to manage child care and dental care..Ottawa has been allowed to run roughshod over the Constitution ever since Justin Trudeau got elected. The Alberta Sovereignty Act asserts the founders’ original intention to treat provinces with autonomy and respect. Our rights are not something a Prime Minister can trample on unilaterally..The intention of the Sovereignty Act is to put Ottawa on notice: Get back in your lane and stay there. There will be no constitutional crisis as long as Ottawa gives us the respect we deserve..Danielle Smith is a leadership candidate for the United Conservative Party
