Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Global Energy Show in Calgary on June 11.--CP Photo Lauren Krugel
@MedicineHatNews
A panel that will inform the Danielle Smith government on issues of provincial jurisdiction will hold a town hall meeting in Medicine Hat on the day after Labour Day.
The “Alberta Next” panel was named Tuesday by the premier at an event at Heritage Park in Calgary, including herself as chair and 14 other members that include MLAs, energy industry leaders and academics.
“The time is right for this critical discussion,” Smith said.
Topics for feedback and surveys on the province’s website include several issues the government has been discussing in the context of greater autonomy, including the creation of a provincial police force, pension plan and collecting income tax within the province.
Three other main topics the panel will tackle include asserting more control over international immigration, launching constitutional challenges and issues with federal transfers and the equalization program.
Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is on the panel with two oil and gas executives and Business Council of Alberta president Adam Legge.
Other members include retired judge Bruce McDonald, acupuncturist Dr. Akin Osakuade and University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.
“It’s not so much the West wants in, as the West wants Ottawa out of its hair,” Smith said.
“Ottawa has been interfering in every aspect of our provincial jurisdiction in deeper and deeper ways for about a decade now, and we’ve had enough of it.”
Smith said the work will form referenda questions that she plans to put forward in 2026.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the premier is wasting time and money by rehashing former premier Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal panel, which toured the province six years ago in search of ways Alberta could gain leverage over Ottawa.
“We’ve had this panel already just a couple years ago, but she loves nothing more than paying UCP insiders’ taxpayer money to do these ridiculous things so she can keep the fire burning,” Nenshi said.
“It will result in nothing that we haven’t already heard, except it will allow her to have something to keep fighting about.”
The panel will hold an event Tuesday, Sept. 2 in Medicine Hat, though information on place and time are not yet available.
Meetings will begin July 15 in Red Deer, then visit Sherwood Park, Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Lloydminster before the end of August.
After Medicine Hat on Sept. 2, the schedule shows a town hall in Lethbridge on Sept. 11, then dates in Airdrie, Grande Prairie and concluding in Calgary on Sept. 29.
— with files from The Canadian Press
