Alberta’s walls to keep Ottawa out may get built
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has long indicated her government would use hammer, tongs and scalpel to reshape the face of Alberta politics.
It’s a strategy that can be summed up in four words that actually appear now and again in official government documents: “More Alberta, Less Ottawa.”
And it was on full display this week, when Smith unveiled Bill 18, the Provincial Priorities Act, that would block all “provincial entities” such as municipalities, universities and school boards from entering into funding agreements directly with the federal government — unless Smith approved them on a case-by-case basis.
So, it’s more like, “More Danielle Smith’s Alberta, Less Ottawa.”
Smith has modelled her legislation after Quebec’s 40-year-old law introduced by the separatist Parti Québecois that allows the province to act as a gatekeeper between provincial entities and Ottawa.
However, Smith has long bristled at suggestions she is playing with her own variety of Alberta separatism to win concessions from Ottawa.
The premier says she wants to stop the federal government from “imposing their disruptive agenda on Alberta taxpayers.”
The last straw seems to have come when the federal government began announcing, as part of the national Housing Accelerator Fund, deals with Alberta municipalities including $233 million for Calgary and $175 million for Edmonton.
Rubbing salt into Smith’s wound was the fact Prime Minister Trudeau showed up in person to hold splashy news conferences with each of the city’s mayors without popping by the premier’s office to say hello.
“Section 92 of the Constitution says that municipalities fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces,” says Smith. “The terms could not be more clear or more certain and yet, as we’ve come to see far too often, the federal government extends itself too far and interferes in our provincial jurisdiction, and we aren’t the only province to see this and be troubled by it.”
Indeed, a number of other premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford, are irritated by the federal government doing end runs around provincial governments to strike deals with municipalities as Trudeau shows up personally to, metaphorically speaking, hand over a giant cheque.
But no province has since introduced legislation like Alberta’s Provincial Priorities Act.
And thus no other province has provoked angry pushback from provincial entities.
“I don’t know which problem the province is trying to solve,” said Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.
“The system works really well now.”
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek was more blunt, alleging the legislation is “intended to stifle Calgarians’ ability to have their hard-earned tax dollars flow back into their communities.”
Tyler Gandam, president of the organization Alberta Municipalities, which represents 85 per cent of the province’s communities, said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Smith’s actions.
He was surprised because once again the Alberta government — that routinely complains about a lack of consultation from the federal government — did not consult with municipalities or any of its “provincial entities” before unveiling Bill 18.
Smith said her government will now start consulting with municipalities and other entities
The premier brushed aside suggestions she is putting the cart before the horse.
This is on brand for a premier who is happy to consult with cherrypicked stakeholders in some cases while startling others with jack-inthe-box tactics.
Smith met with her own set of experts before revealing proposals for the toughest gender-issue rules for students in the country.
But she didn’t even give a headsup to the renewables industry when she imposed a seven-monthlong moratorium on solar and wind projects.
She seems determined to push ahead with controversial issues including forming a provincial police force, encouraging political parties to contest municipal elections, overhauling the health-care system and most notably setting up an Alberta Pension Plan.
And, when it comes to withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan, Smith’s mantra seems to be “More Alberta, Less Canada.”
When pressed on these types of issues, Smith’s bottom-line response is that she won a mandate in last May’s provincial election.
However, during the campaign she presented herself as a moderate political leader in favour of big-government spending.
She actually refused to discuss contentious issues like a provincial pension plan, saying she had other topics to talk about.
In the aftermath, she didn’t just let the mask slip, she triumphantly tossed it aside.
It’s now more of Smith’s version of Alberta, where the United Conservative Party government is building walls to keep Ottawa out while exercising more partisan political control within.
Those Albertans opposed to Smith’s policies are disorganized, powerless or otherwise engaged.
The Alberta NDP might be the largest Opposition in the province’s history — with leader Rachel Notley calling Bill 18 “a partisan, petulant temper tantrum on the part of this premier” — but it’s enmeshed in a leadership race to replace Notley.
Smith is running relatively strong in opinion polls and has been on the winning side of several constitutional court cases against the federal government.
She has also emerged as one of the leaders in the fight against the federal price on carbon.
And the next Alberta election is three years away.
Despite what happens in the federal election set for late next year, Smith has plenty of time and political capital to continue her march toward a more isolated and insular Alberta.