RED DEER, Alta.—Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government’s proposed changes to the provincial Bill of Rights are still open for feedback to allow further changes.
Speaking at the UCP annual general meeting on Nov. 1, Smith noted that amending the bill was something the membership asked for during last year’s convention, and that further changes are still possible depending on the debates at this year’s convention.
“We did come through with the direction we got from members last year, with a Bill of Rights amendment that’s going to entrench rights for firearms owners, make sure that we’re giving just compensation for violations of property rights, making sure that you never, ever, ever get forced to take a vaccine,” Smith said.
“Now I do know that … there are things that we might have missed, and that’s why we kept the bill open, we’re going to continue to listen to what you have to say during that debate.”
On the second day of the convention on Nov. 2, Smith will be facing a leadership vote, and party members will be voting on adopting policy resolutions. The policy items are not binding for the government, but reflect the wish of the party members.
The provincial Bill of Rights was first introduced by then-Premier Peter Lougheed in 1972, and hasn’t been significantly updated since then.
Amendments tabled by Smith’s government on Oct. 28 include adding language to say that Albertans can’t be “coerced” into receiving medical treatment unless they are “likely to cause substantial harm to themselves or to others.” The language is meant to leave the door open for cases such as involuntary addiction treatment.
The interpretation of the word “coerced” will be left to the courts, according to Justice Minister Mickey Amery.
The amendments also add language about protecting gun rights, making government property expropriation more difficult, and expanding the scope of freedom of expression from just written and spoken language to include “other expressive activities.”
The bill applies to laws and actions of the provincial government, rather than to federal laws or actions by the federal government.
“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects Canadians from both laws and actions of the federal and provincial governments. The Alberta Human Rights Act applies to actions of the private sector,” reads a summary of the bill.
The bill has already come under criticism for some of its language.
For example, some point out that subsections that say the freedoms declared by the bill are subject to “reasonable limits prescribed by law” in effect act the same as Section 1 of the federal Charter of Rights, which similarly makes rights and freedoms “subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law.” During the pandemic, this section was cited in courts when saying public health measures such as mandates were considered reasonable limits on individual rights.
“Disappointing drafting for the proposed Alberta Bill of Rights. Why copy one of the biggest mistakes from the Canadian Charter?” Bruce Pardy, professor of law at Queen’s University, said on the X platform.
The Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms expressed a similar concern.
“In theory, this language could result in citizens’ rights and freedoms being protected from abuse by government, but in practice judges have interpreted these words to make it easy for governments to violate fundamental Charter freedoms,” the centre said.
“If Bill 24 passes in its current form, Albertans could be coerced into receiving medical care, treatments, or procedures if it is believed that the ‘individual is likely to cause substantial harm to that individual or to others’ by not receiving it.”
Convention
The two-day convention, which this year has a record attendance of around 6,000 people, opened on Nov. 1 with the singing of the national anthem.Crowds cheered when the performer kept the original verse of the song, “in all thy sons command,” rather than the gender-neutral verse, “in all of us command,” that was adopted by the Parliament in 2018. The rendition of the anthem was followed by a prayer.
Finance Minister Nate Horner said he’s working on the next budget and the challenges with the population surge while maintaining funding for healthcare, education, and social services.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis talked about adding new police officers in different jurisdictions in the province, while Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz talked about “defending Alberta” against the federal government’s different environmental policies such as oil and gas sector emissions cap and methane regulations.
Energy Minister Brian Jean said he’s focusing on developing the province’s oil and gas and other types of energy sector resources such as lithium, while Justice Minister Amery talked about the government’s proposed legislation to ensure free speech for regulated professionals, as well as the province’s legal fights against the the federal government, including on gun ownership and home heating carbon tax.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides talked about building new schools, while Health Minister Adriana LaGrange talked about her consultations around the province about how the existing system wasn’t functioning and the need for overhaul.
But the items that got the most cheers from the crowd were the ministerial updates about the Bill of Rights amendment, standing up to Ottawa, and banning gender transition for minors.
“It’s very important that we make sure that girls … are not forced to compete against larger, stronger, more physically capable transgender athletes, but also that everybody has a place to play and recreate,” said Alberta Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow.
His comment was with respect to new pieces of legislation introduced by the government on Oct. 31, which require keeping female sports divisions restricted to women, ban gender transition for minors, and require parental consent for children to change pronouns at school.
After ministerial updates, Smith and her cabinet ministers took questions from the audience. The activities of the day concluded with party members reviewing and voting on governance resolutions.
