What to Expect in the Throne Speech
What to Expect in the Throne Speech
Aaron Singleton
When the next issue of The NEWS by Alberta Counsel is released, the 31st Legislature will have officially commenced for its inaugural sitting. At the time of writing, MLAs are scheduled to sit between October 30th and December 7th, 2023. With that said, there has been plenty of speculation circulating that tells us this sitting could wrap up even sooner.
Of course, the sessional calendar should be read as more of a guideline as sittings rarely last for the exact number of days scheduled.
In the last issue of The NEWS, we explored what Albertans should expect to see during the upcoming sitting. This week, we want to take a deeper dive into what Albertans might expect to hear in the Speech from the Throne when it is read on October 30th.
What is a Throne Speech?
There is always plenty of pomp and circumstance surrounding the event when it happens, but what is the significance?
The throne provides the government of the day with an opportunity to share what they hope to accomplish over the coming session and some general remarks about how they intend to do it. As the King serves as the head of state in our Commonwealth at the federal level, the same is true for our provincial assembly. With that said, this function traditionally falls to their representative – the Lieutenant Governor.
Although the government is tasked with writing the throne speech, it falls under the responsibility of the King’s representative (or the King himself if he is present) to lead the address to Albertans as the highest ranking official in the province. Today, the Lieutenant Governor is Salma Lakhani.
The throne speech is so important in a parliamentary democracy like ours that the government cannot carry out business until it has been introduced in the Legislature. The event typically attracts a number of dignitaries and key stakeholders from across the province.
Themes to Watch for in the Throne Speech
Under Premier Danielle Smith, there is only one previous Speech from the Throne that we can refer to. As that event happened immediately following her leadership and byelection victories (and preceding the provincial election), we are expecting to see a more traditional speech that one would normally see from a majority government in the early days.
Overall, our readers should expect to hear very similar language and ideas in the throne speech that were raised by the United Conservatives during this past spring’s general election.
Affordability.
Public Safety.
Alberta First.
None of this should really come as a surprise to anyone who followed the provincial election in May as those were common messaging arcs from the UCP. We also expect to see Bill 1 tabled along with the throne speech which will centre around requiring referenda to increase personal or business taxes.
In addition to the obvious, here are some of the key themes we will be keeping an eye out for.
Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act Motion
For clarity, we do not expect a motion on the sovereignty act in conjunction with the speech; however, we do expect to hear reference to the possible use of the controversial bill in the address.
Specifically, it is likely there will be some discussion about the use of the legislation in relation to the federal government’s proposed Clean Energy Regulations (CER). Premier Danielle Smith has gone on record saying that her government is indeed preparing a motion for introduction in the Legislature but hopes they do not have to resort to it. While there are a number of objections that Alberta holds against the federal government’s environmental plans, the key focus is the 2030 reductions on oil and gas emissions along with the 2035 net-zero cap.
“If we can get aligned on 2050, then we won’t need to build a fence to defend our constitution.”
With Alberta’s recent victory at the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to their challenge of the Impact Assessment Act, the provincial government may feel more emboldened to use the sovereignty act if the federal government does not budge. While the CERs do not come into effect until 2030, don’t be surprised if the provincial government uses this fall as their opportunity to “test” their legislation.
In a Post Media column written by Rick Bell, Premier Smith doubled down by saying “if they are trying to pretend they somehow still have the right to proceed with their offensive pieces of legislation they’re fooling themselves. It’s illegal and we’re not going to stand for it.”
Health Care Reform
Although we do not expect the fall sitting to drag on, the sessional period extends beyond one sitting. For that reason, it is important to remember that we should expect to hear what the government’s plans are for at least the next calendar year.
Recently, the subject of health care reform – specifically the decentralization of Alberta Health Services – has been coming up more and more frequently. The recent announcement from AHS that enhanced masking requirements will be left to zone and site leadership to implement all but confirms that this initiative is already in motion.
In her mandate letter addressed to Minister Adriana LaGrange, Premier Smith included decentralization as a key objective for Health to address.
“A primary focus of our government over the next four years will be to ensure Albertans have improved access to world-class health care when and where they need it. To accomplish this task, you will need to demonstrate creativity, responsiveness to public concerns, and a willingness to reform the management and structure of Alberta Health Services to better decentralize decision-making and resources to the front lines and local communities. We need to foster an environment within AHS and the entire health community that welcomes innovation and incentivizes the best patient care.”
Alberta Pension Plan
Although we have already heard about the government’s continued looking into of a provincial pension, we would not be surprised to hear additional details about this come October 30th. Recently, the province indicated that it will hold a series of five telephone townhalls for Albertans to provide their input and thoughts about what the proposed provincial pension could look like.
On the Ryan Jespersen podcast “Real Talk”, Finance Minister Nate Horner told listeners that Alberta will not consider adopting the Quebec model in the event it decides to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan. In Quebec, their pension plan holds two functions – optimize returns for pensioners and investing in Quebec.
While Premier Smith previously said she does not want to predispose how the Alberta Pension Plan would operate, Minister Horner said unequivocally that “we want everyone to know clearly that this (Alberta investment model) will be for the operation of the pension plan.”
As the consultations will be taking place after the throne speech takes place, we do not expect that the province will be divulging any ground-breaking news. Rather, we could hear details about other consultation initiatives the province will take (if any) and the benefits of moving forward with the government’s proposal with respect to controlling our finances.
The opposition NDP have launched their own version of a pension consultation survey. To date, they have reportedly collected more than 25,000 responses to their online survey. This is expected to be one of the most hotly debated issues of the coming term as a potential referendum would be held in conjunction with the 2025 municipal elections, so we will continue to update our readers as more details become available.