ADAMS: Alberta’s referendum is a test of whether provinces can opt out of federal law

As Albertans vote on nine referendum questions today, I keep coming back to a simple question: what is provincial autonomy for?

If it's about making sensible, evidence-based policy decisions closer to the people who live wherever? Count me in. But if it's about letting a premier keep federal cash without federal standards and turning undocumented/new taxpayers into second-class residents? No, thank you.

Yet that is exactly what eight of the questions on today's ballot are designed to do. Rather than offering a vision for better governance, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's referendum uses "provincial autonomy" as a smokescreen to scapegoat newcomers, evade the courts, and demand a blank cheque from Ottawa with no accountability.

The first four questions are all aimed at choking off immigration into Alberta and barring undocumented immigrants and non-permanent residents in general from healthcare and social services unless they wait a year or pull out a credit card to access said services.

I don't believe that provinces shouldn't get a say in immigration laws, least of all a government that refuses to build housing and then blames Ottawa for population growth. Why should someone who works here and gets sick here be locked out of the public systems their own payroll taxes help fund? Why should we establish a two-tier society to cover up the incompetence of one government?

Aside from abolishing the unelected, expensive Senate, (the single question on this ballot worth an enthusiastic "yes") the remaining questions are little more than one premiers constitutional wishlist, and much like the questions about immigration, are all about escaping accountability.

Smith wants the power to opt out of national programs while keeping every dime of federal funding. In practice, that means Albertans would pay federal taxes for national programs they don't get to enjoy, while taxpayers across the rest of the country are forced to subsidize inferior provincial services.

Even more concerning is the push to let provincial laws override federal ones and to hand the UCP control over appointing King's Bench and Court of Appeal judges. Smith is furious that judges haven't rolled over for laws that violate the Charter, like her restrictions on transgender healthcare. Having already withheld court funding to pressure Ottawa, pushed a manufactured distraction over voter ID, and treated the notwithstanding clause like a routine legislative shortcut, this corrupt government now wants to hand-pick the referees.

And hovering over all of it is Danielle Smith's ultimate bluff: separation. Support for leaving remains stuck under 30%, right where it has been for the past four decades. When Ukraine knocked out Russian data centres and the "pro-separatist" accounts suddenly went dark online, it exposed just how fake this "movement" really is.

By legitimizing far-right ideologies for political leverage, Smith has poisoned national unity by turning neighbours against each other and normalizing holding Confederation hostage whenever a province doesn't get its way.

Why is this even happening to begin with???

Successive federal governments have taught lawbreaking premiers that there is no price to pay for not following the law. For years, Ottawa has handed over billions in federal transfers while watching Danielle Smith and François Legault normalize the notwithstanding clause to strip away the rights of minority groups and bypass the courts.

By refusing to wield their own constitutional authority, federal leaders have let provincial bullies set the terms of Confederation.

If the Carney Liberals want this constitutional extortion to end, the prime minister show Smith that Ottawa means business. That means freezing federal transfers the moment national conditions are violated, and potentially taking her seat at the federal-provincial table away until she respects the rule of law.

And if a premier insists on trampling fundamental human rights, Ottawa should be prepared to use the long-dormant federal power of disallowance to render violating laws automatically dead on arrival.

Provincial autonomy was meant to bring good governance closer to the people, not to carve out Charter-free zones paid for by the Canadian taxpayer. It's time Ottawa acted like it and reminded Alberta's premier that the Charter is not a suggestion.

This piece was written by an individual contributor and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times. Read our Content Policy here.