UCP proposes sweeping changes to Alberta’s provincial election laws

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivered a note of congratulations — along with a sharply worded warning and a blanket condemnation — to Prime Minister Mark Carney and his new Liberal government on Tuesday.

It comes the same day her government proposed the Election Statutes Amendment Act, which would make sweeping changes to provincial election rules, including making it easier for citizens to call for a referendum on seceding from Canada.

In a statement, Smith urged Carney to immediately reset Ottawa’s relationship with her province, accusing the Liberals of undermining Alberta’s resource-based economy for a decade.

“I will not permit the status quo to continue,” she wrote.

Speaking to reporters later, Smith said more than 300 members of Parliament were elected because they stood on a platform to get resources developed, while the federal NDP and the Green Party were “crushed” and the Bloc Québécois “lost ground” because they were opposed.

“I would hope that the current prime minister understands that his mandate comes from moderate voters who actually want this province to be a genuine energy superpower,” she said.

“I guess the ball will be in (Carney’s) court to see how he responds,” she said, adding she hopes she can work with him to find common ground.

Smith wrote that she will see about steps to shield Alberta from what she calls “future hostile acts” from Ottawa.

The Liberals were returned to power in Monday’s federal election in a minority government.

Tuesday’s proposed bill will change citizen-initiated referendum rules to require a petition signed by only 10 per cent of the eligible voters in a previous general election — down from 20 per cent of registered voters. Applicants would also get 120 days, rather than 90, to collect the signatures.

Smith said it would have been introduced by her Justice Minister Mickey Amery regardless of what the outcome of the election was.

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“We haven’t seen any citizen-initiated referendum – that also suggested to us that people just thought it was pointless to try to go out and try to get that many signatures,” she said.

“We wanted to recalibrate to be able to allow for voters to express an interest,” she said.

If passed, the bill will also make dozens of changes, many mirroring those already legislated on the municipal level by Smith’s United Conservatives, including banning voting tabulator machines and reintroducing corporate and union donations.

Smith, in her statement, praised Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost his long-held seat in Ottawa, calling him a “true friend of Alberta” who advocated for anti-tax and pro-resource policies, and drove debate in the country for years.

Speaking to reporters, Smith said she hopes Poilievre stays on as leader.

She was also asked if she took responsibility for undermining Poilievre’s campaign with her earlier comments to American media that Poilievre was more “in sync” with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Smith answered that the vote solidified because of federal campaigning in the past two weeks, and “I don’t think I was in the media in the last two weeks.”

She insisted that she tried to keep herself out of the federal election.

Trump has provoked the ire of many Canadians for launching and threatening tariffs on Canadian goods and for openly musing about annexing the country.

Alberta has long held a frosty relationship with Liberal governments in Ottawa.

Last month, Smith outlined a list of nine demands for the next prime minister, which includes scrapping the greenhouse gas emissions cap and ditching a ban on single-use plastics “so we can start using straws again.”

In the lead-up to the election, Smith warned of an “unprecedented national unity crisis” if her demands weren’t met within six months.

Later, she said she would strike a second Fair Deal Panel — one she would dub the “What’s Next” panel — to “listen to what it is that Albertans want to do in consequence.”

It all came as some, including former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, have warned of a sovereignty reckoning from westerners frustrated by the thought of four more years of Liberal government.

Smith said Tuesday it’s up to Albertans, not her government, to put the separation question on a referendum ballot, but said the issue is bubbling to the surface because they “feel hurt and betrayed.”

Opponents, including Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, have criticized Smith for flirting with Alberta separatism in the midst of a trade tariff war with the United States.

Nenshi told reporters Tuesday that attacking Carney the first day after his election victory is not a winning strategy to negotiate a good deal for Alberta.

“(Smith’s) going to spend millions of dollars on another fair deal panel, yet another panel, to appease her base that she won’t do anything with.”

— with files from Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press