Juno News - December 12, 2022Smith's Sovereignty Act passes
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Summary
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's Sovereignty Act passed through the Alberta legislature in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, just 10 days after it was tabled. It s a big deal for her, having made good on her promise that a sovereignty act would be her first bill as Premier if elected.
Transcript
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's Sovereignty Act passed through the Alberta legislature in the
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early hours of the morning on Thursday. It was just 10 days after it was tabled.
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It feels like we've been talking about the Sovereignty Act for months. Well, because we
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have. Danielle Smith first pitched a Sovereignty Act during the United Conservative Party leadership
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race as a means to bar federal legislation deemed harmful to Alberta and its interest.
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She said, in fact, a Sovereignty Act would be her first bill as Premier if elected.
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So this is a big deal for her, having made good on that promise.
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The United Conservative Party majority government passed motions at the final three stages of the
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bill to limit debate and quicken the bill's passage. In its final form, Bill 1, or the Alberta Sovereignty
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within the United Canada Act, was stripped of a provision which would have granted Smith's
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cabinet the power to rewrite laws outside the legislative process. Following criticism,
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the government put forward amendments to remove those powers, but the Premier wouldn't say whether
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the original wording was intentional. The House then moved into third reading and the bill was
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approved around 1 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday morning. The final vote was 27-4 and 7-against,
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with opposition NDP MLAs voting against the legislation. The NDP also voted against the
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amendment and the bill at all three readings. It's also worth noting the NDP didn't offer
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any amendments to Bill 1, but before its passage, NDP leader Rachel Notley hosted a press conference
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on Wednesday with former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge to convince Premier Smith that her flagship
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bill would chase away investment in the province. Here's what Dodge had to say.
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Unfortunately, it seems to me that even proposing the Sovereignty Act creates a climate of uncertainty,
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which makes it less attractive for investors to participate in the building of such a platform
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for growth. Whatever its final form, the Act is a signal to the world that we don't quite know what
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we're doing, that we can't quite get the fundamental stuff right.
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That press conference didn't go over very well with the Premier. Take a listen to her exchange
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with Notley in the legislature this week. Mr. Speaker, today I stood with the former Governor
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of the Bank of Canada, Mr. David Dodge. Mr. Dodge very articulately impressed upon Albertans how the
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Premier's Sovereignty Act, amended or not, will harm our economy.
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So let me get this straight. We have a Liberal appointee to the Bank of Canada, who is not even
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from Alberta, who didn't read the bill, who didn't read the amendments, and quite frankly, the Bank of
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Canada increased interest rates 0.5 percent again today, which actually has a dampening effect
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on investment, coming to Alberta to tell us how to run our affairs. You know, I'm wondering who this
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opposition leader is going to have at her next press conference. Maybe she should just invite Justin Trudeau.