If Alberta Premier Danielle Smith were smart, she’d treat yesterday’s Court of King’s Bench ruling quashing Elections Alberta’s approval of the Stay Free Alberta/Alberta Prosperity Project petition for a separation referendum as a political get-out-of-jail-free card.
After all, she could probably persuade her party’s separatist base the appeals were going to take forever, and in the meantime they’d need to re-elect her United Conservative Party so she could keep on pushing their cause. Then she could sign a pipeline deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney tomorrow and go for electoral gold.
That would probably work with enough voters and also hold together her uneasy coalition of pro-Canadian traditional conservatives and the angry separatists enthralled by the MAGA movement south of the Medicine Line who increasingly dominate her party.
But while Ms. Smith is wily, glib and determined, she’s not exactly smart. So the smart money says she’ll do nothing of the sort.
Instead, what do you want to bet she rolls the dice again and attempts to use her unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Act to try to provoke the constitutional crisis the big brains behind her United Conservative Government’s implausibly deniable separation campaign have been working toward since the day she replaced Jason Kenney as premier?
Whatever happens next, Justice Shaina Leonard’s decision certainly landed with thud yesterday. Even The New York Times had a story up in moments.
The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and three nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy, signatories to Treaties 6, 7 and 8 signed in the late 19th Century, had gone to court to argue that using Alberta’s so-called citizen-initiative legislation to try to break up Canada violates treaty rights enshrined in the Canadian Constitution.
In a written judgment yesterday, Justice Leonard agreed. Ruling that Alberta had failed to meet its constitutional duty to consult with First Nations, she said that “as a matter of logic and common sense, there can be no doubt that Alberta’s secession from Canada will have an impact on Treaties 7 and 8.” (This is especially true since if you scratch an Alberta secessionist, you’ll find a 51st State annexationist.)
Justice Leonard also found Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure made an error in law when he approved Stay Free Alberta’s Citizen Initiative petition but failed to consider an earlier court ruling that Alberta separation would violate the treaty rights of Indigenous people.
It didn’t take long for Alberta separatists – who don’t seem to have much time for such quaint notions as the rule of law – to adopt a threatening tone.
Cory Morgan, a founder of the Alberta Independence Party who is now a columnist for a pro-separation online publication, stated Ms. Smith’s problem most succinctly: “Now it’s up to Premier Smith to schedule the referendum,” he warned in a social media post. “If she doesn’t, she will share the fate of Jason Kenney.”
Ms. Smith – who above all else is determined to hang onto power – well understands that this might be true. As University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young explained the premier’s predicament in a Substack post called On the Highway to Hell, “We’re stuck on a bus whose driver will only listen to the rowdies crowded in the front of the bus, shouting at her to go faster so we make it to our hellish destination: Referendumtown.”
Dr. Young asked, will the premier take the offered exit? And she answered: Nope. “She likes driving this bus. She’s pretty sure that the rowdies at the front of the bus would knife her if she pulled over. She’s probably right.”
What to do? The premier stalled yesterday, but only a little. “We think that today’s decision by the court will deny opportunity to well over 300,000 Albertans to have their petition verified by Elections Alberta,” she petulantly said, ignoring the fact she’s busy denying close to half a million Albertans who signed a petition last summer saying they wanted to stay in Canada.
“We think that this decision is incorrect in law and anti-democratic,” she continued, “and we will be appealing it as a result.” She will be joined by the organizers of the Stay Free Alberta petition, of course. “This is not a setback for us, it’s exactly what we were expecting,” petition proponent Mitch Sylvestre, the gun store owner from Bonnyville, told The New York Times.
The premier’s problem is that legal appeals take time, sometimes a lot of it, and the separatist crowd is in a hurry. They understand that their case isn’t going to get better if people have time to think about it. Their best hope is the massive foreign-funded disinformation campaign that is already under way and a referendum this fall before the separation curious start to do the arithmetic.
So expect the rhetoric to get pretty ugly in the next few hours as the demands for the premier to defy the courts and put the referendum on the ballot anyway persist and grow louder.
