Because the Forever Canadian initiative has been so successful more people see this as a way to resist the UCP. For example Corb Lund's attempt to get a referendum vote on the disastrous coal mine leases. This is what has the UCP scrambling. But they can only stop future citizen initiatives. The Forever Canadian question "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" has been approved. By law, it must lead either to a vote in the Legislature or a referendum and there's nothing the UCP can to stop it. Well, there is one thing: a general election. When the writ is dropped, the referendum question dies, and so do all the recall campaigns. This is why it is extremely likely that we will go to an election soon.
I'm happy that Polievre may get the comeuppance he so richly deserves, and the CPC may sink further into irrelevance. But there's a bigger point here: the LPC is now openly the real conservative party--it has been for a very long time, but they succeeded to some degree in making people believe they were "progressive"--and further, thanks to these desertions they are now very close to having a majority of seats. (I hope the people who voted for the floor crossers have learned their lesson). If the Liberals do get a majority, they should do the decent thing and call an election, because nobody voted for this.
This is part of the Free Alberta Strategy, penned in 2021 by Smith's right-hand man Rob Anderson, UofC political science prof and climate change denialist Barry Cooper, and someone called David From. The Sovereignty Act is also in there. Smith has clearly been trying to implement the strategy from day one. For those who are curious, freealbertastrategy.com .
The consequences for those who think they are protected are clear: they will be charged starting in October of 2026 (so much for "law-abiding gun owners"), and the RCMP is not in a bind. They will simply do their job. Smith is bringing this up now because her government is crumbling and she needs the crazy fan base more than ever.
If they intend to exempt the pipeline from the FIsheries Act, the Species at Risk Act and the Impact Assessment Act the First Nations would not accept it - unless they bribe them with the offer of co-ownership, which is what I suspect that's about.
Please don't anyone ever tell me again Carney is sensitive to the perils of climate change.
Hopefully the pipeline will never get built because it requires private financing. And it should be made clear that neither government is to offer loan guarantees or buy equity in the pipeline, like Jason Kenney did with Keystone XL.
The author tries hard to excuse Peter Lougheed but the fact is that it was his idea to begin with. If he thought it should require a two thirds majority then he should have fought to have that written into the Constitution. Opinions are irrelevant. The fact is that the Notwithstanding Clause exists because the premiers wanted politicians to be the ultimate arbiters of what rights and freedoms should be and not the courts. It is doing exactly what it was intended to do. I know of no other country that has a Constitution and gives politicians the ability to ignore it. I am tired of being told it's up to voters to correct this sort of thing. No, it isn't, for several reasons. Even if we vote down a government that abuses the Notwithstanding Clause, it will still be there and there is absolutely no guarantee it won't be abused in the future. The Notwithstanding Clause has to be eliminated by a constitutional amendment, permanently. And that is the politicians' responsibility, not the voters'.
Because the Forever Canadian initiative has been so successful more people see this as a way to resist the UCP. For example Corb Lund's attempt to get a referendum vote on the disastrous coal mine leases. This is what has the UCP scrambling. But they can only stop future citizen initiatives. The Forever Canadian question "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" has been approved. By law, it must lead either to a vote in the Legislature or a referendum and there's nothing the UCP can to stop it. Well, there is one thing: a general election. When the writ is dropped, the referendum question dies, and so do all the recall campaigns. This is why it is extremely likely that we will go to an election soon.