Alberta wraps up fall legislature sitting dominated by controversial sovereignty act

Alberta’s Opposition NDP says the first session under Premier Danielle Smith was a short, chaotic mess with the passage of a sovereignty law plunging the province into confusion over who follows which laws.

NDP House Leader Christina Gray said the government passed the bill in just over a week by cutting debate time to get it out of the spotlight before critics and affected parties could further assess it.

“People have had virtually no opportunity to consider how they changed the bill in response to all the criticism,” Gray said at a news conference Friday.

“Danielle Smith, after hearing all the criticism, just closed the debate and ran away.”

Smith’s office did not respond to a request for an interview with Gov. House Leader Joseph Schow.

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Alberta adopts amended sovereignty law

The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, Smith’s signature legislation, was given royal assent by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani when the house rose on Thursday after a three-week session.

Smith has pledged to pass the sovereignty bill, saying it is needed to push back on what Alberta believes is unconstitutional federal encroachment on provincial jurisdiction.

But the rollout was fraught with confusion and condemnation from the moment Smith introduced it in the house on November 29, particularly the provision that gave the prime minister and her cabinet broad power to rewrite laws without input or oversight from the legislature.

Smith initially rejected accusations that the bill contained such a clause. Days later, she said the bill would be amended to ensure it didn’t say that, adding that it was never meant to be there in the first place, while refusing to explain how it got there.

Smith added to the controversy when, when she passed the bill just before it, she rejected the constitutional authority of the federal government, saying “It’s not like Ottawa is a national government.”

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Danielle Smith compares Ottawa’s treatment of Alberta to struggles of First Nations

Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said that comment slipped the veil that while Smith says she does not want to pursue Alberta secession, the legislation is designed to pick fights with Ottawa and lay the groundwork for such a ‘ a step

Legal experts say the bill remains problematic as it gives the cabinet the power to force public entities to disobey federal laws. The bill also gives the legislature, rather than the courts, authority to decide what is and is not constitutional.

Alberta’s First Nations chiefs have renewed calls for the bill to be scrapped, given Smith’s government’s failure to consult with them on it amid concerns it tramples on treaty rights.

As the chiefs’ backlash mounted, Smith was criticized this week for equating Alberta’s plight with Ottawa to that of the historic mistreatment indigenous peoples have experienced at the hands of the Canadian government.

Smith later said she did not mean it that way and was sorry if anyone took it to suggest she was minimizing the Indigenous experience in Canada.

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Premier Smith comparing Ottawa’s treatment of Alberta to indigenous experience draws criticism

Political scientist Duane Bratt said regardless of opinions on the sovereignty bill, Smith kept her promise to get it done.

“Smith campaigned on this. She said she would do it and they pushed through it,” said Bratt, with Mount Royal University in Calgary.

The house resumes in February ahead of the scheduled May 29 general election.

Polls suggest Smith faces an uphill battle against Notley’s NDP.

Bratt said while the session passed $2.8 billion in inflation-fighting relief for Albertans, polls indicate Smith’s government is still viewed as not on the same page as public priorities to fix bogged-down hospitals and address daily needs.

“They passed the sovereignty bill, but it’s not in the best interest of Albertans,” he said.

“They have done affordability, but that is not what makes this government alive. What drives this government is to fight Ottawa and re-litigate COVID. “

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Smith unveils plan to tackle Alberta’s affordability crisis

Smith’s government passed a handful of other bills during the session, including a plan for a new independent agency to receive complaints, conduct investigations and hold disciplinary hearings against police.

The government also passed a bill to repeal a law that gave cabinet the power to unilaterally yank up the master agreement with Alberta’s doctors.

The UCP used that legislation in early 2020 to end the existing agreement with the Alberta Medical Association and introduce its own plan.

That move ignited years of bitterness among the doctors that is only now cooling with the recent announcement of a new shared agreement.

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