AB Justice Minister Mandated to Fight Back Against Ottawa, Review COVID Response

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Justice Mickey Amery stand together during the swearing in of her cabinet, in Edmonton on June 9, 2023. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Alberta’s new minister of justice, lawyer Mickey Amery, has been given an extensive list of priorities from Premier Danielle Smith, which includes introducing compassionate intervention legislation to address drug addicts or those who are a danger to themselves or others, and continuing constitutional challenges against Ottawa’s ban on plastics and against environmental regulations.

Ms. Smith’s Aug. 1 mandate letter to Mr. Amery includes instructions to work with the health minister and minister of mental health and addiction to assess proposed federal euthanasia amendments that would allow assisted suicide for those with mental health conditions.

Mr. Amery is also tasked with reviewing various election-related acts to improve the release of results on voting day “to strengthen public trust” in the integrity of provincial and municipal elections. The premier has also asked the minister to improve “the investigation and enforcement of election rules before and during election periods.”

The justice minister has been mandated to review decisions of the ethics commissioner to establish guidelines and rules to clarify “appropriate interactions between all ministries and the Justice Minister and Attorney General,” which include implementing mandatory governance training for new MLAs.

This follows an earlier statement by the premier on May 18 that she would ensure there were formal guidelines in place for future policy discussions with her justice minister, after the Alberta Ethics Commissioner decided a conversation Ms. Smith had with then-Justice Minister Tyler Shandro about ongoing COVID prosecutions was problematic.

Since that report was issued, a newly released court decision issued on July 31 has found that public health orders issued by the province’s chief medical officer of health during COVID were invalid from the start, because they were enacted outside the legislative powers provided by the Public Health Act.

Legal experts have since told The Epoch Times that every prosecution launched against Albertans who allegedly violated public health orders prior to September 2021 are now null and void.

Also on the COVID front, Ms. Smith has instructed Mr. Amery to review the findings of the Public Health Emergencies Governance Review Panel—convened to assess the government’s response to COVID—once released, to improve the province’s emergency governance in the future, a campaign promise that Ms. Smith made in the fall of 2022.

Other priorities include reviewing court resources and implementing remote court applications, more digitization and streamlining of family court matters, and addressing the need for funding increases to improve the province’s justice system, including making legal aid more accessible.

Mr. Amery will also have the task of pushing back against Ottawa, with the premier asking him to continue constitutional challenges against the federal government’s decision to label plastics as “toxic substances,” and against the federal Impact Assessment Act, which affects all new projects in the province.

The premier has asked the justice minister to use all available political and legal channels to eliminate Ottawa’s consumer carbon tax, and work with other ministers to review the Canadian Energy Centre, otherwise known as the “war room.”

Mr. Amery will be working with Mike Ellis, public safety minister, to develop strategies to address the province’s rising crime, specifically “to ensure violent criminals and gang members are detained and effectively prosecuted.” He is also tasked with working with Mr. Ellis to develop a specialized prosecution unit to “address deteriorating safety in Alberta’s major urban centres.”

Noticeably absent from the mandate letter is a discussion of a plan from fall of 2022 to consider dumping the RCMP in favour of municipal and provincial police forces. While there is no formal agenda, Mr. Amery said the government will continue discussions with Albertans on matters related to policing. A mandate letter to Mr. Ellis instructs him to work with communities to develop local policing options.