The new leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) and, since Tuesday, Premier, Danielle Smith, won the leadership race of her party by promising to introduce a bill on Alberta sovereignty.
The use of the term sovereignty, a concept at the heart of the Parti Québécois project since the end of the 1960s, can lead to confusion. We cannot see in Danielle Smith an emulator of René Lévesque. It is not for the Prime Minister to promote any secession, which does not correspond to the inclinations of most Albertans. This sovereignty is indeed that of a province, in its fields of jurisdiction, a form of neo-autonomism, according to political scientist from the University of Alberta Frédéric Boily. This is the model implemented by the Legault government, ultimately.
Danielle Smith took up the expression of the Premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe, by affirming that his province, with this law on sovereignty, will be able to behave like “a nation within a nation”. But it is rather a regionalism based on the defense of economic interests, in particular the pursuit of the exploitation of hydrocarbons, and not a nationalism of an identity nature as in Quebec.
Some have seen in this bill a constitutional bomb… and above all an unconstitutional one. Outgoing Prime Minister Jason Kenney called the idea “crazy”. In fact, it is still unclear how such a law would apply. It would allow the province to refuse to submit to a federal law or a judgment of the Court if they are contrary to the interests of Alberta or if it is an illegal intrusion into its fields of jurisdiction. It would be up to the elected members of the Alberta Legislative Assembly to pass a special motion to that effect. According to the summary description of the eventual bill, the federal government would then have to go to court to settle the dispute.
Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court that would have the last word, should we understand. Danielle Smith’s top adviser said Monday that once the bill is in place, Alberta will continue to abide by Supreme Court rulings. The bomb is turning into a wet firecracker.
As seen when Trudeau Sr. was in charge, a strong resentment towards the federal government developed in the western provinces, resentment linked to the exploitation of oil and gas resources. The son seems to follow in the footsteps of the father. At the time, it was about the ownership of these natural resources and the income they generated. Today, it is the control that Ottawa intends to exercise over these resources because of the fight against climate change.
If ever this bill on this provincial sovereignty sees the light of day, it will come late. Already, the Supreme Court, in its judgment last year on the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, stripped the provinces of their exclusive jurisdiction in the matter in the name of the “national interest” and Ottawa’s power to make laws for “peace, order and good government”. We are in the era of progressive, cooperative federalism, which is deployed to the detriment of the powers reserved for the provinces. A federalism of supervision, according to the expression of a dissenting judge in this case, Russell Brown.
According to the columnist of Globe and Mail John Ibbitson, the “aggressive federalism” practiced by the Trudeau government pissed off Alberta, while the “passive federalism” of Stephen Harper had calmed things down, including with Quebec.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba, two provinces with Conservative governments, share Alberta’s grievances. It lacks major support: that of Ontario and Conservative Premier Doug Ford. He too was opposed to the Trudeau government’s carbon tax, but since the Supreme Court ruling, he seems to have lost interest in the matter. It must be said that the Prime Minister of Ontario has a good game. Justin Trudeau has every interest in nurturing his relations with him. Doug Ford would no doubt prefer to take advantage of the advantages offered to him by Ottawa instead of joining the western provinces in a revolt that was lost in advance against the federal power.
As for François Legault, after the repetitive blunders committed on the backs of immigrants, he will only have to wait for what the aggressive federalism of a Trudeau government has in store for him, which insists that Quebec bow to the bloated immigration policy. of this post-national country.