Alberta stands up to feds, passes Sovereignty Act
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Summary
The Alberta government has approved the sovereignty act, the United Conservative Party is pulling ahead of the NDP in recent polling, the Premier has secured Tylenol for kids, and Danielle Smith skips Rachel Notley s portrait unveiling. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
Transcript
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It's the family and friends event at Shoppers Drug Mart.
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Get 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise.
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Tuesday, February 24th, and Wednesday, February 25th.
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Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup.
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I know you guys miss me, but I was overseas doing some very important work.
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Now we have a lot to catch up on, so let's jump into today's topics.
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The Alberta legislature has approved the Sovereignty Act.
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The United Conservative Party is pulling ahead of the NDP in recent polling.
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And Danielle Smith skips Rachel Notley's portrait unveiling.
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All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's Sovereignty Act passed through the Alberta legislature
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It feels like we've been talking about the Sovereignty Act for months.
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Danielle Smith first pitched a Sovereignty Act during the United Conservative Party leadership race
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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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Some say the bubbles in an arrow truffle piece can take 34 seconds to melt in your mouth.
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Sometimes the very amount you're stuck at the same red light.
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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.
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In its final form, Bill 1, or the Alberta Sovereignty within the United Canada Act,
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was stripped of a provision which would have granted Smith's cabinet the power
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to rewrite laws outside the legislative process.
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Following criticism, the government put forward amendments to remove those powers.
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But the Premier wouldn't say whether the original wording was intentional.
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The House then moved into third reading and the bill was approved around 1am Mountain Time
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The final vote was 27-4 and 7 against, with opposition NDP MLAs voting against the legislation.
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The NDP also voted against the amendment and the bill at all three readings.
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It's also worth noting the NDP didn't offer any amendments to Bill 1.
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But before its passage, NDP leader Rachel Notley hosted a press conference on Wednesday
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with former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge to convince Premier Smith
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that her flagship bill would chase away investment in the province.
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Unfortunately, it seems to me that even proposing the Sovereignty Act
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creates a climate of uncertainty which makes it less attractive for investors to participate
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Whatever its final form, the Act is a signal to the world that we don't quite know what we're doing,
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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.
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Take a listen to her exchange with Notley in the Legislature this week.
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Mr. Speaker, today I stood with the former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mr. David Dodge.
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Mr. Dodge, very articulately, impressed upon Albertans how the Premier's Sovereignty Act,
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So let me get this straight. We have a Liberal appointee to the Bank of Canada,
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who is not even from Alberta, who didn't read the bill,
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who didn't read the amendments, and quite frankly, the Bank of Canada increased interest rates 0.5% again today,
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which actually has a dampening effect on investment, coming to Alberta to tell us how to run our affairs.
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You know, I'm wondering who this opposition leader is going to have at her next press conference.
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Polling from the Angus Reid Institute has previously found that a majority of Albertans
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don't support the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which Danielle Smith says she hopes she never has to use.
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Danielle Smith has the approval of 42% of Albertans. She placed six out of Canada's Premiers,
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ahead of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and behind BC Premier David Eby.
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Under Smith's leadership, the UCP is also polling ahead of the NDP for the first time since September.
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According to a Main Street research poll, the United Conservative Party is leading by two points,
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and an Angus Reid poll shows the UCP leading by four points.
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says shelves will soon be restocked with children's pain medication,
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after reaching a tentative deal with a Turkish manufacturer to supply five million bottles
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The deal with Adabane Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals is still subject to approval from Health Canada,
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but provincial officers are confident the supplier will be green lighted to ship medications to Alberta
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Shelves across Canada have been stripped bare of the fever reducing medications,
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with pharmacists keeping supplies behind the counter to prevent stockpiling.
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Take a listen to what the Premier had to say about it earlier this week.
