Having made sure its secessionist wing’s Alberta separation referendum will have an easy time getting on a ballot, Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party cabinet has moved to ensure no other competing referendum can make the cut.
The mid-game rule change passed by Order in Council at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting immediately raises the price of launching a so-called “citizen initiative” by 4,900 per cent, to $25,000 from $500!
In statements to media, the UCP Government claimed changing the regulations of the Citizen Initiative Act is merely intended to prevent “frivolous applications,” while allowing only those with “serious intent.”
The obvious purpose, though, is to guarantee that only wealthy citizens can get their hobbyhorses to be the subject of a province-wide referendum vote. In Danielle Smith’s Alberta, in other words, if a single individual can’t afford to pony up $25,000, his or her views are by definition frivolous.
This is pretty rich coming from a party that claimed when it introduced the legislation in March 2022 that the Citizen Initiative Act would “give Albertans the ability to directly set the priorities for the government.” The law, and its sister Recall Act, were “among the most important democratic reforms in Alberta history,” boasted then UCP premier Jason Kenney.
“This legislation strengthens democracy in our province by helping Albertans to be directly involved with it,” then justice minister Tyler Shandro chirped supportively in the government’s news release.
Ms. Smith’s latest move – about which there is no press release, only the murky Order in Council and list of regulations to be changed – guarantees that only citizens who already have the ability to set the priorities of government will be able to do so. That is to say, those who are already wealthy.
An individual proponent must now pay the steep new $25,000 deposit fee up front, cannot legally accept donations to raise the necessary funds, and in the event the petition fails to gather the required number of signatures, forfeit the money.
Said former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, whose recent Forever Canadian petition campaign collected nearly half a million signatures from Albertans determined to remain in Canada under the act’s old rules: “This is truly the Rich Citizens’ Initiative Act now. Because unless you’re extremely affluent and you can spare $25,000, you don’t get to participate in this democratic process.”
“When she was in Opposition with the Wild Rose, Danielle Smith always wanted recall legislation and citizens’ initiatives because they’re all about the power of the people,” Mr. Lukaszuk recalled. “But the moment they do it, they say, ‘Oh shit, this is not what we meant! We only wanted initiatives that we actually agree with! We only wanted to recall people that we actually don’t like!’”
So, yes, Wednesday’s changes are bad. But they’re not the worst part of this legislative jiggery-pokery. First, keep in mind that this has always been atrocious legislation, designed to be misused and at odds with the Canadian Parliamentary tradition. But the worst feature now is the transparent way Ms. Smith and the UCP are using repeated rule changes to advance the cause of Alberta separatism.
“The premier no longer has any credibility when she says that she’s not a separatist,” Mr. Lukaszuk asserted yesterday. “She changed every rule in the book, just for separatists. Then, the moment they got through, she closes the doors again. Her actions speak louder than words.”
Mr. Lukaszuk is referring to the fact that the rules in Mr. Kenney’s legislation, which applied to his Forever Canadian campaign, required petitioners to get 300,000 verified signatures and gave them only 90 days to get them. There were also strict fund-raising rules.
As soon as the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project wanted to file its petition, though, the Smith Government changed the rules to make it easier, giving them 120 days to collect only 170,000 signatures. Now, with their allies’ petition safely in hand, the UCP has re-rigged the rules to make it much harder for anyone else to launch a petition.
“This is hijacking a democratic process where you set the rules for like-minded petitions, and the moment those petitions are filed, you change the rules so nobody else can file after that,” Mr. Lukaszuk stated.
Meanwhile, Opposition NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir also protested the changes, but in a strangely mild-mannered critique.
“This UCP government keeps changing the rules of the game as they go,” Mr. Sabir complained in a statement emailed to media. “This change is clearly meant to stifle democratic action by citizens who are simply exercising their rights under legislation created by the UCP themselves. This is a concerning trend from this government …”
A concerning trend? Seriously. It’s an outrageous abuse and evidence of a government that’s becoming increasingly comfortable exercising its worst authoritarian instincts!
The NDP would be polling better, it is said here, if its leader, critics and MLAs would speak up and state the obvious forcefully and more frequently.
Mr. Lukaszuk vows to pivot his Forever Canadian campaign “into a fully fledged referendum campaign.” Leaders in the UCP’s separatist faction boast they’re already negotiating with the Trump Administration in Washington. And the NDP, presumably, is thinking about what to say next, if anything.
Meanwhile, an early election next spring, seems more likely by the day. “A March election solves all of her problems,” Mr. Lukaszuk said of Ms. Smith. No need for an embarrassing budget deficit, no embarrassing auditor general’s report about the dodgy health care contracts scandal, and opposition parties likely to be polling weakly and unready to take the government on.
The UCP could then have a free hand to stage its separation referendum at the most advantageous moment, with Danielle Smith’s thumb on the scale.
In such circumstances, would Stephen Harper speak up for Canada? Pierre Poilievre? Preston Manning? It’ll be interesting to see. Sad to say, the chances are increasing that we’re going to find out.
Stifling democracy and suffocating it. That’s the way that it is with the UCP and Danielle Smith. Anything and anyone that goes against their backwards and regressive beliefs, they oppress. Power hungry zealots. This is very concerning, and people had better wake up. Complacency will get people nowhere. Who else will the UCP target next?
