Alberta 'bastion of liberty?' Not quite, keep trying

I have noticed that recently, Premier Smith has been talking about Alberta being a bastion of liberty in Canada and North America. She cites the net positive number of Canadians coming to the province to enjoy our economic benefits and greater liberty, which seems to be under assault elsewhere in the country.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith faces a party leadership review in November.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith faces a party leadership review in November.Courtesy Jonathan Bradley/Western Standard
With the UCP leadership review convention coming up in a few short weeks, I thought it would be worth dissecting this position more carefully. At face value, it sounds like a solid position, particularly in light of the changes she seeks for the Alberta Bill of Rights (albeit with certain provisos already contained that may serve as escape clauses) that deal with bodily autonomy and property rights around gun ownership. But do these changes make Alberta a bastion of liberty, or is that something else?

That Albertans have a streak of personal independence would be an understatement. It is baked into our culture as a result of our history. What is also baked into our culture is the understanding that while our choices may be ours to own, our support of our neighbours in times of need has also been crucial to building the kind of social fabric that strong societies are built on. In short, you can't legislate culture, but you can mirror the culture in your legislation. That's what smart politicians do.

Perhaps this is what Premier Smith is trying to do and if so, wonderful. For those of us who have been around for a while and have witnessed some of our premier's past choices that were decidedly not about freedom (crossing the floor without giving her party membership a say in that decision springs to mind,) we will apply the credibility test.

To examine Smith's claim, I want to apply a model with which we are all familiar. That model is the family, particularly families with teenagers. If you raised them or have them, you know they all demand their freedom and their autonomy. As parents, we know that full liberty does not happen until they are entirely on their own, paying their bills and owning the consequences of their choices. While they are under our roof, they can talk about freedom but don't have it yet.

So what of Alberta? Have we reached that level of autonomy within the confederation that we can truly say we are a bastion of liberty?

The answer is no. Smith compared Alberta with a couple of states in the U.S., Texas and Florida (too bad she did not mention South Dakota and Kristi Noem). While there are some similarities, there are differences that cannot be ignored.

Yes, they all have a strong, business-friendly environment. They promote ideals similar to those of Alberta.

But,they also control their law enforcement.

These states have not mandated any retirement plan, allowing citizens and businesses to determine what is best for them.

And lastly, these states don't collect any income tax.

For Florida and Texas, this is usually passed along to local governments through higher property taxes and in South Dakota, they have a sales tax instead. In all three cases, these jurisdictions can get away with not charging income tax because they run smaller, more efficient state governments.

I think it is important to point out that South Dakota, while having a State Bill of Rights, has not sought to update it post-COVID-18 but rather applied those rights during the pandemic. It therefore did not institute a mask mandate, did not close any business — that is not the government's call according to Governor Noem — and never instituted a vaccine mandate. Put that in your liberty pipe and smoke it.

Here is how I apply this to Alberta: in the Canadian experience, we are not autonomous unless we have a provincial police force, our own approach to pensions (whether APP or some other agreed variant and we collect all taxes (federal and provincial) here first and then send to Ottawa what is their due.

If we don't like what Ottawa is doing with that money, at least we can have a meaningful say in making changes (and yes, there are provinces that already do this.) That is when we (as teenager) will come of age and can claim we have liberty. Until those steps are taken, most of this talk of liberty is, dare I say it, virtue signalling.

If Premier Smith wants to put meat on the bastion of liberty argument, she must make substantive movement on these issues. She must make serious moves to shrink our government and take a look at no personal income tax for Albertans.

Albertans are independent, freedom-loving folks, but when it comes to our government, we want someone who walks the walk, not just talks the talk.

James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development. He was formerly a school principal and teacher of history and active in conservative politics.

https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/albers-alberta-land-of-the-free-not-quite-keep-trying/58461