Welland Tribune e-edition

Trudeau mustn’t take Smith’s bait

ANDREW PHILLIPS ANDREW PHILLIPS IS A TORSTAR COLUMNIST.

Back in the day, when Quebec separatism was still a thing, the legendary comedian Yvon Deschamps used to get a big laugh by joking that what Quebecers really wanted was “an independent Quebec in a strong and united Canada.”

Now along comes Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, with her “Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act.” Who knew she had such a sense of humour?

But while Deschamps appreciated the absurdity of combining two fundamentally contradictory things, Smith seems to be quite serious. Perhaps she thinks tacking the words “United Canada” onto the name somehow softens the effect.

It doesn’t. Whatever the name, and whatever assurances Smith’s government offers about the Alberta sovereignty act, it would in fact upend Canada’s constitutional order.

It would allow the Alberta government to decide on its own, without reference to the courts, if a federal law was “harmful” to the province’s interests. And if it so decided, it could refuse to enforce that law on its territory. Further, it could order any provincial entities (municipalities, police forces, universities and so on) to ignore the federal law.

That’s bad enough. If it was actually enforced, the law would nullify the authority of Ottawa in areas of its own jurisdiction — not just classic Alberta issues like energy, but even some parts of the Criminal Code, such as legislation on gun control. Quebec sovereigntists must be kicking themselves that they didn’t think of this when they held power.

But it gets worse, at least for Albertans themselves. The version of the bill introduced this week goes further than Smith had signalled when she was running for the leadership of Alberta’s United Conservative Party. It includes a power grab that would make even Doug Ford jealous.

The sovereignty act doesn’t just challenge Ottawa. Section 4 would also give Alberta’s cabinet unilateral power to amend laws in areas where it decides the province’s interests are threatened by federal measures. The cabinet could do that on its own, without all the messy business involved in going back to the legislature to approve its decisions. The act also puts stricter limits on Albertans’ rights to challenge such cabinet rulings in court.

The irony here is that in the name of protecting Albertans from overreach by Ottawa, Smith proposes to strip them of protection from overreach by their own provincial government. Her bill would delegate powers to Alberta’s cabinet of a sort that are usually used only in emergencies.

Even before that part of the law was made public, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney called the whole idea of the sovereignty act “catastrophically stupid” and warned it would “shred the rule of law.” And this from a man who had already embarked on his own aggressive “Alberta First” policy before being knifed by supporters who didn’t think he was going far enough. Smith is pushing Kenney’s own logic even further — past the breaking point.

This is bad for Alberta and bad for Canada, but the good news is that Smith’s motives are transparently, even laughably, political. Facing a provincial election May 29, she’s flailing around like a bad drunk in a bar, looking to provoke someone into a fight.

That someone is the Trudeau government. She knows her best chance to be re-elected is to lure the federal Liberals into a confrontation and pose as the champion of Alberta rights. In that sense this isn’t a serious law, but a bit of political theatre designed to gin up support among voters who don’t know or care about the details.

Obviously, the federal government should not walk into that trap.

The federal Liberals should keep their cool no matter what provocations the Smith government sends their way over the next few months. They should refuse to play the role she’s scripted for them in her little re-election drama. Because what’s at stake is no joking matter.

OPINION

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2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://wellandtribune.pressreader.com/article/281556589852274

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