Editor:
Danielle Smith just gave Rachel Notley an early Christmas present-a big one. The Alberta Sovereignty Act.
There is considerable concern about what this will look like. Will it impact investors and create a stumbling block in attracting more skilled workers into our province with the uncertainty it creates? It could.
The act itself gives Smith sweeping powers to ignore federal legislation and laws that she says would be harmful to Alberta, as well as exerting the right to control municipalities, health/hospital boards, and anyone who administers provincial programs. Some of this form has already been inferred by mentioning provincial funding and the need to stay in her good books.
Smith’s first underlying priority is a fight with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Why this confrontational attitude seems to be such a benchmark of Albertan's political landscape seems to me to create an untenable situation right out of the block.
A previous advisor for Jason Kenney calls it “a family bun fight.” If anyone has ever been in one, you know where that can end up. He says investors aren’t concerned about that, but rather are more “focused on tax rates and talent attraction.”
Remember when Kenney didn’t think dismissing the significance of climate action would affect investors with what he called “the flavour of the day.”
Smith says she wants to put the feds in their place. It seems like she wants to be the big head honcho without having to move to Ottawa. It’s almost like she doesn't acknowledge where the big bucks come from.
The fact that the other contenders for the head of the UCP, and who vehemently opposed the proposal of an Alberta Sovereignty Act are now key cabinet ministers in Smith’s government makes me wonder where else the party will go, following the Pied Piper.
This cavilling attitude could however be her downfall. Don Martin, in a piece he wrote for CTV news said, “Smith has gone straight from the political altar to a divorce from common sense – and her out-of-the-gate antics suggest she could soon claim the title of Albertans briefest premier.”
Marilyn Foxford,
Canmore
