Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says it could be time for premiers to hold another constitutional convention.
At the province’s first Alberta Next panel town hall meeting in Red Deer Tuesday evening, the premier gauged the crowd’s appetite for getting other premiers together in a room to discuss reopening the constitution.
“There is a real appetite to fix some of these things that are just foundational,” Smith said near the end of the meeting.
Canada hasn’t engaged in formal constitutional negotiations since 1992, when the premiers and then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney failed to get Quebec to sign on to the 1982 constitution in the Charlottetown Accord negotiations.
The risk of reopening the constitution, Smith said, is that other provinces could attempt to include changes that Albertans may not want.
In a conference hall in Red Deer’s Westerner Park, a panel of 16 politicians, business leaders, medical professionals and others sat before six Alberta flags, hearing ideas, questions and comments from a crowd of at least 400 people.
Up for discussion at the town halls are the potential merits and drawbacks of creating a provincial police service, a provincial pension plan, and assuming more provincial responsibility for tax collection.
Organizers showed a series of videos asking attendees questions, such as considering changes to federal transfer arrangements — including equalization — changes to constitutional powers, and potentially withholding social benefits from some immigrants.
Smith said the number of sheriffs working in policing roles for a new provincial police service could double in size in the near future.
Event emcee and premier’s office staffer Bruce McAllister also held impromptu straw polls, asking attendees to raise their hands and hold them up if they supported creating an Alberta pension plan or an Alberta provincial police service.
Roughly 80 per cent of the people attending raised their hands in support of both.
Several residents, who said they came from Red Deer, Trochu, Sylvan Lake, Stettler and beyond, implored elected officials to act upon the proposals, adding that the government doesn’t need to hold referenda to make a decision.
Alberta law would require the government to hold a referendum before giving notice to pull out of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
A minority of attendees complained about the panel’s videos and online surveys, saying the information is biased in favour of acting on the proposals, blames Ottawa for provincial problems, and fails to consider the cost of such decisions.
Wade Collinge of Sylvan Lake was among speakers advocating to the panel for the separation of Alberta from Canada.
Reopening the constitution to make change is no solution, given the necessity of securing the support of Ontario or Quebec for any change, he said in an interview before the event.
“The west will never become equal in Canada, from what I understand, unless we can open the constitution, and opening the constitution is pretty much ironclad shut,” said Colligne, who was wearing an Alberta Prosperity Project tank top, and button that said, “Commonwealth of Alberta.”
The Alberta Prosperity Project is a separatist advocacy group.
Bill Tompkins drove an hour from Rocky Mountain House to attend the meeting to hear ideas about the province’s future, he said.
Tompkins, a separation advocate, likes the idea of a provincial police service and Alberta’s own pension plan. He said the federal government interferes too much in Alberta, and uses coercion by attaching conditions to spending federal funds.
“I feel that the federal government has mismanaged the taxpayers’ money — not only Albertans’ but all of them,” he said.
Attendees asked the panel to limit money flowing to Quebec through equalization, but also suggested emulating Quebec policies, including by holding a referendum on independence, so the rest of Canada takes Alberta’s grievances seriously.
Smith said Quebec is sitting on a cache of natural gas that it isn’t extracting, and that untapped revenue should be factored into Quebec’s share of equalization funding.
Some speakers pushed back against separatist sentiment, telling the panel that Albertans should be willing to support their fellow Canadians.
After the event, Dave Travers, who’s from Red Deer, said there was a large far-right wing element to the crowd, and that he doesn’t think their sentiments reflect most Albertans’ perspectives, as shown by public polling.
“Danielle Smith’s having a hard time just making her bed. And the house is looking awfully dirty,” he said, referring to the struggling health-care system, allegations about mismanagement of health contracts and procurement, and the rapid spread of measles in the province.
A few protesters gathered outside the venue, including Cassidy Simone, who said talk of separation ignores the rights of Indigenous people.
“I’m really concerned that we’re going to forget about Indigenous peoples and all the reconciliation that we have been working toward and trying to achieve within the past year,” Simone said.
Heather Plaizier, who lives near Sundre, stood outside the venue holding a sign saying, “UCP policies hurt water, wildlife, people.” She said she couldn’t get a ticket to get inside the event.
Plaizier said the panel has shared biased surveys and information. She doesn’t feel the members are listening to the public.
“I feel like there’s kind of a set agenda and it doesn’t matter what we say,” she said. “I hate to go into a consultation with that expectation, but I would love to see actual consultation happen.”
A second town-hall panel is scheduled for the Edmonton area on Wednesday evening.
Future meetings are planned for Fort McMurray, Lloydminster, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Airdrie, Grande Prairie and Calgary.
