Juno News - September 28, 2024Smith further protects Albertan’s rights
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Summary
In this episode, we hear from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who offers a sneak peek into upcoming Bill of Rights amendments to protect Albertans that will be legislated this fall. Smith hints at further protecting vaccination choices, property rights, and legal firearm ownership in upcoming amendments to the Alberta Bill Of Rights.
Transcript
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Hey everyone, we're kicking off the show once again with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith,
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who offered a sneak peek into upcoming Bill of Rights amendments to protect Albertans that will
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be legislated this fall. Smith hinted at further protecting vaccination choice, property rights,
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and legal firearm ownership in upcoming amendments to the Alberta Bill of Rights.
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I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your host of the Alberta Roundup.
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I'm sure that like me, you're excited to see that Smith is constantly making headlines ahead of her
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upcoming leadership review on November 2nd. The review follows almost right after legislature
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recommences on October 28th, so we'll see what Smith can implement right before the review.
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Let's dive a bit deeper into Smith's recent announcement. Smith revealed three amendments
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that would be coming to the upcoming legislative session in a post to X on Tuesday. First,
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she said that every Albertan will have the right to make their own vaccine and medical decisions.
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Additionally, no Albertan will be deprived of their property without due process and just compensation.
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The final measure announced was an amendment to defend the rights of all legal and responsible
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firearm owners. Since its inception, the Alberta Bill of Rights has been a reflection of our shared
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values, recognizing the fundamental rights and freedoms that are essential to a free and democratic
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society. It enshrines the principles that every Albertan holds dear – freedom of speech, freedom
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of religion, and the right to equality before the law among other fundamental rights. It serves much
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like a constitutional document in that it ensures all provincial laws and policies must align with those
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listed rights and freedoms. Now, the Bill of Rights has served its purpose well over the years, but as our society
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evolves, so too must our laws to ensure our rights and freedoms remain properly protected in an ever
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changing world. The Premier's First Amendment will ensure that any Albertan who has the mental capacity
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to do so can make their own choices regarding the medical treatments they receive, which includes not
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only receiving vaccinations but any other medical procedure. Smith said, quote,
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In recent years, we've seen the challenges and hardships that can arise when that right to bodily
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autonomy is not adequately protected. It is my firm conviction that no Albertans should ever be subjected
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or pressured into accepting a medical treatment without their full consent. The Second Amendment said that
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it will ensure no Albertan can be deprived of their property without due process of law and just
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compensation, which Smith said will help affirm rights of Albertans to own and enjoy the properties
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that they've worked so hard for. A spokesperson for the Minister of Justice told me the amended Bill
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of Rights will strengthen property rights, which is a cornerstone of living in a free and democratic society.
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Lastly, Smith said there will be an amendment to defend the rights of legal and responsible firearm owners
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because firearms are critical to many Albertans' livelihoods and way of lives. Smith said, quote,
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I personally feel that law-abiding firearms owners have been unfairly targeted by our federal
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government for decades, and it is my hope that these amendments will protect the rights of our
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farmers, ranchers, hunters, and sports enthusiasts. The Minister of Justice spokesperson told me that
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they will continue to advocate to the federal government on what they feel are unfair restrictions
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on lawful firearm owners. While the Alberta Bill of Rights amendments are set to strengthen
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property rights and protect law-abiding firearms owners, they are unlikely to overrule the federal
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government's firearm buyback program, which recently saw its cost rise to $67 million, despite failing to
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collect a single gun. Under Canada's constitution, criminal law, including firearm regulation, falls under
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federal jurisdiction. Although Alberta can legislate on property and civil rights, which includes some aspects
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of firearm ownership, the federal government holds the power to enforce laws that protect public safety.
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Similar actions have been taken by provinces like Saskatchewan, which introduced the Firearms Act in 2022
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to complicate the federal buyback process by introducing strict transportation regulations for firearms.
