Barnes pushing for more referendums

By COLLIN GALLANT on June 18, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

MLA Drew Barnes has renewed his call to put a provincial pension and police force to a referendum question this fall, but Premier Jason Kenney told him in question period this week any promise of a vote so soon is “figment of imagination.”

Voters in the Oct. 18 municipal elections across Alberta will also vote on a statement regarding Alberta’s position toward the federal equalization system.

That was set during the spring sitting of the legislature, which ended Wednesday night, after the government’s Fair Deal Panel supported the idea in 2019.

Barnes, the now independent Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, sat on the panel as a government member, but wrote an alternate finding asking the government to push harder to expand provincial jurisdiction in policing and examine the Canada Pension Plan.

“When will Albertans get to see the rest of our referendum questions, or is Alberta’s autonomy no longer a priority for your government?” Barnes asked during question period on Wednesday.

Kenney replied that his government has pushed hard to improve Alberta’s standing, but there is no reference to policing or pension questions in the UCP election platform of 2019, and Barnes “seems to have imagined that as a figment of his imagination.”

“Now, the member opposite has said: just do it,” Kenney continued. “I’m afraid that creating something as complex and consequential as a provincial pension plan or police force is not as simple as snapping your fingers.”

Barnes pointed to speeches made by Kenney during the election as evidence he gave Albertans the expectation pensions and policing would be taken to voters.

This month he also the effectiveness of newly passed recall legislation, calling the requirements too high, along with the qualifications for public ballot initiatives too.

The end-of-session press statement from the government points to those measures and legislative victories for the United Conservatives.

Barnes said in a release that a vote on equalization could be compromised in that voters may see it as a chance to rebuke Kenney, whose approval ratings are low.

Barnes and Peace River MLA Todd Loewen were voted out of the UCP caucus in mid-May after Loewen called for Kenney to resign and Barnes supported the call.

Both now-independent MLAs released an end-of-session press release saying they would campaign in support the UCP position on the equalization question, but they questioned the motives.

“To succeed, this referendum has to be about demanding fairness for Albertans,” said Leowen in press release. “That is a recipe for success. It cannot and must not be a political rehabilitation project for the least popular premier in Canada. That is a recipe for failure.”

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