Surprise, Danielle Smith's sovereignty act is very likely constitutional

[The_Foxer]

Carson Jerema: Surprise, Danielle Smith's sovereignty act is very likely constitutional

Provinces are not obligated to enforce federal laws

nationalpost.com

A very interesting read. The provinces are the ones who hire and pay for the police - so i'm wondering how 'enforcement' works federally if the province won't. This whole subject hasn't gotten a lot of discussion here but it's actually extremely interesting, and the feds may find that there's a few provinces who might want some of what quebec gets in the way of special treatment moving forward.

 

[Dixie Cup]

I'm not surprised. The way it was explained to me was that it was just a document emphasizing the various jurisdictions are responsible for and that Alberta is under no obligation to enforce Federal edicts that are under Provincial jurisdiction. It just makes it clear to politicians what our rights as a Province entail.

At the time that I received the explanation, it was still a "work in progress" and it sounds as though they've strengthened the good parts and eliminated the ones that weren't necessary (& possibly not legal). There is nothing "unconstitutional" about this Act because it merely states what our Province is entitled to do on our own without interference from the Feds.

I think it's a good idea and more provinces should do it so that their citizens can clearly understand what their rights are under the Constitution. Saskatchewan is (apparently) considering their own as well. Good on them.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Many prominent people evidently believe Alberta’s concerns are greedy or trivial or both, but they invariably overlook the unrestrained Trudeau Liberal stomping of Alberta’s rights, seen most starkly in their biggest ever quagmire of red tape, Bill C-69, Ottawa’s new process for assessing new industrial projects such as pipelines.

It’s a law so offensive to provincial rights that Alberta Chief Justice Catherine Fraser has ruled C-69 represents a clear and present danger to constitutional order. “Through this legislative scheme, Parliament has taken a wrecking ball to the constitutional right of the citizens of Alberta and Saskatchewan and other provinces to have their natural resources developed for their benefit. And in doing so, it has also taken a wrecking ball to something else — and that is the likelihood of capital investment in projects vital to the economy of individual provinces.”

Smith has wisely boiled down such constitutional distress to one basic concept, that Alberta and other provinces and Quebec should get equal treatment, which she brought up again on Tuesday while talking to reporters.

David Staples: Sovereignty act dead on arrival? Far from it. Instead, it's a game changer — Edmonton Journal

The sovereignty act has been blasted harshly but I wonder if part of the furious criticism isn't driven by a dislike of the assertive and confident reframing of Alberta as sovereign

apple.news

Smith cited a Canadian Taxpayer Federation report stating that when the carbon tax is fully implemented Albertans will pay 37 cents of carbon tax per litre of gasoline while Quebecers will pay just 23 cents per litre. “These are the kind of things that the federal government does all the time, and in my view I don’t think that’s constitutional. I don’t think that’s legitimate for them to have one set of rules that applies to Quebec and a different set of rules that apply to the rest of us.”

In this way, Smith is building up a sovereign frame of mind in Alberta. This same process of explaining in simple terms and selling Alberta as sovereign will happen noisily and repeatedly, every time the sovereignty act comes up, and certainly when it’s finally invoked here. In this way, the sovereignty act will prove out as a game changer for public opinion.