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Quebec also attempted to preserve its long gun registry after the federal government dismantled it. However,
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the Supreme Court ruled in the favour of Ottawa, affirming the federal government's control over
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firearm regulation. Therefore, while Alberta's amendment may assert provincial rights and challenge federal
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policies, its actual impact on the buyback program will likely be limited, with any significant legal
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challenges requiring lengthy court battles that the province will likely lose.
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I'd like to show that in my view, these amendments to the Bill of Rights are not just legal changes,
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they are a reaffirmation of the values that make Alberta one of the freest jurisdictions on earth.
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They are about protecting our rights, our freedoms, and our way of life.
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We are sending a clear message that in Alberta, the rights of individuals are paramount,
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and that government must respect those rights at every turn.
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As your Premier, it is my duty and my honour to stand up for your rights.
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I believe deeply in the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility that have
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guided and built this province for generations.
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Some of the upcoming legislation was first hinted at by Smith at the Canada Strong and Free Network
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in Red Deer last Saturday, which I attended. That's when she said that she would make it
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illegal for governments to discriminate against individuals for refusing medical treatments,
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such as vaccines. She also said that legislation would be introduced to prohibit gender
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reassignment surgeries for minors, and ban puberty blockers for those 15 years old and younger.
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An opt-in for topics on gender ideology and sexual identity in schools will also become
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available to parents. Lastly, Smith promised to ensure that biological females can compete in
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sports leagues against one another without having to face stronger biological males who identify
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as transgender. These were among six other key takeaways from Smith at the conference that I felt
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important to share with you all. To start her keynote speech, Smith was introduced by Erika Barutz,
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who finished second place in Alberta's 2021 Senate election, behind Pam Davidson.
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So right at the jump, Smith took aim at Trudeau for overlooking Alberta, and she said the following.
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In any case, both of them should be sitting representing us in Ottawa, as opposed to a radical,
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extreme LGBT activist, as well as a radical, extreme fundraiser for the Liberals for a long time. So that,
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I don't think, is very reflective of what it is that Alberta has voted for.
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Smith also spent some time highlighting that her government has lifted Alberta out of the hole that
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We know this because under the disastrous job-killing policies of the NDP, we watched our great province
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move backwards. During this time, we saw six credit downgrades, 13 quarters of consecutive out-migration,
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billions of dollars in lost investment, 80 billion dollars in brand new debt, and a job crisis that
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devastated families. Conversely, under her leadership, Alberta has seen six credit upgrades in the last year
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and a half, resulting in lower interest rates, which has allowed her to finance the Alberta NDP's debt
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at a lower rate. She also highlighted that Alberta has created over 100,000 jobs in the past year,
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leading the country with 90% of private sector job creation. While the province is set to lead the
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nation in job growth until at least 2028, she warned that bad leadership can still stymie a province
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as prosperous as Alberta. The Premier also revealed that Alberta will be introducing
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compassionate intervention. Albertans suffering from addiction or mental health problems that
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pose a danger to themselves or others will be ordered into care for three to four months,
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where they will be treated and can recover. Smith said, quote,
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This was a very divisive idea when we first proposed it, but today we are seeing some
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surprising governments that are also supporting it and following our lead in British Columbia.
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The sort of birthplace of safe supply and crack pipes being issued in vending machines
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has now decided that they're going to introduce compassionate intervention legislation.
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Sticking on the subject of healthcare, sort of, Smith spent quite a bit of time talking about
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AHS, Alberta Health Services, highlighting that while she wanted to give them a chance
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to show that they can succeed, if they don't, she will show them the door. By decentralizing much of
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the province's medical care, Smith said that AHS can focus on their 106 facilities
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and show that they can run them well. She said she'll reevaluate in a year and see where they
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stand. Smith was having a fireside chat with the conference's chair, Michael Binion, who recently
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had to go to the United States to get a surgery done on his hip. His wife had to do the same for a
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different surgery. So he had to pay $35,000 for the surgery, and Smith said that if it were to cost
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$25,000 in Alberta, he'd be reimbursed with the latter amount. So yes, Smith said that she is
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considering implementing a surgical wait time guarantee, where if a service cannot be delivered
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within the recommended period, the province will reimburse you for services sought abroad. However,
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she said the following. Maybe we try that as a pilot project. I'm not quite there yet because I still
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believe that the vast majority of people are middle-income families or lower-income families who
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need this system to work. It's only going to be a solution for a small number of people to be able to
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go somewhere else. And so we need this system to work. That's why I'm focused on that first.