As far as the First Nations are concerned, “this decision should close the chapter on the suggestion of an independence referendum,” Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam told Postmedia. “The court has spoken, and so have the First Nations.”
Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi, sensing a moment that might work for his faltering New Democrats, thanked the First Nations “for fighting for our country with your time and money.”
“This referendum violates treaty rights, it would cost Albertans hundreds of millions of dollars, and is now tied to serious public safety concerns thanks to the largest data breach in Alberta’s history,” he said in a statement.
“The Premier says that she’s exploring other ideas,” Mr. Nenshi continued. “Here’s an idea, Premier: call off the referendum and put this to bed.”
“This petition is dead. This referendum is dead. For the premier to spend taxpayer time and money to resurrect it, would prove what we’ve always known: she’s a separatist.”
Mr. Nenshi concluded by saying that no one is above the law – not even this premier. Count on it, though, Ms. Smith, her advisors, and Alberta’s separatists will have other ideas about that.
Lest we forget, Smith has a past history of making bad and risky decisions. While I do believe she learned somewhat from her past mistakes, or at least reflected on them as much as she was capable of during all those years she was in the political wilderness, she can’t change her fundamental character or outlook. So I feel it will be full speed ahead for the HMS Referendum now, despite the judicial rulings like icebergs ahead.
Yes, it would have been a good time to change direction or halt, but the kooks have taken control of the vessel and the captain, who may be one of them, seems to want to go full speed ahead regardless. As Margaret Thatcher once said, the lady is not for turning and that stubborness and overconfidence in her ideas did not end well either.
Now like her MAGA idol who also does not like to be challenged or restrained, Smith also seems to have taken a fairly narrow election victory to mean absolute and unlimited power. So it seems she is not the only one to confuse tyrany and democracy recently.
Marlaina…..””how can one single judge make a decision when 300,000 have spoken. She(judge)is wrong.
I….will speak to the other party,** then talk with my caucus, and
I….will make a decision. “”
Odd that the one person whose job it is to make legal decisions is supposedly undemocratic because she is upholding the rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Alberta who have a Treaty with the Crown;
While the Premier took an Oath of Allegiance to be faithful and bear true allegiance to His/Her Majesty , plus an Oath of Office…an oath for the faithful performance of their duties .
Which in my view she is not doing; by appealing the court’s decision that she ignored the Treaty rights of the Indigenous peoples by allowing the separation referendum to start in the first place.
Imho….she made an emphasis on the alleged 300,000 signatories (because they have not been validated) but ignored the 400,000+ that have been validated. What about the “democratic” rights of all those people? They followed all the rules, did not ask for a referendum, but a vote in the legislature and are still left in limbo.
What most people have seemingly forgotten, is that she said that she was open to people having a referendum, but under Bill #11(?) she would decide whether or not she would allow the results of that decision to proceed.
Heads I win, tails you lose.
I’m the boss, I make the rules, and re-make them “as needs must “. Sure sounds “democratic” to me…..NOT!
What more proof do we need that Danielle Smith and the UCP are separatists? It’s all right there, with this foolish and costly appeal of a court ruling. She will try again, and end up losing. Democracy has kicked the UCP and Danielle Smith in the rear end, and rightfully so. By the looks of it, David Parker is in more trouble. There’s also some information from a reliable source that more UCP cabinet ministers are jumping the sinking ship. Reasons for that are that the UCP’s shady activities are catching up with them. Enjoy the downfall of the UCP. It will take time to undo their epic damage, but the starting point is that the UCP are gone.
But she will not.
Queen Danielle has no intention of being reasonable on this matter. I am hopeful that Carney would offer Smith a real get out of jail free card, like an appointment to the Senate. There are a lot of vacancies in the Red Chamber, and I ‘m sure Smith would jump at the chance of accepting one if it were offered. Smith would then bail on Alberta and never be heard from again.
