What is Alberta’s Proposed Sovereignty Act?
Danielle Smith, Alberta’s newly minted premier has identified that her top priority is to protect Alberta’s sovereignty.
To protect Alberta’s sovereignty Smith proposes the drafting of an Alberta Sovereignty Act that would allow Alberta to act as a nation within a nation, as Quebec has done for years.
Ideally, the Alberta Sovereignty Act would uphold the authority of Alberta’s Provincial Legislature to refuse to enforce any Federal law or policy that violates the jurisdictional rights of Albertans under Sections 92 – 95 of the Constitution Act or that breaches Albertan Charter Rights.
Smith’s Vision for Alberta’s Sovereignty Act
If the proposed Sovereignty Act is drafted and enacted according to Smith’s vision, Alberta’s legislature would have the ability to vote against provincial enforcement of federal law or policies that overreach upon Alberta’s jurisdictional rights under the Constitution of Canada or Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms Act.
Smith’s Vision for Executing Alberta’s Sovereignty Act
Smith’s vision for invoking Alberta’s proposed Sovereignty Act could likely be applied in areas such as federal mandatory vaccination policies, freezing bank accounts of peaceful protestors, and production limits on Albertan energy companies.
According to Smith, the proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act could come into effect if the federal government instituted a law or policy that was perceived to violate Alberta’s jurisdictional rights. If this were the case, the Alberta government could introduce a special motion to trigger a free vote for all of Alberta’s MLA’s.
Elaine Allan, BA, MBA
Political & Business Blogger