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But if taking the pressure off and creating a little bit of an incentive for them to figure out
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better ways to deliver services, if that type of program does that, then I might be open to having
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that conversation. Also at the conference, Smith began to slightly change her tune on immigration.
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She's been generally more pro-immigration than other premiers, but said she sees the Liberals'
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immigration policies as unsustainable and urged them to return to numbers seen under Stephen Harper
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around 1% of the population. Notably, Alberta's immigration has been largely driven by interprovincial
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migration thanks to the Alberta Is Calling campaign, which is not available to international migrants.
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Also, Smith said that the province, joined by Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia,
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is against the feds relocating asylum seekers. The last key point I'll share with you from the
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conference was very interesting, which is when Smith explained why she thinks conservatives don't
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succeed and why a cornered Trudeau is dangerous. What Smith said was pretty powerful, so I'll just
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let you watch the whole clip. You know what I will say, you know, my conservatives, this is why conservatives
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don't succeed, because conservatives are incrementalists. And I understand that, because I've had
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other conservative commentators say, she's not a conservative, she's doing too much reform.
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Here's my view, is that the left comes in, and they move us this far, and then we say, oh, but we're
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incrementalists, so let's just keep on and then get back a little bit at a time, and then they get elected
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again, and then they move it this far. My view is, you have to kind of recalibrate back to where the
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regular person is, and then we're going to do more incremental change. So we've got a lot more to
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come, and I can tell you, the left takes advantage of these kinds of situations all the time. Gerald
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Butts, let's not forget what his advice was to Kathleen Wynum. He's even said this publicly. He knew she was
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going down in flames, so he said, let's just go for broke these last 10 months, because then it would make
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it more difficult for the new guys coming in to reverse course, which is why this period of time
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right now is very, very dangerous with Trudeau on his last legs. This could be the time where they
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actually bring through the worst of their legislation, and so that's part of the reason why we have to be
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on guard for that, but I don't think we're going to make that same mistake as a conservative
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government. Be bold. We have to be bold, and just demonstrate that by being competent and getting
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things done, that you'll be able to win the next election. That's our strategy. Now moving on to
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some news with the Jasper wildfire situation. Evidence was uncovered on Wednesday that showed
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the Liberals planned to cancel prescribed burns in Western Canada just months before the fire.
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Stephen Guibault told committee that you can't change the weather. However, isn't that the whole
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point of his carbon tax? So, we were more concerned about the situation than some governments.
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We heard from Mr. Shepherd that there were fairly extraordinary conditions. There had not been a
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lot of snow the winter before in the region where Jasper is located. Low precipitation during the spring.
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So, yes, there were conditions favorable to a forest fire. A protective zone had been created,
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of course, but you cannot change the weather. You cannot make it rain. MP for Red Deer Lacombe,
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Blaine Calkins, who used to work himself in Jasper National Park, got heated at Guibault in committee
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when he said the following. But I do have this. I have from Jonah Mitchell a response to Melanie
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Kwong at Parks Canada that says, at what point do we make the organizational decision to cancel
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planned prescribed burns in Western Canada as more and more media articles raise public concern.
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Public and political perception may become more important than actual prescription windows.
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This is what your organization is doing and you're not giving them the direction. And that lies with
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you, Minister. You're responsible for that. When are you going to take responsibility
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for the billion dollars of damage that happened in Jasper? Everybody knew this was coming.
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Everybody knew it. And you were told. And yet, here we are. A billion dollars worth of assets burned
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down. And our beautiful Jasper National Park, where I used to work, is laying in ruins.
