Premier Jason Kenney is defending Alberta’s lieutenant governor after he suggested he might not automatically approve a sovereignty bill proposed by a candidate vying to replace him as leader of the United Conservatives. Kenney, speaking on a radio show Friday morning, also renewed his criticism of the Danielle Smith signing proposal. He called it “cockamamie,” illegal and a recipe for business and investment to flee a province no longer bound by the rule of law. Smith, if she wins the UCP leadership race on Oct. 6, has promised to immediately introduce a bill that would allow her government to ignore federal laws and court rulings deemed not in Alberta’s best interests. Legal scholars and politicians, including Kenney and House Speaker Jason Nixon, sharply criticized the plan and questioned whether it would even pass the legislature. Lt. Gen. Salma Lakhani, when asked by reporters Thursday if she would approve Smith’s proposal, said she would not prejudge it, but that she has a duty to ensure that any bill she signs follows the Constitution. “(Lakhani) took unprovoked questions from the media and I think she gave general answers about her duties as lieutenant governor: that if she’s faced with something problematic, she’ll get expert advice and consider all the constitutional principles,” Kenney said on Edmonton radio. CHED station. Kenney said the proposal has put Lakhani and the entire province in a potentially chaotic and dangerous bind. “It’s really the act of anarchy or, as one conservative constitutionalist puts it, the act of suicide in Alberta,” Kenney said. “It would put the lieutenant governor in a very difficult position for the Legislature to pass a law that says he’s not going to enforce the laws. This is unprecedented, at least in Canadian and perhaps British parliamentary history. “It would also send a devastating message to investor confidence,” he added. “If the government proposes (a law) that says we’re going to tear up contracts, we’re not going to enforce court orders, we’re going to ignore Supreme Court decisions, we’re going to choose which laws to apply, we’re going to ignore the Constitution, well, what investor in his right mind would it jeopardize the money in Alberta?’ Smith responded in a statement, urging Lahani to retract her comments. “The lieutenant governor is an unelected person, appointed by the prime minister, who plays a completely ceremonial role in our system of government,” Smith said. “He has no power to withhold assent to bills democratically passed in the provincial legislature.” Smith also renewed her criticism of Kenney for abandoning his promise of impartiality in the leadership race to speak out against her. “Never in the history of our province has an outgoing party leader so brazenly and inappropriately entered the election of his successor,” he wrote. “I urge him to do a better job of acting like a responsible politician.” Two weeks ago, Kenne called Smith’s dominance plan “nuts.” He has repeatedly defended his comments by saying he was not talking about Smith’s proposal but the underlying policy document on which it is based. That policy document – titled Free Alberta Strategy – was presented a year ago by former Wildrose Party member Rob Anderson, University of Calgary political science professor Barry Cooper and lawyer Derek From. In the paper, they call for radical action such as refusing to enforce federal laws and court rulings in order to fight decisions that are fatally damaging to Alberta’s development. Cooper himself, in a June article, said that the unconstitutionality of such a proposal is not a flaw in the program but its main feature. Smith made headlines with the proposal in June as the campaign heated up, saying it was necessary to shock a “lawless” federal government that was undermining Alberta’s economy. But as criticism of such a bill grew in recent weeks, Smith began to downplay the original proposal. He recently characterized it as a legalistic recitation of how Alberta views the separation of powers under the Constitution, causing confusion about what it actually proposes. Smith said she will answer that after the Labor Day weekend. “The entire purpose of the Sovereignty Act is to defend and defend the constitutional rights of Alberta and the Charter freedoms of our people from continued unconstitutional attacks from Ottawa,” Smith wrote. “I will announce further details of the proposed details and mechanisms of the bill next week, with the actual language of the bill to be drafted.” We have a weekly Western Canada newsletter written by our BC and Alberta bureau chiefs, providing a comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its position on the issues facing Canada. Sign up today. This content appears as provided to The Globe by the original wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.
