Soverignty Acts

[blackpowder]

Agreed.
However the 2 senators from North Dakota have the same number of votes as the 2 senators from California.

[tweety]

Agreed.
However the 2 senators from North Dakota have the same number of votes as the 2 senators from California.

No argument from me on that one. But surprisingly the Senate is actually working pretty good since the talk of abolish the Senate. They used to rehash the same parliamentary arguments all over on bills, but that has changed. I know many, they are good people that love their country. Like Parliament, 80% of them are there for the right reason.

There has been more amendments lately, but not ping pong of bills. Huge changes since 2015. No patronage assignments. There no longer is big groups in party caucus, so even the admin have had to do far more technical briefing, the MP's need to do their job talking to many more, and the Office of the Government Representative in the Senate is doing a great job guiding the whole process in a timely fashion. It needs to change some more - like representation by population as the MP structure - but it is much much better.

[blackpowder]

I tossed the lawmaker vs ruler in for effect. I do not know what the policymakers in Ottawa have in their minds as intention.
But I can tell you what their actions look like to some.
Governing has become generational for some in democracies. Our Commonwealth history has no occasional reset. Churchill viewed Canada as a colony of the Crown with all that view suggests. Which we were.
Perhaps we lack a mechanism that can remind Ottawa of its place as our entire nation's government not it's benevolent ruler.
Govts need power but the seat and intent needs reminding. Power is addictive. Complacency is perilous.

[tweety]

I tossed the lawmaker vs ruler in for effect. I do not know what the policymakers in Ottawa have in their minds as intention.
But I can tell you what their actions look like to some.
Governing has become generational for some in democracies. Our Commonwealth history has no occasional reset. Churchill viewed Canada as a colony of the Crown with all that view suggests. Which we were.
Perhaps we lack a mechanism that can remind Ottawa of its place as our entire nation's government not it's benevolent ruler.
Govts need power but the seat and intent needs reminding. Power is addictive. Complacency is perilous.

I agree 98%

I think given the complexity of overlap of fed/prov lawmaking and interpretation, The line wiggles back and forth between Power and Complacency over time by election results.

Think of the people that thought PM Harper was the worst dictator of all ruling his party with terror and iron fist.

[blackpowder]

It is certainly a human flaw in politics that people will tend to say anything to gain popularity.
Perhaps life term appointed Senators the check for that. Or like someone who quit farming 10 years ago being tragically out of touch, do they still understand the governed and their issues? Should they be residents of the various jurisdictions on an equal basis?

[blackpowder]

I struggle with the comment of ruler vs lawmaker. Right now we have a large representation of Liberal and NDP MP's together making the decisions. Fair enough, they were democratically elected. If the Liberals want to do anything, they can't. They need the support of others. Isn't this seemingly the best democracy can get?

How do you feel ruled?

I am sure many in Alberta are feeling they are ruled now.

It holds no weight for me where you have lived or live. I enjoy our discussion.
Where I have lived my entire life, and in the entire region, the federal Liberals and NDP have never sent MPs to Ottawa. I can tell you what that results in after 3 generations.

[chuckChuck]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-danielle-smith-sovereignty-act-changes/

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith changing sovereignty bill after ‘confusion’ over powers given to cabinet

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’ll change language in her government’s proposed sovereignty act that allows executive members to unilaterally change statutory law, a provision that drew criticism after the bill’s introduction into legislature this week.

The Premier said Saturday that there was “confusion” over wording in the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act that made it possible for cabinet to change law without getting approval from legislature first. She said that kind of executive power was not intended.

“You never get things 100-per-cent right all the time,” said Ms. Smith, speaking on the Global News radio show, Your Province, Your Premier.

“If there’s any changes to statutes, it does have to come back to the legislature, so we’re working on making sure that that gets clarified.”

The act, tabled as Bill 1, was a central part of Ms. Smith’s platform when she ran for the United Conservative Party leadership. It seeks to give the Alberta government more autonomy in the face of federal laws that it believes are overreaching, though critics of the bill have questioned its constitutionality.