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Right now, your government is working with Alberta Health Services and Health Canada on
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the details and logistics to import this medicine. And you can feel confident that we are all moving
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as quickly as we can, so that Alberta families can get what they need. And it will be available at your
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local pharmacy in short order once it arrives. I know there's still more work to do, and I want you
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to know that your government is listening. I truly hope that this new supply will provide
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a little bit more comfort and relief to our families. I'd now like to invite Minister Copping
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Now, it seems for some people the glass is always half empty. There is a fair number of
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criticism to this announcement. One Twitter user says the bottles won't address the systemic failures
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of the UCP under both Kenny and now Smith. Another user calls it a Band-Aid solution.
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And still another says the bottles will alleviate a few symptoms of a viral infection,
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but not complications from the trifecta of viruses impacting children.
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Well, I'm sure parents of sick kids are very relieved to hear about the announcement.
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Another big story coming out of Alberta this week, this one is from the CBC's Janet French.
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A new code of conduct for Alberta teachers requires them to report to authorities any
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colleague who harms or abuses a student. The new code, which will apply to all of the
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province's 53,000 teachers as of January 1, could see teachers who conceal their colleagues abusive
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behavior also be charged with unprofessional conduct. This seems like a very positive step to
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me. What do you guys think? Moving into the controversy of the week. Premier Smith skipped
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NDP leader Rachel Snotley portrait unveiling at the Alberta legislature earlier this week.
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Shortly before 11 a.m. on Thursday, word came that Smith wouldn't attend.
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She sent Nathan Newdorf, one of her deputy premiers. In a statement, Smith's office said,
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Premier Smith had hoped to attend Rachel Notley's portrait unveiling ceremony.
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However, she attended an important meeting with the Keytas Key Now Tribal Council
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and a caucus meeting. Deputy Premier Nathan Newdorf joined the unveiling ceremony in her place.
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The Calgary Herald's Dawn Braid says premiers always pay the respect for past premiers at these affairs.
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Notley, in fact, did it herself three times when she was the premier unveiling portraits of former
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PC premiers Alison Redford, Dave Hancock, and Jim Prentice. Okay guys, what we're watching in the
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weeks to come, this is not an Alberta specific story, it is a national story, but I have been
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keeping you guys updated with it and I promise that I would keep you in the loop about recent updates.
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You guys know that the Liberals tried to sneak in a last-minute amendment to Bill C-21 to further
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restrict access to semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, including those primarily used by hunters,
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farmers, and sports shooters. During question period on Thursday, several NDP MPs stood up
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and denounced the government's move. NDP MP Taylor Bacharach said people feel hoodwinked by
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the last-minute amendment as the government goes after the tools his neighbors use for hunting,
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predator control, and backcountry safety. When is the Prime Minister going to realize the mistake he's
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made, fix this mess, and back up the bus? Meanwhile, NDP MP Alistair McGregor also had some choice words
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for the Liberal government, and we'll play those for you now. Mr. Speaker, the government's proposed
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amendment to C-21 has become a textbook case on what not to do. This change was brought in at the 11th
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hour with no consultation and no testimony. It has distracted from the original purpose of the bill,
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and it hurts rural communities. Hunters, farmers, and indigenous communities are outraged that some
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of the rifles and shotguns that they used to provide for their families could be banned. The Minister of
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Public Safety blindsided Canadians when he made this mess. How is he going to fix it?
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But not everyone was so impressed. Conservative MP Dane Lloyd said it's about
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time the NDP joined the official opposition in standing up for firearms owners. Okay guys,
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I'm ending on a light noted topic for you here. The official Last of Us trailer is here.
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The Last of Us is an upcoming HBO American post-apocalyptic drama television series.
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It's based on the 2013 video game, and the series follows a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenager
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across the post-apocalyptic United States. But why are we talking about this? Well, the series,
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said to be the largest television production in Canadian history, was filmed in Alberta from July
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2021 to June 2022. Definitely take a look at the trailer and see which Alberta landmarks you can find.
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Okay guys, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for tuning in.
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