Juno News - December 02, 2023Smith invokes Sovereignty Act to “protect Albertans” from Trudeau gov
Episode Stats
Words per minute
158.7157
Harmful content
Misogyny
1
sentences flagged
Toxicity
1
sentences flagged
Summary
In this week's show, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invoked the sovereignty act for the first time to challenge federal regulations which would require Alberta to have a net zero electricity grid by 2035. The province has also banned photo radar in order to protect the public from being targeted by anti-social drivers. Finally, you won't want to miss the Alberta politics funny moment of the week, as host Andrew Lund gives his insights into the province and some of the major news stories I missed while I was away.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:03.840
We are back to our regular programming. If you haven't had a chance to see my episode
00:00:08.200
from last week yet, head over to YouTube and give that a watch. You won't want to miss
00:00:12.920
True North host Andrew Lund's insights onto the province of Alberta and some of the major news
00:00:18.540
stories that I missed while I was away. That being said, we have a great show for you guys today. A
00:00:23.880
lot of big things happening in the province. Here's a look at what we'll be discussing today.
00:00:28.560
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invoked the Sovereignty Act for the first time.
00:00:32.820
There's also been some positive changes regarding PhotoWriter and a huge investment into the
00:00:38.440
province which will create thousands of jobs. Finally, you won't want to miss the Alberta
00:00:43.880
politics funny moment of the week. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:57.940
Okay guys, up first, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she's invoking the Sovereignty Act
00:01:03.220
for the first time to challenge Ottawa's regulations which would require a net zero electricity grid by
00:01:10.060
2035. No doubt you remember that Danielle Smith first pitched the Sovereignty Act during the United
00:01:15.640
Conservative Party leadership race. It was very controversial at the time. Of course, she won that
00:01:21.060
race and it was her first piece of legislation as Premier. The bill was pitched as a mean to bar
0.98
00:01:26.680
federal legislation deemed harmful to Alberta and its interests. In this case, Smith said she invoked
00:01:32.480
the act to show that she was serious about challenging Ottawa's energy regulations which
00:01:36.980
would wreak havoc on Alberta's natural gas-based grid. Here's what she had to say about invoking
00:01:42.620
the Sovereignty Act to reporters on Monday. We developed this legislation to shield the province
00:01:48.200
from federal intrusions and we're using it now because the consequences of this particular
00:01:53.680
overreach would be so severe. Alberta will bear the largest share of the expenses required to meet these
00:02:00.060
absurd targets and consumers and businesses will see their bills soar. If the federal government has its
00:02:06.160
way, many people will be left without electricity that they can pay for on a power grid that will
00:02:12.680
fall short or even fail in a typical Alberta winter or summer. I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to
00:02:18.800
you all, but Environment Minister Stephen Gobeau doesn't appear to be taking the Premier seriously.
00:02:24.060
Here was his response to the news that she would be invoking the Sovereignty Act for the first time to
00:02:29.120
challenge his government. We will continue moving ahead with this. There is no legal basis for what
00:02:34.840
Alberta is doing and we feel that we're on very solid ground and the fact that we already have
00:02:41.140
some provinces who are on board with us as well as a number of private companies and investors who say
00:02:45.940
that this is the way to the future. Under the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act,
00:02:50.720
the Premier put forward a motion which would require the Alberta government to take several actions.
00:02:56.960
Most notable among the actions, it would compel Alberta regulators and officials not to comply with
00:03:02.860
regulations so long as they are not breaking federal law. Those regulations are still in draft, but they
00:03:09.280
are expected to be enacted soon. The motion also calls on Alberta to look into creating a crowd electricity
00:03:15.900
corporation. Now the purpose of this crowd corporation would not be to compete with Alberta's private
00:03:22.760
electricity power system, but rather to look into generating electricity in the case of a shortage.
