Alberta’s legislature has passed Premier Danielle Smith’s controversial Sovereignty Act, but not before removing the provision that gave Smith’s cabinet the power to skip the legislature and rewrite laws as it sees fit.
Smith’s united Conservative caucus used its majority Wednesday night to pass an amendment to state that the Alberta legislature still has the final say on the legislation.
The bill then went straight to third and final reading and passed around 1 a.m. Thursday, with cabinet members standing to applaud after clearing the legislative hurdle end
The final vote was split 27 to 7 along party lines, with Smith’s UCP voting in favor and the opposition NDP voting against.
Smith, speaking about the bill at third reading, said it’s time to reset the relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
“It’s not like Ottawa is a national government,” Smith said.
“The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign and independent jurisdictions. They are one of those signatories to the Constitution and the rest of us, as signatories to the Constitution, have the right to exercise our sovereign powers at our expense.areas of jurisdiction”.
And, yes, for the record, if we form a government, we will act to repeal this horrible anti-democratic legislation. #Yeg
—@RachelNotley
The next elections are scheduled for May 29.
The NDP voted against the amendment and the bill in all three readings, calling the legislation “an express mess” of unconstitutional presumptions and capricious provincial powers that offend the democratic process and hold back business investment.
“People don’t like it”
NDP Deputy Leader Sarah Hoffman said the UCP had to use its majority to stifle debate in three stages of debate on the bill to pass just over a week after Smith introduced it to a growing opposition.
“People don’t like it. That’s why you’re trying to push it through here in the middle of the night,” Hoffman said.
“This [bill] it erodes democracy, hurts our economy, and hurts our national and international reputation.”
Immediately after the vote, NDP Leader Rachel Notley tweeted that an NDP government would repeal the legislation, calling it “undemocratic.” (Chris Wattie/Reuters)
The bill was introduced by Smith as central legislation to pursue a more confrontational approach with the Trudeau government on a number of issues that are considered overreach in areas of provincial responsibility.
The bill faced widespread criticism from the start over provisions that gave Smith and his cabinet broad powers to rewrite legislation. Smith initially denied the bill had such authority, but as outrage grew, he announced over the weekend that changes would be coming.
The vote on the amendment also passed along party lines. Before that vote, Notley told the chamber that while the bill effectively revokes the cabinet’s power to rewrite laws, an accompanying change narrowing the definition of federal harm was still worded too ambiguously to be effective
Debate cut off
Notley also said there are glaring flaws in the bill, as it says the legislature, not the courts, decides what is and isn’t constitutional.
And he said the bill still gives broad and undefined powers to the cabinet to direct municipalities, health regions, schools and city police forces to resist the implementation of federal laws.
Notley said, on top of that, Smith did not consult treaty chiefs before introducing the bill and said it would “absolutely set fire to the important nation-to-nation relationship that should exist between this prime minister and the leaders of the treaties.”
The UCP passed motions in the last three stages of the bill to limit debate.
These measures are allowed to balance the discussion with keeping the business of the house moving.
Government House Leader Joseph Schow said Bill 1 received about 18 hours of debate, which he called a healthy total, especially considering the NDP said it wouldn’t work for improve the project.
“There comes a point when the same message is repeated over and over again,” Schow said.
First Nations chiefs urge Alberta, Sask., to scrap provincial bills of rights
Earlier Wednesday in Ottawa, First Nations chiefs from Alberta and Saskatchewan called for both provinces to scrap their respective provincial rights bills, calling them inherently undemocratic, unconstitutional and a violation of indigenous rights.
Treaty 6 Chief Tony Alexis of Alberta’s Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation said there has been no consultation or dialogue with First Nations around Alberta’s bill and said it could set a precedent harmful
On Wednesday afternoon, Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson told reporters that while Bill 1 specifies that treaty rights are respected, he has listened to leaders’ concerns and will work to address- the
Wilson said the title of the bill itself, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, is problematic.
“Of course, I’ve been on the phone with First Nations leaders across the province and a lot of the concerns are around calling it the Sovereignty Act. Like, what does that mean?” said Wilson.
“To be fair, there’s not much clarification on what that means. Should we have made more inquiries? Absolutely.”