.DuaneBratt: Danielle Smith and Justin Trudeau both turned to extraordinary measures. Here’s the difference via torontostar
The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act. Both were extraordinary measures designed to solve a perceived crisis. The first had democratic guardrails, but the second would provoke a constitutional crisis in Canada and greatly erode democracy in Alberta.
Typically jurisdictional disputes between the federal and provincial governments are arbitrated by the courts. Sometimes they rule in favour of the federal government and sometimes they rule in favour of the provinces . However, the Sovereignty Act allows the Alberta government to unilaterally determine whether a federal law or regulation is unconstitutional either because it has encroached into provincial jurisdiction or because it causes harm to Albertans.
First, the Emergencies Act was used to address a specific crisis — the occupation of downtown Ottawa by the “Freedom Convoy” and sympathy blockades in Windsor and Coutts, Alta. These blockades created both a financial and national security emergency in Canada. In contrast, the Sovereignty Act’s “crisis” is a series of policy disputes between the Alberta government and the Trudeau government — a dispute that goes back almost to the moment that Trudeau was elected in 2015.
They were also subject to cross-examination from lawyers representing the government of Canada, police, civil-liberties organizations and convoy organizers. There were thousands of pages of reports, memos, emails, text messages and contemporaneous notes that became evidence. The hearings were televised and widely covered by the media. Canadians were able to see much of the evidence and the rationale for the decision. This would allow them to determine if the decision was justified.
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