Roundup: The Sovereignty Act is an attack on democracy itself

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Alberta premier Danielle Smith tabled her “Alberta Sovereignty in a United Canada Act” yesterday, and it was worse than anyone had previously imagined.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1597736239960297473

For starters, the “in a united Canada” part is an attempt to be clever in trying to insist that this isn’t about separatism, but that’s mere window dressing. (I also suspect that it’s not much of a coincidence that just days ago, conservative luminary Ken Boessenkool declared Stephen Harper’s “The Québécois are a nation within a united Canada” motion to be a genius unifying move, never mind the fact that just who “the Québécois” were was never defined and created rifts with Anglo-Quebeckers). The substance of this bill is a wholesale power grab using the most extreme form of a Henry VIII clause known as enabling legislation. In this case, it allows Cabinet to amend any legislation they see fit to after being given a mandate by way of a resolution passed by the legislature (where they have a comfortable majority). Smith and her justice minister, Tyler Shandro, kept insisting that this resolution process was democratic and transparent, but this kind of enabling legislation is anything but, particularly because it allows Cabinet to define the terms of what they deem “injurious to Alberta’s interests,” or whatever the excuse they’re giving themselves to take these powers. It violates the separation of powers by declaring federal legislation to be null and void in the province, and directs police not to enforce federal laws, which is an attack on the rule of law.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1597732003411267584

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1597761564257701888

Smith justified the need for such powers as saying that Alberta has been “ignored” by the federal government for the past ten years, which is a) complete bullshit, and b) that’s not a justifiable reason to give yourself the power to ignore the legislative process. She insisted this was just defending rights like Quebec does, but Quebec doesn’t do this. Her list of grievances was largely all strawmen—the incoming emission cap on the oil and gas sector, the plan to reduce fertilizer emissions, environmental assessment legislation, and the worst affront of all—that the federal government would dare to try to attach strings to federal dollars. How very dare they! But this kind of mendacious grievance-mongering is how politics has been practice in the province for years now, so it’s not unexpected that this is what she would fall back to.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1597733033754386434

Smith’s apologists immediately came out to defend the bill saying that it’s “symbolic” and Smith herself was insisting she doesn’t want it to be used. That’s all horseshit. You don’t give yourself very real enabling legislation powers for “symbolic” reasons if you don’t intend to use it. The federal government has largely been signalling that they won’t be engaging, though I wouldn’t be surprised if, now that we’ve seen the text and the huge overreach, that they would refer this to the Supreme Court of Canada so fast that it will give you whiplash. While this could be Smith imagining that it’s a fight she wants, I have severe doubts that it would give her the legitimacy in a fight that she so desperately wants.

As this was all going down, Jason Kenney announced that he had resigned his seat, with a letter attached that bemoaned how polarized politics had become—after he spent 25 years actively engaging in that very polarizing behaviour and driving it to partisan effect. The kicker here is that Kenney was vehemently opposed to the proposed Sovereignty Act, and planned to oppose it in the legislature, but as soon as the bill is tabled, whoops, there he goes. I can’t quite decide if this is weaselly behaviour, or Kenney being a chicken shit. Either way, it was a choice.

https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1597741099971641344

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 280:

NATO foreign ministers met in Bucharest, Romania, and have pledged additional non-lethal support with things like more blankets and generators to help Ukrainians to get through the winter, but also to send them Patriot missiles. The Americans announced $53 million to buy parts to help repair the electrical grid. Inside Ukraine, “Points of Invincibility” have bene set up which are stations to get food, drinks, and warmth as the shelling of critical infrastructure continues.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1597661671560024067

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says he supports the rights of protesters in China to free speech.
  • The government has launched an external review of whistle-blower legislation.
  • Canada is working with G7 partners to coordinate war crimes investigations in Ukraine.
  • RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says there was no evidence of foreign interference in the 2019 election, but there are ongoing investigations.
  • The AFN is concerned that the new official languages bill would create even more barriers for Indigenous people taking up leadership positions in federal institutions.
  • Here is an explainer about why the Bank of Canada lost money in the last quarter, and the downside of quantitative easing, and why it’s mostly an accounting issue.
  • Senators are making amendments to the broadcasting bill, including strengthening privacy provisions.
  • The three PQ MNAs still haven’t sworn their oath to the King and plan to try and take their seats in the next couple of days so that they can make a scene.
  • Doug Ford’s public sector wage cap legislation (which was really a legislated pay cut) was struck down in court, but of course, Ford vows to appeal.
  • Ontario’s integrity commissioner is being asked to investigate all of the very curious coincidences between developers buying Greenbelt land before it was opened up.
  • Kevin Carmichael gives his take on the better-than-expected quarterly GDP numbers, and what that is signalling to the Bank of Canada.
  • Paul Wells does some original reporting on the firings at the National Gallery and the drama that is taking place behind the scenes there.
  • My column looks at how provinces are able to escape responsibility for things in their jurisdiction because legacy media dismisses blame-shifting as “squabbling.”

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: The Sovereignty Act is an attack on democracy itself”

  1. The action by Danielle Smith in the Alberta legislature is another step along the path to authoritarian government. The fascists who hold the view that the government can dictate without debate their desire for absolute power must be crushed at every turn. My fear is that again the stupidity and ignorance of the herd will not heed the danger until too late and then they will experience the horror that the freedom that democracy gives them now is irretrievably lost. Awake! Awake! Our society is on the cusp! Do you really think enough are listening?

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