The Sovereignty Act Has Passed – What Comes Next?

In the early morning hours of a chilly December sitting day, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act (ASWAUC) was passed in the Alberta Legislature. Premier Danielle Smith’s cornerstone piece of legislation need only receive royal assent to officially become law in the wildrose province (though a date for the ceremony has yet to be set).

Government MLAs arose for a standing ovation upon the successful 27-7 vote in favour of the ASWAUC Act in third reading. While debate surely could have continued for some time, closure was invoked by Government House Leader Joseph Schow, saying “there has been plenty of time for members to speak” given the hours allotted for debate throughout the process.

Now that the bill has been passed, what are the main players saying about the bill?

Premier Danielle Smith

On the weekly radio show hosted by Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith spoke to listeners about an example of when the ASWAUC Act could have been enacted in the past.

“How many people love the fact that they are now having to use paper straws? I can tell because I have a restaurant and when you want to give a kid a root beer float, we have to plan to give them four paper straws because they get so destroyed.”

“Wouldn’t it have been better to say in advance ‘hold on a second, we can recycle plastics our own way’ without identifying things that just don’t make sense and get people talking about it in advance and be able to develop a policy around recycling that makes sense.”

While the example cited may have seemed strange on the surface, the takeaway from this hypothetical is that the province ought to look for ways to retain authority to manage certain things in-house rather than follow the regulations implemented by the federal government.

Rachel Notley

Following the ceremony unveiling her portrait as Alberta’s 17th premier, Rachel Notley held a media availability calling for action against the ASWAUC Act.

“So today, along with Irfan Sabir, we are calling on Danielle Smith to refer this act immediately to the Alberta Court of Appeal for a ruling on its constitutionality before the act is proclaimed and becomes law.”

Although it is highly unlikely that the UCP will refer their own legislation to the Court of Appeal, Notley did indicate that she would expect some sort of legal challenge or reference to come from Indigenous leaders in the province. She was also asked about if she believes the Lieutenant Governor should deny royal assent to the contentious bill.

“I think that in some ways, that is going to create more chaos and I don’t think that is the best path, but I am not giving advice to the LG.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

The Prime Minister has previously said he is not interested in picking a fight with Alberta. “We are not going to get into arguing about something that obviously is the Alberta government trying to push back at the federal government”, but has also said that all options remain on the table.

“As we’ve seen, duly elected provincial governments can move forward on laws that we as a federal government disagree with. And the remedy for that is through the court system.”

More recently, the Prime Minister has raised Indigenous rights as a primary concern. “We are extremely concerned about what the sovereignty act in Alberta and Bill 88 in Saskatchewan represent in terms of challenges to treaty rights that are fundamental in Canada and need to be respected.”

Indigenous Leaders

While Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson has said that “should we have done more consultation? Absolutely,” some Indigenous Leaders are saying that acknowledgment is not enough. A recent report by Post Media indicates that a letter has been sent to Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani by Treaty 8 First Nations Grand Chief Arthur Noskey asking her to withhold royal assent on Bill 1.

Grand Chief Noskey also indicated that “the assertion that Bill 1 does not derogate from our treaty rights does not fix this,” and that “we are a sovereign partyer with the imperial Crown”.

Minister Wilson has promised to continue working with Alberta’s Indigenous leaders, but the path forward remains unclear. While there are some similarities of position between the three primary opponents to the legislation, there are also differences that make the future uncertain. It would be unlikely that the bill does not receive royal assent; however, a legal challenge could come on the first instance of the legislation’s use against the federal government.

Needless to say, we have not heard the last of the ASWAUC Act in the news.