File Photo (Image Credit: The Canadian Press)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Smith’s Sovereignty Act gambit a sad omen for democracy

Dec 2, 2022 | 9:00 AM

I THOUGHT B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY was being dictatorial in his plans to force municipalities to bend to the province in dealing with building affordable housing, absolving strata councils of the right to set their own rules regarding the way they want to live, taking over the management of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and pushing the courts to change bail restrictions for prolific offenders.

Just in those decisions, without proper debate in the legislature, without proper discussion among policymakers to vet the plans, all point to a heavy-handed approach to government that should give us all cause for concern. I had enough fodder to give me enough material at least until the spring.

Much of that, however, was pushed aside by the announcement of the Sovereignty Act in Alberta.

Premier Danielle Smith says she wants to protect her province’s future. A noble thought, but she wants to do it at the expense of democracy. She wants to become an all-powerful dictator who, with her cabinet, can decide anything and everything about what goes on in the province.

Duane Bratt from Mount Royal in Calgary referred to it as Henry VIIIth style government. Smith’s plan would give the cabinet — not the legislature but the cabinet — the power to change virtually any law in the province. The act would allow the cabinet to change any past or present laws at its whim. Normally, jurisdictional disputes are settled in court, but this act puts everything in the hands of a small group of people.

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Bratt told CTV News the cabinet could tell industry they didn’t need to collect the carbon tax or tell police they don’t have to enforce current gun laws. The act is quite possibly illegal; it is at the very least immoral.

Bratt, rightly so, speculates that this is a test of wills between Smith and Prime Minister Trudeau over the oil industry. Albertans have been living in the past under false pretenses, ignorant of reality, blindly clinging to the belief that the revenue from fossil fuels can continue forever without concern for the environment. And they are countering with the idea that they want to continue the revenue stream that has brought them so many dollars in the past.

They have been living a dream. That dream is coming to an end.

But as they sink into the ground, they are sticking one last finger of defiance in the air.

To bypass every level of government, including your own, is an act that cannot be tolerated.

Right now, it seems to me that Danielle Smith has spent too much time studying the Donald Trump school of government, where power is put into the hands of too few at the expense of too many.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.