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As much as he has been pointing out the obvious, it was significant to hear Prime Minister Jason Kenney describe the idea of an Alberta Sovereignty Act as “crazy.”
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Party members can decide if this is an appropriate intrusion into the UCP leadership race, but any new policy proposal inadvertently puts the outgoing PM on the defensive (i.e. “why didn’t he introduce this policy? ?”). Mind you, it could be argued that Kenney’s own role in creating unrealistic expectations about “countering back” against Ottawa has contributed to the apparent appetite in the game for such bizarre schemes.
So while Kenney has avoided any direct comment on the leadership race, he didn’t shy away from a question about the Alberta Sovereignty Act during his weekly radio appearance Saturday on 770CHQR and 630CHED. In Kenney’s view, under this law, “Alberta would become a ‘laughing stock,’ and that ‘Alberta basically ignoring and violating the Constitution in a way that is unprecedented in Canadian history…is insane.'”
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The premier is making many of the same points that other critics of the Alberta Sovereignty Act idea have made. And the prime minister and those other critics are largely correct in their assessment. Yes, this is unconstitutional. Yes, this creates chaos and will drive away investment. However, what everyone fails to appreciate is how convoluted and reckless this idea is.
The act itself can be something like a paper tiger initially. It is not very clear what federal law we would ignore, and it is generally not up to the provinces to enforce federal law. It’s basically just a statement, albeit with an ominous intent.
It would be similar to a bank robber writing a detailed letter explaining why he thinks he is legally authorized to rob banks. The letter does not change the law or make the act any less illegal.
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So if proponents of the Alberta Sovereignty Act want Alberta to take action that contravenes the Constitution, they must disregard the claim of the act itself and specify what they intend to do. An act of unconstitutionality does not shield the actions of unconstitutionality.
The same candidate who has proposed the Alberta Sovereignty Act has also proposed that Alberta establish a tax collection agency, similar to the one in Quebec. This idea has come up before, though it’s hard to see how Alberta benefits from the elimination of our current agreement with Revenue Canada. The creation of this agency would be enormously expensive and Albertans would have to deal with the hassle of filing two separate tax returns.
But according to the architects of the Free Alberta Strategy (where the idea for this act came from), the two ideas go hand in hand. (It should also be noted that the founder of Free Alberta Strategy is chairing the aforementioned campaign.)
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Between the Alberta Sovereignty Act, the proposed Alberta Revenue Agency, and a proposed third agency, there would be a massive scheme forcibly enlisting thousands of public servants in widespread tax evasion. As proposed, this third agency “would pay all public sector employees … and remit any taxes withheld to the Alberta Revenue Agency.”
The authors of the Free Alberta Strategy believe that these two agencies “would be immune from federal enforcement through the Canada Revenue Agency under the Alberta Sovereignty Act,” which is a fanciful and dangerous interpretation, since we are basically talking about trying to rob or hold federal officials hostage. tax revenue “Nuts” is probably not strong enough language to describe this.
So yes, it’s only fair to know how the current PM feels, and presumably one of the MLAs who would vote on this. Frankly, it’s good to know that there is skepticism and opposition within the UCP caucus to this ill-advised agenda.
But let us have no illusions about what the Free Alberta Strategy and the Alberta Sovereignty Act actually entail.
“Afternoon with Rob Breakenridge” airs Monday through Friday from 12:30 pm to 3 pm on 770CHQR and from 2 to 3 pm on 630CHED. [email protected] Twitter: @RobBreakenridge
