ALBERTA THE LAND OF THE FREE
The province of Alberta is known and loved by millions for its natural beauty. It's landscape is a rich variety of open plains, rugged mountains, forests and lakes. It is home to North America’s largest mountain range. Dinosaurs once roamed this province and have left their remains. Adventure-seekers from all over Canada flock to Alberta, especially to Banff and Jasper's spectacular national parks.
However, Alberta is known for more than just its natural beauty. There is something else about Alberta that stands out among Canadian provinces. Alberta screams freedom!
Alberta is known for its conservatism and its libertarian values. It is known for its rugged independence and its many historical stands against the policies of the Federal Liberal government in Ottawa. Alberta is the home of Rebel News. It is the home of the Freedom Convoy Truckers movement. It is the Canadian heartland for social conservatism and political conservatism.
Political conservatism is presently in power under the leadership of premier Mrs. Danielle Smith. Previous to her, Albertans remembered struggling under Covid rolling lock-downs, discrimination, segregation, and confinement, but now, Albertans have broken free.
Prior to being the leader of the United Conservatives and being premier of Alberta, Smith was a journalist and then the leader of the Wild Rose party. In October, 2022 she won the leadership race for the United Conservative Party and then became premier.
From the moment Smith stepped into the position of premier, the gloves have been off and she is leading a province-wide push-back against the Trudeau/Singh government, a push-back which is growing in its momentum.
This push-back has been most evident with the passing of the landmark legislation, “The Sovereignty Act.” This legislation was passed on December 8, 2022. This Act seeks to protect the common Albertan man, woman and child from Federal legislation that would harm, abuse, take advantage of, or exploit them. It purposes to especially protect them in areas such as natural resources, gun control, COVID-19, public health, education, and agriculture. It boldly directs "political entities"—which include municipalities, municipal police forces, school boards, and regional health authorities— to not enforce "federal rules deemed harmful to Alberta's interests."
How could such an Act nullify a Federal law? It is proposed that the Act would be triggered when a member of the executive council tables a motion in the legislative assembly which would identify a specific federal law or policy that may be considered to be unconstitutional, that is, in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or if it was outside of the jurisdiction of the Federal government. The provincial legislative assembly would then vote on whether or not to expunge that Federal law. This is meant to reign in the Federal government and keep it from abusing its authority, exploiting common Albertans and to stop it from trying to govern in matters of provincial jurisdiction.
This bold legislation is truly historic. What is coming next?
Although she supported it, and brought it into law, the Sovereignty Act was not the idea of Danielle Smith. Where did the idea come from? It is apart of a larger strategy known as “Free Alberta Strategy” from the Alberta Institute. This organization is a liberty-loving political think-tank which seeks to advance freedom in Alberta and to protect Albertans from Federal overreach. It is important to acknowledge that Danielle Smith has not officially committed to implementing all of the Alberta Strategy, but she is very aware of it, is a friend of the Alberta Institute and has interviewed them before.
The Free Alberta Strategy is a multi-layered strategy that includes proposals such as:
1) Replacing Federal RCMP police forces with local police forces that are directly answerable to the provincial government.
2) Pass an Alberta independent Banking Act
3) Pass an Equalization And Termination And Tax Collection Act
4) Alberta Pension Plan and Alberta Unemployment Insurance
5) Pass an Alberta Judicial Independence Activities
6) Establish International Relations and Trade
Let's now consider these more closely in the words of Free Alberta Strategy.
1)Replacing Federal RCMP police forces with local police forces that are directly answerable to the provincial government.
The Province also has recognized authority28 over all policing in the province, though it has contracted, at this point in time, the federally-controlled RCMP to exercise this power in most of the Province’s rural and smaller communities. It is proposed that the Alberta government terminate its contract with the RCMP immediately and replace rural policing in the province with an Alberta provincial police force, accountable to the Solicitor General of Alberta. All municipal police forces (i.e., Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, etc.) already operate under provincial authority. This reform would ensure the Province controls all aspects of law enforcement against the person.
(Free Alberta Strategy)
2)Pass an Alberta Independent Banking Act
The Free Alberta Strategy proposes passage of the Alberta Independent Banking Act, which would include the following initiatives: 1. Expanding the number of provincially regulated financial institutions and credit unions; 2. Promoting private ownership of these new financial institutions; and 3. Mandating that all provincially regulated financial institutions and credit unions (including ATB) remain compliant with the Alberta Sovereignty Act as it relates to the non-enforcement of federal laws and court decisions deemed to infringe unduly on Alberta’s provincial jurisdiction.
...
(Free Alberta Strategy)
3)Pass an Equalization And Termination And Tax Collection Act
The Free Alberta Strategy proposes passage of the Equalization Termination and Tax Collection Act. This piece of legislation would: 1. Establish the “Alberta Revenue Agency” to collect all provincial taxes; 2. Create the Office of the Alberta Public Sector Employer (“APSE”), which would become the official payor of all Alberta public sector employees. There would be no changes [of] to any collective bargaining agreements, salaries, pensions, or other benefits for these workers as negotiated by their current provincially funded public employers. The only change would be that the APSE would become the provincial agency issuing their paycheck (much like a private corporation paying its staff through an independent payroll company). The APSE would then remit these withholdings to the Alberta Revenue Agency. 3. Permit any private corporation banking with ATB or other provincially regulated financial institution the option of transferring all federal source deductions collected from their employees directly to the Alberta Revenue Agency, instead of the CRA. 4. Mandate that instead of remitting all of the federal tax withholdings 27 collected from private companies and the APSE to the CRA, the Alberta Revenue Agency would instead transfer an amount equal to that of the equalization and federal transfers the federal Government collected from Alberta during that year to the Alberta Treasury and, any surplus remaining thereafter, to the CRA. 5. Opt Alberta out of all federal transfer and other programs that interfere and seek to influence policy in any areas of provincial jurisdiction (i.e., the Canada Health Act, Federal Heath Transfer, education transfers, national daycare program funding, etc.), and officially request the transfer of our population’s share of these federal programming dollars, either through an annual ‘no-strings-attached’ federal transfer amount (based strictly on a per-capita population basis) or, preferably, through the transfer of tax points from Albertans’ federal tax rate to Alberta’s provincial tax rate. If the federal government refuses Alberta’s request, the Alberta Treasury would, using the same method described in the previous paragraphs, increase the amount of federal tax withholdings it retains by those same amounts.
