EDMONTON—One of Alberta’s deputy premiers has suggested the province would be open to amendments to its controversial Sovereignty Act.
Premier Danielle Smith’s cornerstone bill has been slammed as an attack on the rule of law and an example of government overreach since it was introduced Tuesday. Critics have said the bill — described by the government as an attempt to push back against federal encroachment — could give the province powers normally reserved for emergencies, wherein cabinet ministers could unilaterally change legislation behind closed doors.
Debate spilled onto Twitter where Irfan Sabir, the NDP justice critic, said the act would allow “cabinet to modify or suspend or re-rewrite laws as they see fit.”
Kaycee Madu, one of Alberta’s two deputy premiers, responded to Sabir’s criticism on Twitter on Thursday, saying that cabinet “has the responsibility on behalf of government to put forward new bills, rewrite or amend laws by tabling a bill.”
“In the case of a statute, it always has to be tabled before the Assembly as a bill for debate and passage. Nothing changed that process in Bill 1.”
However, Madu added: “We will consider amendment(s) to Bill 1 to clarify this to avoid confusion.”
The Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, as it is fully named, on Tuesday became the first bill tabled under the Smith government.
The act would allow the UCP government to bring forward a motion in the provincial legislature identifying a federal initiative or law as unconstitutional or harmful to Alberta.
The motion would identify “a measure or measures” that cabinet “should consider taking.” The motion is non-binding, and “measures” are not explicitly defined in the act.
If the motion were passed, the new powers of the Sovereignty Act would be unlocked, allowing cabinet ministers to begin changing provincial legislation that allowed them to fight back against the federal government, as long as those changes were in line with said motion. Alberta could also direct public entities such as school boards, police services and post-secondary institutions to ignore federal laws.
The government put out a statement Wednesday in an attempt to clear up what it seemed to suggest were some misperceptions about the proposed law.
“In no way does the Sovereignty within a United Canada Act permit cabinet to unilaterally amend legislation without those amendments being first authorized by the legislative assembly,” the new statement said.
“The resolution, including any amendments to legislation, must first be introduced, debated, voted on and passed by the legislative assembly.”
Lisa Young, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, said that clarification looked to her like the government saying, “Yeah, these are extraordinary powers, but don’t worry, we won’t use them to do big things or bad things.”
“If you have to put out a statement clarifying the legislation the day after it’s introduced, you probably haven’t written the legislation well enough,” she said.
The second of Alberta’s two deputy premiers, Nathan Neudorf, told reporters during a media scrum Wednesday, after having voted in favour of the bill right after it was introduced the day before, that he hadn’t actually read it.
After being read a relevant section of concern in the bill by a reporter, Neudorf responded: “So maybe that needs to be debated.”
When asked if he thought his constituents might be concerned that the government could give itself the power to rewrite laws behind closed doors, Neudorf said “I don’t believe that that’s going to happen.”
Brian Jean, the jobs and economy minister, and one of four UCP leadership candidates who held a press conference during the party’s leadership race to condemn Smith’s Sovereignty Act, told reporters Thursday he thought it was, now, “a great bill.”
“This legislation makes us the most democratic province in the entire country,” Jean said at an unrelated news conference.
Kieran Leavitt is an Edmonton-based political reporter for the Toronto Star. Follow him on Twitter: @kieranleavitt
This content was originally published here.