The UCP are pretty similar to autocratic governments we have seen in world history, including one from the 1930s, and part of the 1940s in Germany. Look for scapegoats. Accuse others of the very things that they, themselves are doing. Control the narrative and have a compliant media. Leave the destitute more helpless. Envision a utopian society that will not exist. It goes on.
In the 1920s, and in the 1930s, there was a very small number of people in Austria and in Germany, who had warped, and evil ideas, and were clearly up to no good. People were well aware of this, and were very complacent and ignorant, and didn’t stop them. The end results were very devastating for millions of people. That could have been avoided if people weren’t complacent and ignorant.
Are we surprised?
Options for the oligarchs to directly engage (interfere) in the democratic process and bend it to their will but not for the workers impacted by governmental decisions to fight for their rights. Democracy for the rich, tyranny for the rest.
Of course Dixie Dani shoved that through without consultation. Like Trump and his oligarchical cronies, it’s how she does everything. It’s her way of corrupting democracy without having to pay the political cost for corrupting it.
It’s how sociopaths, think.
It’s the “I’m not really stealing the thing from you, I’m just adjusting the paperwork on who gets to yank the thing away from you at any time so someday when you’re distracted I can yank the thing from you before you can object”
I assume this will also cause Corb Lund’s anti-coal petition to take a slowdown. Is Mr. Lund wealthy enough to pony up $25,000? If he is, I just got a whole lot more determined to go and collect signatures.
Could it be that this policy change was aimed directly at Corb Lund? Cancel his petition and force him to reapply, then apply to have his fee reinstated under the $500 rule and wait for approval for that. There is no way his petition would be complete in time for a March election.
So March it is. No, Stephen Harper of the IDU and AIMCO will not speak out in defence of Canada. Preston Manning, who profits on the backs of Albertans with make-work projects for the UCP, will say nothing. Keep the cash flowing into his pockets, please. Pierre Poilievre is already on Dani’s tourist train.
We know that Albertans generally vote the way of their ancestors and don’t give a Biblical fig leaf about the consequences. Follow the flock, even if it heads over an Alberta buffalo jump. They’re like cartoon characters with stars in their eyes, believing tales from a huckster about untold riches and pies in the skies. Gullible, naive, living in a fantasy, greedy and selfish and full of righteousness. Albertans need to take a long look in the mirror. There’s no coming back this time if they vote yes to separation.
It’s interesting, I’d say funny, but it’s not, that Trump, Smith & the UPC have the same tactics. If you’re losing the game, change the rules. It’s very clear, that this so called government, thinks the concerns of Albertans are frivolous and they’re only concerned with their own agendas. The UPC MLAs should be embarrassed, by what they’re doing to this province! In the words from the McBride Bakery in Medicine Hat, which Bruce McAllister, Smith’s XO of her Southern Alberta’s UPC office, is calling for a boycott against. BITE ME!
So a very large number of Albertans showed their opposition to separation and the UCP death cult decides to piss them off more. Something is very wrong with Albertans… has been for a long time.
The new slogan on Alberta’s license plates should read, “Pay-to-Play!” or, maybe, “United in Corruption”. I was wondering what dirty tricks Smith and her “advisers” were going to come up with to thwart the Anti-Separation petition, and any other attempts by regular Albertans to have influence over her government’s increasingly dark machinations. It constantly amazes me that Smith’s caucus, and party are all AOK with her antics. Are there no honest people in there? Or ones who can see where this is headed? Or, that our democracy is being steadfastly destroyed? I really despair of the people who are voting for the UCP, and the brazen manipulation they are falling for. And unfortunately, they are dragging the rest of us down that dark road, too. We are getting ambushed on every side. All the things defending our democracy have been studied by Smith and her gang, and are now being stripped away, every outrageous “success” emboldening them to do something more egregious. Everybody in Alberta has to wake up and smell the coffee. The business community. Municipalities. The unions. The faith communities. And, as you say David, we need a strong and smart Opposition. We can’t depend on one fellow with a cowboy hat, or a guy in a camper van (as well-meaning as he is), political bloggers , nor castaway politicians forming a new party to save our butts. Or lawn signs, or petitions. We HAVE to vote these scoundrels out.
I wonder if Ms. Smith has considered how her promotion of a sovereignty referendum will affect her aspirations of finding a private company to build her pipeline to the west coast. The Government of Canada loses all of its incentive to allow a pipeline from the foreign country of Alberta to cross BC, so they will need a substantial financial incentive instead.
Mr. Sabir is a modest man with much to be modest about. At this point in time we should be surprised if the ANDP reacts with anything stronger than a mildly worded letter to the editor. We also have to keep in mind that these egregious acts by Smith are hugely popular with the majority of voting Albertans.
I have a feeling the ANDP have decided that they can not win and chose not to anger the UCP in order to retain as many seats as possible next election. You know, stay out of their crosshairs. How else can you explain their “go along to get along”, less than tepid responses?
Danielle Smith always was and will always be a filthy traitor. Alberta isn’t separating. Ever. She will also never get her greasy paws on MY CPP.
“give Albertans the ability to directly set the priorities for the government.”
That is, those Albertans who own their own oil company.
I expect that any moment now, Smith will table legislation that makes it illegal to vote to remain in Canada. When critics complain she will simply invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to silence them.
At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any limits to what she is prepared to do, in order to please the fascist separatists in the UCP; the rest of the population be damned.
Smith and her MAGAs supported UCP are NOT on Team Canada, and that should be obvious to anyone with intelligence.