(Free Alberta Strategy)
4)Alberta Pension Plan and Alberta Unemployment Insurance
Over the past 10 years, Alberta’s hardworking and comparatively young population has contributed approximately $28 billion more into the CPP than Alberta pensioners have received back in benefits,41 which is an annual cost of nearly $3 billion. This inequity is a substantial portion of the roughly $20 billion in equalization formula and net federal transfers drained from the Province each year.42 There is absolutely no reason for Alberta’s continued participation in the CPP. ...
Properly planned and managed, opting out of the CPP in favour of an Alberta Pension Plan, and replacing EI with an Alberta Unemployment Insurance Plan, would result in a combination of higher benefits for our seniors and those facing unemployment, and lower contribution rates from the paychecks of Alberta workers, thereby benefiting Alberta families to the tune of hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars each year. These are long overdue reforms.
Pass an Alberta Judicial Independence Activities
(Free Alberta Strategy)
5)Pass an Alberta Judicial Independence Activities
The Alberta Judicial Independence Act, which would mandate as follows: 1. The Alberta government shall appoint all future judicial appointments serving in the Province of Alberta (Provincial, Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeal); 2. No future federal judicial appointees will be employed by the Province of Alberta at any court level. Current judges and justices would be ‘grandfathered’ and remain fully employed on the Bench thereby ensuring continuity and recognizing their historical respect for the constitutional rights of Alberta; and 3. The Province would establish a Provincial Tax Court to enforce all provincial tax collection and enforcement activities within the Province of Alberta free from any interference by federal tax courts and the CRA
(Free Alberta Strategy)
6) Establish International Relations and Trade
The Free Alberta Strategy calls on the Government of Alberta to fund and empower its Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs to: 1. Negotiate and implement mutually beneficial bilateral trade and market access arrangements with other provinces, states and 33 nations that result in Alberta gaining full access to all domestic and international markets, including to and through the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans; 2. Work closely with industry on ways to reduce risks associated with the construction of export pipelines and other market access projects; and 3. Work alongside the Government of Canada at any international negotiations of agreements that affect Alberta’s interests. Should the federal government sign on to an agreement that harms Alberta’s interests, Alberta’s Intergovernmental Affairs Minister must alert the Provincial Legislature, and request that it trigger use of the Alberta Sovereignty Act, thereby ensuring the Province will not recognize the validity of that agreement as it affects Alberta; and further, that Alberta will not enforce any federal law or regulation in the province related thereto.
(Free Alberta Strategy)
The above mentioned proposals were put together by legal experts and represent a path forward in Alberta's struggle to be free. Each will likely have to be defended at a supreme court level. However, they represent a path forward.
In the mean time, what has Danielle Smith committed to do?
Here is some of her platform:
-Defending Alberta’s rights under the Canadian constitution
-Accessing federal funding, without strings, to meet Albertan’s needs, values and priorities
-Pushing back against federal programs that create hardships for farmers and ranchers
-Developing stronger relationships with other provinces and territories for areas of cooperation and mutual economic prosperity
-Index all provincial tax brackets retroactive to 2022 resulting in larger rebates on taxes
-Provide an additional $200 per home in rebates on consumer electricity bills and limit spikes in winter electricity rates. Continue natural gas rebate program
-$600 over 6 months to parents for each child under 18 and to every senior (household incomes under $180,000)
-Suspend the provincial fuel tax for at least six month and make the fuel relief program permanent thereafter
-Creating conditions to grow industries, businesses, and job opportunities
-Enhancing trade infrastructure and agreements
-Reducing barriers to interprovincial trade for agriculture and food production
-Continued leadership in hydrogen and petrochemicals and development in helium, lithium, liquefied natural gas, geothermal energy, and minerals
-Developing strategies to address labour market gaps
-Taking action to improve health care delivery and health outcomes
-Improving EMS response times and cut emergency wait times
-Improving access to primary care and address staffing challenges, especially in rural areas
-Reducing wait times for surgeries
Taken from https://www.unitedconservative.ca/
There was a provincial election on May 29 in Alberta. Smith won it big! Alberta's potential is incredible. The floodgates of freedom and prosperity will open wide. If the NDP had won, the Sovereignty Act would have been repealed. Alberta screams freedom! Go Danielle Smith! It is time for reform.
Shawn Stevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Sovereignty_Within_a_United_Canada_Act
https://www.freealbertastrategy.com
https://www.unitedconservative.ca/
https://albertapolitics.ca/2023/04/ndp-would-repeal-sovereignty-act-restore-balance-to-workplace-law-christina-gray-tells-afl-convention/
https://www.travelalberta.com/