But if such an offer is not forthcoming, Smith will double down, declare the court’s decision to be an attack on FreeDUMB, and push the province toward an idiotic and useless referendum. The gang of meatheads from TBA/APP/etc. will make good on their threat to oust Smith in favour of someone more to their liking. Jason Stephan has been showing up at a number of those FreeDUMB rallies, so I’ll call him the front runner. And there’s no need for a messy leadership election, either. David Parker will put the word out there that Stephan is the successor to Smith; otherwise, any UCP MLA who might have a hint of integrity, let alone courage, will be threatened and pushed out of their sweet gigs.
Smith will launch an appeal to a higher court, Alberta will pay for it, and she gets to jet to Mara-largo and meet Mango Mussolini a few more times.
The Senate would be a solution to Smith. But the UCP has proven that there is always someone worse standing in line! For example, David Parker and his Messiah complex. I get goosebumps at the thought!
Like our data, this card may be kept until needed or sold. How convenient that the gaming data of Albertans may be sold, just when the rest of us are wondering what’s happening with ours. Expect to see more of our data up for grabs as Danielle Smith and her band of merry men hand off our health and other public services to the lowest bidder. Pimp Our Ride Premier, whatcha gonna do when your friend is giving the middle finger to the tap on the wrist he’s getting for his greatest coup yet? Roll the dice: ban bike lanes?
Meanwhile, merrily we roll along dodging potholes that are quickly becoming sinkholes and trying to find the best route to avoid gridlock as fire trucks and police cars speed to a punctured gas main. Calamity is seconds away every day in this province, while the priorities of daily life go neglected. How much more money can Smith & Co. waste on frivolous lawsuits? Deep Pockets Danielle should turn her golden cat into flashy, trashy giant dollar sign necklaces. I’m tired of the paperclips. If we gonna have to dodge bullets at the grocery store again, might as well dress like it.
Current body count in the parking lot of my local grocery store: two dead by gunshot; four if you include a separate incident involving a truck crashing into a parked car. Alternate grocery store: zero, but a targeted shooting in a parking lot nearby. Previous grocery store: one dead by gunshot, one injured in the parking lot.
The UCP have no time or money to spend addressing gun violence, gang violence, etc. but all the time and money in the world for fighting for their 51st state cause. I guess it goes together.
I think there’s going to be some wacky weather and news hitting the skies this long weekend. Probably a few family fist fights at campsites around the province too as families clash over this issue. What a stupid waste of resources to fuel ego and avarice.
Avarice appears to be the major motivation for UCP supporters.
I have posted comments on this wonderful blog site for more than ten years using my real name. My thinking has always been that I should have the courage to stand behind the opinions I express. While I still feel that way, the data breach, and the ‘tough on crime’ conservatives in this province, who don’t seem to realize laws also apply to them, has made me decide to begin posting under a pseudonym.
I expect that if a court says it is unconstitutional to even hold a referendum on separation, that ruling likely means that if Danielle Smith did hold an unconstitutional referendum on separation, and the separatists did win, the victory would be meaningless, since the treaties that made the referendum illegal would also make separation impossible.
At that point the only option for the separatists that I can see would be to ask the American military to invade.
And that they would do, Bicycle Bob. What happened next would depend on whether or not sanity has returned to the White House. “Get lost! Are you nuts?” would be an appropriate response by the American chief of state, whoever that may turn out to be. Or, if it’s Mr. Rubio, perhaps, “Maybe later, it’s going to take us another five years to get the Cuban Army out of Florida.” DJC
I have never used my real name on internet forums. It is for the same reason that I paid to have an unlisted, unpublished phone number. Now 2.9M of us are in the same boat. We no longer have privacy. Privacy is a privilege, not a right in Alberta.
Re the first phrase of headline: “If Danielle Smith were smart…”
Excellent use of the subjunctive. A common definition: “The subjunctive mood is a grammatical verb form used to explore conditional or imaginary situations, wishes, demands, or suggestions, rather than stating facts.”
