Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is considering introducing legislation to prohibit regulatory colleges from imposing penalties on individuals for their political beliefs.
Smith says the move would prevent people like well-known Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson from being reprimanded for speaking out on sensitive issues.
“Free speech seems to be constantly under attack in this country,” Smith said in a recent social media post. “As Premier, I will continue to fight for free speech here in Alberta, including for the right for people like Dr. Jordan Peterson to say what is on their mind.”
Smith also addressed the issue on the ‘Your Province. Your Premier.’ radio show after receiving a question from a constituent.
The courts are limited by professional bodies having the authority to govern free from any influence exerted by politicians or judges, Smith said.
“We’ve given absolute power to professional bodies to govern in a way without interference, then politicians don’t interfere and the courts don’t interfere,” she said.
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“That’s the lesson that I took from the Supreme Court, that if we want to change the way the professional bodies operate, we’ve got to legislate the changes,” she added, referencing a recent decision by Canada’s highest court to dismiss Peterson’s legal challenge of the reprimand issued by the College of Psychologists of Ontario.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery is currently reviewing the operations of professional colleges in the province, Smith said.
She described the bodies governing doctors, lawyers, and other professions as necessary to ensure professional conduct, but said their authority should be “very narrowly defined” to ensure they stay in their lane.
“We’ve had stories in the past where lawyers misused trust funds or doctors have over-billed,” she said. “Those are the kind of things that we want and need the professional college to look at.”
The government review of professional college operations will determine if legislation will be required “to confine them,” Smith said, adding that the province is “prepared to do that,” but may not be able to address the issue this fall.
“If we have to get to it in the spring, we will,” she said. “We have to find a way to get the professional colleges focusing on the real harms that are being caused, as opposed to trying to dictate to members what their thinking should be on any issue.”
Peterson Case
Peterson’s case has received national attention since 2022 and was in the news again earlier this month when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear his case and dismissed it “with costs.”Peterson was appealing a 2022 order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) that he undergo a social media training program on professionalism in making public statements. The order was issued after the college received complaints about social media posts made by Peterson.
The college said some of his posts referencing a plus-sized model, transgender actor Elliot Page, and several politicians may be “degrading” to the profession and could be classified as professional misconduct.
The well-known author has contested the college’s allegations, saying his comments were not made in his official role as a clinical psychologist. Peterson has been a registered member of the CPO since 1999 but has not seen any patients since 2017, according to court documents.
Peterson, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto in psychology, said the top court’s decision will subject him to “indefinite re-education.”
