Submitted for her approval: Danielle Smith's new jab at Trudeau hits cities, universities too
CBC
Earlier this week, the Danielle Smith government performed its latest round of celebrating "red tape reduction." It pledged to streamline and slash bureaucratic burdens for rural utilities, cannabis vendors and autonomous-vehicle innovators.
Two days later, what happened?
The premier announced legislation declaring that next year any municipality, school or agency that wanted any dollar or any deal with Ottawa would first need provincial civil servants to review, deliberate and give Alberta's seal of approval.
Based on the new legislation, that covers an Alberta town arranging new Canada Post mailbox sites, or Red Deer's next sponsored Canada Day celebrations, or a school board wishing to continue a funding program for Indigenous students with disabilities. The list of examples could stretch far longer.
It covers not only any new deal between any one of these provincial entities and any federal agency, but any extended or renewed agreement would need Alberta's fortis et liber stamp too.
Existing deals for projects — like affordable housing, wastewater or cycling trail rehabilitation — would be fine, although Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver added a caveat that might send chills into the souls of the province's mayors.
"Unless they have terms that can't be lived with," he cautioned.
The prospect of Smith's government as go-between had already gotten municipal leaders fuming in advance, and may ensnare university and college presidents too, now that it's clear the bill will also require post-secondary schools to get provincial OK for federal research grants as well.
Smith professes she doesn't intend to create more red tape for agencies — after all, in her mind, red tape's bad and her government's policy aims are good. It's all in the name of sticking it to the guy she routinely sticks it to.
"In Alberta today, we are taking back more of our jurisdictional control and telling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet that they cannot make deals without our express approval."
She's no longer the only Canadian premier in this mood.
Others, like Ontario Premier Doug Ford — a routine Trudeau ally, although Conservative — have become increasingly irked by the Ottawa Liberals' announcements that tread on the provinces' jurisdictional turf. Trudeau's recent pre-budget tour has been full of them: school lunch programs, housing funding tied to local zoning reform, and before that child care, pharmacare and dental care — all the constitutional domain of the provinces.
Municipalities are provincial jurisdiction, too, as much as mayors will protest this week and always that they shouldn't be treated like a premier's children.
However, Alberta is the first to act on this frustration, mimicking a 40-year-old Quebec law allowing the government to nullify any deals between Ottawa and provincial entities that provincial cabinets haven't signed off on. It was enacted in 1984 under the Parti Québécois, a party with a different flavour of sovereignism than Smith's UCP.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.