Bob: I was once saved from humiliation by sheer happenstance, having read Fowler’s description of the subjunctive mood while sitting on the toilet the evening before two little shits on the National desk at the Globe and Mail decided to test me, the new guy on their desk, on that very point. “Why did you change that were to a was?” one of them barked. In truth, I hadn’t given it much thought. I just did it because I thought it sounded better. But forewarned is forearmed, and the gods of repartee and hypocrisy were with me, so I replied: “Because the subjunctive mood is obsolete, and rightly so!” The two little bastards just looked at each other silently and turned back to their Compugraphic terminals. Later I learned they’d been tormenting other copy editors on the same point and I made half a dozen new friends in one shift. What’s more, I never forgot how the subjunctive case works. DJC
Funny how the little judge, as Dingy Smith calls her certainly rained on her parade. I see using tax dollars to fight a ruling against separatism is not only a misuse of tax funds, but should also be called out as treason, although many have argued this does not reach that level. As noted above, where are the rights of the 400,000 people that signed the Forever-Canadian petition? Dingy keeps saying their submission was unclear, which is garbage, when all you have to do is watch the news items on that or even ask the leader of that what he wants and it is very clear to everyone other than Smith. It is obviously an attempt to subvert the wishes of Albertans. The next little while will be very interesting to see how things play out. The list of missteps and unethical things just keeps growing and growing.
We owe the first nations a debt of gratitude. Thank you. As far as Smith and the UPC go, they’re not that smart and I feel that, they have brought nothing but shame to Alberta. And it must be nice to have a good buddy like Danielle Smith, because David Parker is just sitting back, thumbing his nose at not only the law, but at every Albertan whose name has been released. Alberta…., is in a sad state of affairs.
Funny, funny stuff. All very reminiscent of life-and-death struggles over the nature of the Trinity or the relationship of a sect to the Holy See. Meanwhile, the reduction in standards of living in the Empire continue apace in the trickle-down Golden Shower economy. The quaint, old-timey talk of a “climate emergency” is out the window. The Soviet Union, with 27 million dead were the wicked conquerors who grossly mistreated the freedom-loving peoples who bought into the Stalingrad time-share program and were prevented from fulfilling the contract. Nazism is back, baby! As part and parcel of that, austerity is landing on the Reich line it’s 1923. No more emission-spewing Volkswagens, here come the Leopard tanks! Just as the Carny Banker says our future lies with a de-energized Europe paying ten times the pre-Nordstream prolapse price for LNG. Marlaina and the Carny Banker will be no more able to push a pipeline through Indian Country than she will be able to get her Koch Bros state. Isn’t it something that the far-right is jostling with the liberals in light of all the hoopla for the last eighty years about the glorious defeat of fascism, and there is no left, the people who actually killed all the fascists in Europe and Asia, to be seen. The left, by the way, starts at abolishing capitalism, not identity claims. “l”iberals would like to rule by consent but in troubled times like those we have seen since the entire imperial banking system collapsed in 2008, they’ll get by with fascists taking the reins until the underclass is brought around to accepting the new status quo.
Black Hat guy and his buddies must be breathing a sigh of relief. The last thing they wanted was Elections Alberta taking a close look at the names and signatures on their independence petition sheets. They’ll be quite happy to tie up the process with court proceedings, while bullying the premier into giving them their referendum in October. I wonder what will happen when she does announce a provincial referendum on separation? Could the First Nations challenge the Referendum Act? There is a section which outlines that Elections Alberta must consult with indigenous people – on a suitable building within reserve lands where a vote could be held. Not quite the same thing as treaty rights.
This is a very brave judge! She issued this decision, knowing that her personal information is readily available to the violent separatist minions and leaders. I hope she is taking a long and foreign sabbatical or is being provided long-term police protection by officers screened for their views on separation!
@djc
I hope she does try the Sovereignty Act; I want to see one of the vice-regals give her the smack down. As for her be given the Kenney treatment – I think the probability is north of 75% now.
Even if Carney announces the federal government is going to build TMX II tomorrow it won’t be enough. Her seperafools will oust her at their AGM in November.
Speaking of seperafools – I saw a quote from Rath that he “no longer considers himself to be Canadian”. My immediate response was “why are you still here then? Coutts/Sweetwater is open 24/7. Don’t let the door hit ya where God split ya.” My wife did a coffee spit take.
Thought about it more; I think the other 25% is she calls an early election, thinking “what have I got to lose? Get punted by the UCP card carrying separatists or the general electorate. Bet I can bamboozle enough of the electorate to kick this can down the road a little further.”
