Albertans should be worried about a new government proposal that will force Albertans to disclose more of our personal information.Premier Danielle Smith, along with Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, have announced plans to add the word “CAN” to the driver’s licences of Albertans who are Canadian citizens. The Alberta government claims, “Adding a Canadian citizenship marker to Alberta’s driver’s licences will also strengthen Alberta’s election system by helping ensure that only eligible citizens cast ballots, protecting the integrity of our democratic process. It also positions Alberta to respond quickly to future legislative changes and aligns with international standards … By combining identity and citizenship on one document, Albertans will no longer need to carry multiple pieces of ID to access services.” Premier Smith claims that “a single, secure card proving both identity and citizenship” will reduce the hurdles Albertans face when applying for government services..EDITORIAL: Suddenly, the Left doesn’t think cancel culture is funny anymore.Being required to occasionally provide more than one form of identification is not a huge source of sorrow or suffering that Albertans need to be delivered from. The benefits of reducing bureaucratic hassles need to be weighed against the costs.Voting and driving have nothing to do with each other. Whether I am a Canadian citizen or not has no bearing on my eligibility to drive a car, or whether I violated the Traffic Safety Act. There is no need for the government to centralize information about citizenship and driving, in one identity card..Adding “CAN” to driver’s licences does not solve the problem of non-citizens voting illegally. If stopping election fraud is the goal, it would be far more effective to require that voters produce their Canadian passport, birth certificate, or citizenship certificate in order to be able to cast a ballot. Yes, it would be a slight inconvenience to have to find your passport two or three times per decade in order to vote. But who complains about needing to retrieve their passport to go on vacation abroad? Surely, voting is more important!As for Alberta being positioned “to respond quickly to future legislative changes” and aligning with “international standards,” these Alberta government goals sound ominous..GRAHN: Vancouver’s $3.8 billion sewage palace .“This is about more than convenience, it’s about trust,” states Premier Smith.My privacy is better protected when police cannot access my medical records, medical authorities cannot access my tax records, and tax collectors cannot find out how many speeding tickets I’ve received. When the various branches of government each store only one kind of information (e.g., tax records; health records; citizenship status; driving history), my privacy is better protected than when government stores different kinds of information about each citizen in one place..The Alberta government also plans to add Alberta healthcare numbers to driver’s licences in late 2026. Some Albertans do not have a driver’s licence. More importantly, there is no connection between (a) driving and (b) accessing taxpayer-funded healthcare. Why centralize this information in one place?Anyone who is legally entitled to be in Canada and to remain in Canada, and who makes Alberta their permanent home, is eligible for “free” (taxpayer-funded) healthcare. Therefore, the only people who could “abuse” Alberta’s healthcare services are people who don’t have a right to live here in the first place. The problem of non-citizens staying in Canada illegally won’t be solved by printing personal healthcare numbers or citizenship status on Alberta driver’s licences..EDITORIAL: A sole-ful disregard for the taxpayer.Identification documents should disclose only the minimum information necessary for a particular purpose, like a person’s eligibility to drive a vehicle, or someone’s right to vote. Forcing Albertans to expose more and more about themselves on a single document is a dangerous step in the wrong direction. If healthcare numbers get put on driver’s licences, why not also a list of vaccines that the driver has received?More information on a driver’s licence would give police and other government officials private and personal information about Albertans. It’s bad enough already that the bartender, when checking a customer’s driver’s licence to confirm that she is at least 18, can see confidential information about where that young lady lives. Now consider adding her citizenship status and healthcare number to her driver’s licence: further violations of privacy..The fact that Alberta can legitimately exercise its provincial jurisdiction over driver’s licences and healthcare is not a good reason to centralize unnecessary information on one card. The Alberta government’s proposal does not solve the problem of Ottawa’s relentless overreach into provincial domains.Many Canadians are concerned about high immigration levels in recent years. Giving decision makers (e.g., police officers, healthcare personnel, etc.) access to unnecessary information does not solve this problem. If too many people are coming into Canada too quickly, the solution is to change immigration policy..FLETCHER: BC LNG the poster child for Carney’s recovery plan.A government that does everything for you is a government that can take everything from you. A government that knows all about you is a government that can inflict great harm on you. When the government centralizes information about each citizen in one place, this weakens the individual and makes the state much more powerful. Hopefully, the Alberta government will reconsider its approach.John Carpay, B.A., LL.B., is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (jccf.ca).