Kelly Cryderman: Danielle Smith’s sovereignty act faces unexpected in-house criticism

Andrew Coyne: At some point, Ottawa is going to need to engage in firm-handed federalism

While Ms. Smith said the legislation was never meant to give cabinet unilateral powers, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General Tyler Shandro had confirmed during a news conference earlier this week that Bill 1 would allow cabinet to amend laws through orders in council.

When asked if the bill would give cabinet members unilateral power to change laws, he answered that “that is correct.”

During her radio interview, the Premier characterized the change as part of the standard procedure of amending bills as the move through legislature.

“It’s part of the process that you go through with bills, you introduce them, you debate whether there’s possible amendments and then you pass them through,” Ms. Smith said.

“If we caused some confusion with some awkward wording, then let’s clean it up and then be able to talk about the bigger issues.”

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Eric Adams, a law professor with the University of Alberta, said the reversal represents a notable shift in what was a headline policy for the Premier.

“It’s a major pivot, there’s no question about that,” said Mr. Adams. “It raises questions of how well this signature piece of legislature was understood at the outset, how carefully it was drafted and how much thought and good governance planning went into its architecture.”

Mr. Adams said it was surprising that there was a mechanism to give such sweeping powers to the executive branch in the first place, and that Saturday’s turnabout will shake people’s confidence into the planning of the bill.

However, he said the fundamentals of the act will remain the same, and only the mechanism of how its powers are implemented is changing.

Mr. Adams added that the amendment will be a step in the right direction, but constitutional challenges can still be made around the bill.

“It’s a positive development for the democratic credentials of the proposal … but I don’t think this change sweeps away the likelihood that the act faces serious constitutional challenges. It does reduce one of its major lines of exposure.”

Bill 1, now in second reading, has also triggered concerns over the provision that grants cabinet the power to order provincially legislated or funded entities to reject federal laws, if the executive deems Ottawa to be causing harm to the interests of Albertans. Those entities include municipalities, police forces, health regions, postsecondary institutions and school boards.

During a Friday interview on CBC News Network, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the provision directing municipalities to rebuff federal laws is “a dangerous scenario” for municipalities that rely on funding from both the province and Ottawa.

“If they direct us in a manner – let’s use an example – that says you can’t accept any federal funding directly, what does that do to our affordable housing strategy?” Ms. Gondek said.

“No matter how you slice this, it’s going to be really tough for municipalities to actually govern and serve their people.”

[chuckChuck]

Of Shit Danny. Giving the cabinet the power to make laws undemocratically without the approval of the legislature confused you? Even Scotty Moe knew enough not to try that! LOL

I guess the optics of looking like a banana republic looked bananas and not to popular. Just a little mistake! LMAO!

[Hamloc]

Of Shit Danny. Giving the cabinet the power to make laws undemocratically without the approval of the legislature confused you? Even Scotty Moe knew enough not to try that! LOL

I guess the optics of looking like a banana republic looked bananas and not to popular. Just a little mistake! LMAO!

Chuck2 in the Toronto Sun yesterday, article by Lorne Gunter: “Quebec gets a deal on carbon tax while the rest of the country pays.”

From the article, in 2023 Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario will pay a carbon tax of 14 cents a litre on gasoline, by 2030 this tax will be 37 cents a litre. In Quebec the carbon tax only has to be 9 cents a litre in 2023 and just 23 cents a litre in 2030. How could this be? Trudeau is giving Quebec a special deal on carbon taxes and giving other Canadians higher gas prices and heating bills explains Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the organization that discovered the discrepancy while examining federal documents.

It should also be mentioned the Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland will have the federal carbon tax imposed on them on April 1, 2023. Also Chuck2 by 2030 the carbon tax on natural gas for heating will be $9.21 a gigajoule up from $2.69 today. Can you imagine, absolute insanity!!

As far as Premier Danielle Smith, I certainly support her. Trudeau continues to screw over western Canada, someone has to stand up to him. Apparently people like you Chuck2 prefer to just bend over and take it lol!!

[chuckChuck]

Yup hammy you are sucker for all the western politicians who make their living off blaming those eastern bastards for all their problems!

A tried and true way to avoid responsibility for the fiscal mismanagement and giveaways to the oil industry in Alberta.

You gotta feel sorry for those "poor" Albertans with record windfall oil company profits.

Life in the richest province is really hard all because of those eastern bastards! LOL