This is admittedly off topic, but I’ve been trying for some time now to get more information on the new party seeking to separate from Alberta. I find its proposal to create a new province within the current province of Alberta, maintaining its allegiance to Canada, quite refreshing. I’m not too clear on the details, but as I understand it the idea is to stake out a territory extending from Calgary in the south to Edmonton in the north, ensuring minimal disruption to the flow of goods, services and Canadian citizens that would result from secession of the (entire) province proposed by UCP and other secessionists. Seems a bit radical I’m aware, but much less so in my opinion than possibly losing the entire province. Any information on this new party would be much appreciated.
Why do these people think they speak for albertans ? Over my dead body are you going to muddy the waters in such a manner.
People like you shouldn’t be allowed to go on facebook. So the solution these brain geniuses have to a landlocked province with no ports and a bunch of oil and gas is a SMALLER rump state with no ports and even less oil and gas (lord knows a good chunk of that is NORTH of Edmonton). You come up with that yourselves or did you hold a committee of dunces ?
Obviously they’re thinking hey the “heartland” is where all the “true patriots” live. Indeed I saw a little quisling from lacombe making death threats online this morning, so they’re certainly there but here’s the rub, there’s NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE living in rural alberta compared to the cities. How many “signatures” did these mental midgets even get in Red Deer ? Obviously the numbers weren’t great in the Deep South or the far North either.
It doesn’t matter how tiny you make the slice, alberta belongs to albertans and within the federation of Canada, period. Just because y’all can manipulate a bunch of low information mouth breathers into giving you donations doesn’t mean you have a political movement.
It means your a grifter, and if you don’t like it here, feel free to get the hell out.
I wonder who Danielle Smith thinks she’s fooling. It’s no one I know. She is so pro-separatist it’s sickening. While these Reform Party fools treat us like morons are they so stupid they don’t care what their massive debts will do to our children and grandchildren’s future.
She’s called Batshit for a reason. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t need to be smart. She’ll take her marching orders from Manning, Harper and the Fraser Institute Boys as she always does.
My suspicion is though, that it will be something like your first suggestion (get out of jail free via pipelines and Carney), so as to (belatedly) appear “statesman-like”
Enough already. Time for the Premier to call an election and put all the assorted issues to the test.
Even René Levesque had to good sense to give up on his sovereignty association and decide that it was time to actually govern
Comparing the two does a great disservice to Lesvesque ; Quebecois at least have a distinct culture and French Canadians never got the equal rights they were promised in confederation. See: the Manitoba schools question, the fight alberta had with the feds over resources.
The trial decision predictably fuels separatists’ pyre of peeve, their wild caterwauling, and their victim-outrage. Who could blame Danielle Smith if she accepted a ‘get-out-of-the-dungeon-of-high-dudgeon-free’ card? Must be hellish up in there.
On the other hand the judicial handout of the hallmark ‘do-not-do-what-is-hateful-to-your-fellow-the-rest-is-explanation-[or, go learn your Constitution]’ could be playing right into the secessionists’ mitt-full of grievances squealed whilst standing on one foot. They want to gin the emotion of crisis and the passion of crusade in order to blunt reasoned reflection that, regardless how much they bare their notwithstanding claws, certain laws cannot be opted out of, namely secession. That is legally a dead letter.
Secession is moot, not the “constitutional crisis” Danielle Smith has been delegated to foment. The Constitution is not “broken” by frustrating attempts to circumvent it or redefine it outside of its own formulae and SCoC interpretation. The terms “Sovereign” and “Supreme” actually mean that politics and/or partisanship cannot surmount their authority. An analogy: if someone commits homicide and is tried and convicted, it doesn’t mean either the crime of murder or the Criminal Code is “broken.”
The concern is that the separatists and/or the UCP will simply try to ignore the Constitution. It’s more like conceit that they think they can unilaterally break it.