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You may remember a True North exclusive where a whistleblower came forward and admitted that
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Parks Canada was so confident in their ability to control and fight wildfires
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that they intentionally allowed deadwood to collect inside of Jasper National Park.
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According to Peter Schultz, who was hired by Parks Canada in 2008,
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the Parks Canada wildfire chief at the time told him in a January 2008 meeting, quote,
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We have become so good at controlling and stopping fires that we just build up deadwood supplies.
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Schultz estimated that by last summer, close to 40% of Jasper National Park trees were standing
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deadwood, killed by pine beetle infestation, creating the perfect scenario for a massive wildfire.
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In a LinkedIn post, Schultz pinned the blame of the wildfire directly on Parks Canada and Jasper
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If Jasper Town burns, I blame the bureaucrats of Parks Canada,
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especially all the Jasper National Park superintendents since 2005.
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Not doing your job because of eco-activists, who now will blame climate change,
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rather than take responsibility for their own willful ignorance regarding proper forest management.
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NDP MP Heather McPherson also spoke to Guy Bowen Committee.
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She said that they cut firefighting supports by 30 million dollars.
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In fact, Smith has increased the budget by 50% in her first year, and it's the highest that it's
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A journalist made a similar error in July, but was quickly corrected by Smith.
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So your government over the last few years has made various cuts to Alberta's wildfire
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Well, look, I mean, my first firefighting season was last year.
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And what we did in response to that was we increased the firefighting budget by 50%.
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I'm sure we'll see the Jasper wildfire situation evolve further over the coming days, weeks and months.
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And I can only hope that whomever put us in this mess gets brought to justice.
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Now a bit of a flashback with news regarding Calgary pastor Derek Reimer, who was arrested
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in charge after protesting at a drag queen story hour at a public library.
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Reimer was previously on the Alberta Roundup in March 2023, where he discussed his case,
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as well as the new bylaw in Calgary, which prohibits specified protesters from coming within
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a hundred meters of a public building and which expands the harassment bylaw to include intimidation.
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Reimer has been acquitted of two charges related to his protest at Calgary Public Library.
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The following statements can be attributed to the Canadian Independent.
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Reimer had been charged under the criminal code with causing a disturbance and mischief.
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Specifically, he was accused of unlawfully obstructing the library board's operations of the event
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and causing a disturbance by shouting and using insulting language during the session.
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According to the ruling, while Reimer's presence and shouting during the event caused emotional upset
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to some attendees, it did not result in a legally sufficient public disturbance
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or interference with the library's operation. On the mischief charge, the court concluded that
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Reimer did not unlawfully obstruct or interfere with the library's operation.
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Although his protest was loud and emotional, the judge determined that the Calgary Public Library
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Board's functions were not hindered. Justice Fradsham ultimately found no evidence that Reimer's
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actions were wrongful in the sense required to meet the threshold for criminal mischief.
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The last story we'll cover today is some recent data from a city news poll.
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The poll showed that the majority of residents in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver believe
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their mayor and city council are out of touch with what residents want. I'll let you guess which city
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is in last place. Without making you wait too long, surprise surprise, it's Calgary where 74% of
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residents felt their mayor and council were out of touch. Next place was Edmonton at 72%,
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Vancouver at 70%, and Toronto at 61%. I wasn't surprised to see Calgary in last place given
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the recent drama with the LRT. Across all four cities, only one in four residents felt their mayor
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should be re-elected. Again, last place was Calgary, where only 18% of respondents said that Jyoti Gondek
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deserved re-election, and 41% said she was doing a good job. She was followed by Ken Sim in Vancouver,
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where 25% said he deserved re-election, and 50% said he was doing a good job.
