Can Alberta use its Sovereignty Act to defy federal law? | About That

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government has enacted the Alberta Sovereignty Act for the very first time to challenge the federal government's proposed clean electricity regulations. Andrew Chang breaks down why Alberta is pushing this now and the constitutional argument they're using.

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[V-vkvo]

A deep dive on how Quebec is able to circumvent and/block federal initiatives (I think they can do this in part because they never signed on to the Canadian Constitution) would be interesting. Also, it would be helpful to know if other provinces can recuse themselves from the Constitution like Quebec and still receive federal transfers.

[RJKYEG]

It's not about pretending a law doesn't exist, it's a dispute about the validity of laws that may exceed the bounds of federal jurisdiction.

[dennislabbe]

Here on PEI we must have a backup system if we are using heat pumps, that backup is oil or propane. If we do not have a back up we cannot get house insurance. This is self defeating when the electricity is out the back up will also be out as it requires electricity. I like many others have a back up electrical generator that runs on gasoline. It is going to be very difficult to live without fossil fuels.

[kenklak]

The CBC needs to get their facts updated. There is literally not one power plant only running coal exclusively anymore, and the three that are dual fuel (coal and NG) will be completely off coal by first quarter 2024. The number the CBC is using is from the CER using 2019 numbers. By 2022, that number was already down to 12%.

[Rjpm-iyni]

Net zero is what's left in Canadians wallets.

[tmb]

Where are you getting your stats? AB’s power generation is nowhere near 36% Coal! Maybe 10 years ago, but there’s been a massive transition to phase out coal and It was only 7% in 2022. Forecast to be zero coal by 2025.

[ericc]

Maybe the first question should be can Federal Government deliberately make an unconstitutional law?

[Spicy]

This federal government should be in prison

[dougridgway]

Yes, unconditional laws can be ignored. Not only that, Alberta is not setting a precedent here. Quebec set it and now all provinces should have the same or equal to.

[AlbertMark-nbzo]

Energy Alberta Corporation announced 27 August 2007 that they had applied for a licence to build a new nuclear plant at Lac Cardinal (30 km west of the town of Peace River, Alberta), with two ACR-1000 reactors going online in 2017 producing 2.2 gigawatts (electric). A 2007 parliamentary review suggested placing the development efforts on hold. The company was later purchased by Bruce Power, who proposed expanding the plant to four units of a total 4.4 gigawatts. These plans were upset and Bruce later withdrew its application for the Lac Cardinal, proposing instead a new site about 60 km away. The plans are currently moribund after a wide consultation with the public demonstrated that while about 1⁄5 of the population were open to reactors, 1⁄4 were opposed. Ralph Klein typically laughed at the idea of a nuclear reactor in Alberta. So they rooked themselves.

[logiczchance]

who knows. but they can definitely simply leave the confederacy if this institution does not suit them anymore.

[rickhawkins]

Didn't they get a Supreme Court decision in their favour? That MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

[daleallen]

Do not all provinces have equal rights when it come to protecting their jurisdictions from the over reach of the federal government?

[Kiki-drrj]

but the thing is, Fed didn't follow the law first, which they have lost two courts already.
So if you think Fed law is higher, then fed government should follow Fed law first which they have lost already in Fed court lol. And if you think Alberat should follow the fed law, which Alberta IS FOLLOWING, thats why Alberta WON two courts in fed court😂

[ougmass]

This is not new legal issue. The Canadian courts have in many instances dealt with cases involving disputes over jurisdction between the Federal and provincial governments

[Kreadus]

Collapse of common goals. If you want them on page, pay for the new grid overnight. Then their environment goals detach from their grid needs and will match the country at large. Forcing the issue like this was dumb.

[skeptical]

The provinces should be able to make laws to stop federal over reach. Especially since Trudeau does not have the best interest of Canadians in mind with his over reach.

[hungryghost]

Is there an undisclosed assumption here? Are they assuming that there are no practical and affordable ways to clean up the emissions from fossil fuel-burning sources of electrical generation? We already have chemical scrubbers and other emission-limiting tech. I'm just asking questions.

[TheBruteSquad-se]

Why does the CBC seem to always frame Alberta as 'disobedient'. Never did the CBC suggest that the Feds might be actually out of bounds. What happened to showing both sides of the story? He used the 'side of the coin' analogy but basically dismissed Alberta's claim, and framed it as if Alberta is throwing a fit. He shared the bare minimum on the constitution but ignored the examples of the Feds over-reaching and losing federal court cases on this matter already.

[Rice_Cake_]

What is missing from this report is the fact that Alberta doesn't have the geography to build sufficient hydro power. Alberta has more wind and solar production per capita than ontario, but no large bodies of water that can be dammed like Quebec and Ontario. The only reason PEI is 98% wind is because they only have 150, 000 people.