Fortunately reason is starting to shine through the hollow furiosity of Alberta secession, not by the mythic mailed mitt of alleged federal Liberal fiat but rather by well-established legal precedent and level-headed process. Unfortunately for the TBA/UCP separatists [anagramically TUBC(r)AP], legally reasoned process takes more time than the noisy campaign parade of misinformative propaganda they’ve already prepared for the summer. Doubtless the the rhetoric is about to go hyper-ballistic, but as JWs, Raëlians, and Trump will always get around to finding out, adjusting end-times or the rapture too often tends to dampen emotional ardour. That crucial October referendum-date has now been put on hold, if not eight-sixed completely, notwithstanding Smith’s lame case for appeal which will feature more the crypto-separatist standing side by side with her more-revealed secessionists. Perhaps by then ever more citizens will be subjecting these territorial tantrums to thoughtful analysis.
Former BC premier Gordon Campbell could tell Smith that you don’t want to allow voters time to think; you want to encourage controversy, emotion, polemic polarity precisely so they don’t. As he found out, second thought is deadly. He imposed an electoral-systems referendum upon British Columbians, the result falling a couple points short of approving Single-Transferable-Vote (a type of proportional representation) after a government-funded, dual-partisan campaign pitting hyperbolic, often incorrect and misleading propaganda from yes against no sides. In his subsequent term of office, Campbell tried again using the identical features of the first Referendum–the noisy, government-funded propaganda campaigns–but this time STV was convincingly rejected instead of very nearly approved. The only difference, all other things being equal, was the fact that voters had had four years to think about STV without all that distracting and misinforming propaganda hoopla.
Separatists don’t want citizens to think too much about what secession would entail or fact check the many dubious claims made in support of it–or even confederation with the USA. They fancy themselves legally astute for building a case out of cherry-picked parts of Canadian law glued together with whatever “natural law” they define as suitable. Thus they imagine profit from innuendo that they and Smith will simply ignore the parts of the Constitution they don’t like–which would indeed foment a crisis. They’re hoping Albertans hide their eyes and plug their ears at such a frightful prospect. But it’s not the kind by which they would profit. That’s mostly because of huge doses of hallucinatory Dunning-Krueger which tricks them into the same fallacious understanding of the US Constitution as they have of our own. 51st-statism? Didn’t anyone tell the supposed separatist embassy to DC that the US Constitution requires both state and federal congressional ratifications? How do they imagine the 35 states which do more than half their commerce with Canada might feel about the disruption an illegal, unilateral Declaration of Alberta Independence, after it were condemned by the United Nations, the ROC and at least two-thirds of their own federated American states?
Now that the separatists have had their blastoff at least postponed by legal process, possibly for some undetermined time, and the two-to-one majority of the electorate that would reject secession –if it weren’t already legally moot– is growing even more major, we can expect them to emote even more intensely. It will bring into starker focus the separatists’ tendentious resort to unilateral action–which of course will bend their flight path ever closer to the sun.
Smith for Senator? Weirder things have happened.
I doubt she will take your suggestion because she is a separatist. All of that sovereign Alberta within a strong Canada is all to be neutral until the end. Secondly she is not smart enough to take that advantage. She certainly is the most devious woman politician I have known. Even the extreme right wing Italian prime minister is a chihuahua compared to this disaster.
Honestly I think Meloni is left of Smith at this point. I’m being very serious.
The MAGATS are to the right of everyone.
“We think that this decision is incorrect in law and anti-democratic,” she continued, “and we will be appealing it as a result.”
Translation: Any decision contrary to the wishes and objectives of this ideologically bought and sold committed to the cause Premier and all of the individuals guiding and advising her is “incorrect in law and anti-democratic”.
Interestingly this may flush Ms. Smith out of her hiding in the tall foliage of her BS that “I’m not a separatist, I’m just in favour of a sovereign Alberta”. This prevarication will be difficult to maintain whichever direction she goes here. Nonetheless, she’s good at baffle-gab so she’ll try and it will at least be fun to watch.
Smith is betting on the card that Albertans (and later, when the sh*t inevitably hits the blockade fan) and Canadians hate us (First Nations) MORE than they hate the Americans or the separatists. Especially if we hold up their Amazon deliveries.
She might not be wrong.