00:03:28.680
Moving into the controversy of the week, the Alberta government has banned photo radar on ring roads
00:03:34.580
around Edmonton and Calgary. It says it will instead allow the cities to move those photo radar cameras to
00:03:40.660
places like construction zones, schools, and playgrounds. There are currently eight photo radar cameras on
00:03:46.860
Calgary's ring road and a whopping 22 cameras in Edmonton. When making the announcement last week,
00:03:52.780
Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Drieschen said,
00:03:55.060
Alberta's are concerned that these photo radar cameras are not being used because of safety,
00:04:00.740
but rather to generate revenue for the cities. Here's what that sounded like.
00:04:05.200
Now, some Albertans believe that municipalities operate photo radar solely to generate revenue
00:04:11.640
and is not for the improvement of traffic safety. So there's a lot of concern over fishing holes that
00:04:19.020
we've heard from Albertans. Now, since then, we've now had years worth of data to review.
00:04:24.820
And we have come to the conclusion that some photo radar sites are indeed designed to generate
00:04:29.760
revenue, not to improve safety. So let me be perfectly clear, this will end here in the
00:04:34.940
province of Alberta. The Alberta government will now work with law enforcement to remove all fishing
00:04:39.980
hole locations, referring to cameras where there is no safety concern. Now, the reason I put this story
00:04:46.220
as the controversy of the week, because while it is trending in the right direction, it does not quite go far
00:04:52.140
enough. Comment below if you agree that it is time for Alberta to ban photo radar entirely, perhaps more
00:04:59.280
importantly, email your city councillors and let them know that you hate these policies. And while we're at it,
00:05:05.460
let's do away with those stupid drive safe vehicles. I cannot stand this program. I couldn't believe it that
1.00
00:05:11.720
shortly after moving to Alberta, I received a ticket in the mail for $120 for going 10 kilometers over the speed limit.
00:05:19.140
An officer would never ticket you that much, they probably wouldn't even pull you over for going 10
00:05:25.080
kilometers an hour over the speed limit. At least in Ontario, it's generally considered that the speed
00:05:30.600
limit is just 10 kilometers an hour over whatever is posted. So it's one thing if you get pulled over
00:05:36.300
fair and square, then it's up to you to reason your way out of that ticket. But I really don't agree with
00:05:41.640
these policies. I don't like that the government is watching all our actions, constantly finding new ways to
00:05:48.360
monitor us, and then penalizing us if we don't comply with their regulations. Comment below if you agree.
00:05:55.680
Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Federal Finance Minister
00:06:00.680
Christopher Freeland this week announced a $8.9 billion investment by Dow into the province's Fort Saskatchewan area.
00:06:09.700
That will become home to Dow's Path Zero facility, the world's first net zero scope one and two greenhouse gas emissions,
00:06:16.640
integrated ethylene cracker and derivative site. Now for those of you who thought that was a little bit of word salad,
00:06:22.580
here's the great takeaway. It will create 6,000 construction jobs and 400 to 500 permanent jobs once the site is operational.
00:06:30.140
In an announcement on Wednesday, government officials were joined by Dow CEO Jim Thetterling.
00:06:36.360
He said products made at this facility will have greenhouse gas footprints less than half of products made at other
00:06:42.500
plastic alternatives. He added, quote, we intend to take that to zero. Christia Freeland said the
00:06:48.440
investment is evidence that her government's plans are working. Here's what that sounded like.
00:06:53.880
We said that those tax credits would create great careers for Canadians, for people like the great Canadians
00:07:00.440
who are here with me, that they would build stronger communities and help reduce our emissions at the same time.
00:07:14.220
Moving into the Alberta politics funny moment of the week, you guys are going to love this.
00:07:19.180
Transportation Minister Devon Drieschen was being interviewed by 630 chat host Stacey Bratzel
00:07:24.400
about his photo rater when she asked him about the Alberta Sovereignty Act, reminding him that his former boss
00:07:30.860
and former Premier Jason Kenney once called the Sovereignty Act illegal, cockamamie,
00:07:36.280
and said it would turn Alberta into a banana republic.
00:07:41.340
But your old boss called it cockamamie and illegal and would turn us into a banana republic,
00:07:56.800
Okay, guys, that's everything we have for you today.
00:07:58.560
Thank you so much for tuning in to the Alberta Roundup.
00:08:01.060
As always, if you're able, please consider supporting our work over at donate.tnc.news.