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Next place was Edmonton's mayor, Amarjeet Sohi, with 26% saying he deserved re-election, and 47%
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thinking he did a good job. Leading the pack was Mayor Olivia Chow, where 36% of residents said she
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deserved re-election, and 58% said she was doing a good job. Look, when Olivia Chow was leading the pack,
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we know that Canada's top mayors can't be very well liked. Remember back in April when the Alberta
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government announced that it would be introducing a bill that would feature political parties at the
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municipal level? If that ever comes to be, maybe it will strengthen the trust in mayors among citizens,
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as they'll be much more aware of who they're getting into bed to when they vote them in.
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Let me know if you think it will make any difference in the comments.
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Speaking of comments, let's jump right into the comment roundup. It was very challenging to choose
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from the almost 500 comments last episode, and I could have easily picked like 100 of them,
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but I just decided to go with the first few that stood out to me. But you should all know that I read
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every single comment, and I do appreciate them greatly. So the first comment comes from
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at Diana Carr, KJ7BK, who said, I just was at my doctor's today. When I arrived, there was a long
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lineup I have never seen out of the seven years I have been going. So as I walked up, there were many
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Asian descents in line, at least 32 that I counted, just out the door. These were mostly elders and about
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12 to 15 younger Asians. Our healthcare system is so maxed out. So yeah, that first comment telling
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the story about the visitors to the doctor's office. I decided to highlight this one because
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I've had various reasons to need to go to the doctors over the last few months. But honestly,
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I'd rather deal with the pain and struggle than go to the doctors and live through that experience.
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Also recently, people have been sharing their favorite things about Canadian healthcare after
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Trudeau bragged about it on Stephen Colbert. Some of the Canadians' favorite things they shared to X
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recently were being taxed to death for the healthcare system without using it for 50 years,
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dying on wait lists, and being offered MAID instead of having to wait years for surgery.
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The next comment comes from Bill Parsons, RB3VD, who said, I support Jennifer Johnson 110%.
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That was a perfect example of gaslighting by definition. I'm not one of Jennifer's constituents,
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so I can't vote for her, but wish I could. I called her constituency office to give my support. I would
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say that Jennifer represents the views of the majority of Albertans and Canadians. I urge
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Premier Smith to bring her back into caucus immediately. Jennifer should have never been ejected.
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Yeah, so Bill, I just wanted to highlight this because I think it's commendable that you called her
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office to offer her support. I think that it's important that we all start standing up for one
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another when the woke mob tries to gaslight us, cancel us, and take us down. The last comment
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today comes from Mike Height9855, who said, I fly between Edmonton and Amsterdam 12 times a year,
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and the days vary. Every plane coming home to Alberta, the plane is full. 90% of the people on
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the plane are East Indians and predominantly Sikhs. This has been going on since COVID ended. These
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are not immigrants dressed in suits and ties and what would you consider professional types,
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but middle-aged to senior people with a small percentage of younger families.
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There are three flights a day to Canada all leaving around the same time in the afternoon.
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Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto departures. The other planes have about the same amount of East Indians
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on them as you walk between the gates and look. The Premier said, we didn't want any more immigrants,
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but I can tell you the amount of people coming in has not slowed down even a little bit.
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So yeah, Mike, the last comment I decided to highlight today was yours because of a similar
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anecdote a family member recently shared with me. He was on a plane coming back to Canada,
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and he said it was filled with Indians who didn't speak a word of English and couldn't even figure out
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how to open the bathroom door on the airplane. These are the type of immigrants we have coming into
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Canada by the millions. Look outside. Surely this isn't the Canada you remember growing up.
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So I'd like to thank everyone for making it all the way through my third episode of hosting the
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Alberta Roundup. Every week I get to host the show, I grow a deeper admiration for my job and
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the great honor that it is to have this opportunity to share these stories with you all.
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As for those who have recommended that I get a comb, I think my mom actually tried to give me one once,
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but I said no thanks. I don't need a comb because my hand, you know, it does the trick.
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Also, I didn't just wake up. This took me like 5-10 minutes in the mirror and I know it's a fiasco,
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but it's a delicate art people and my hair is, yeah, it's not what it used to be. Anyways, thank you,