Alberta’s Smith says courts should not be gatekeepers on constitutional questions

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says anyone seeking an independence referendum should not have “gatekeepers,” like the courts, standing in their way.

Smith was asked about the independence question Saturday on her radio call-in show, weighing in for the first time after her government proposed legislation that ground to a halt an ongoing court case over a proposed provincial vote to leave Canada.

She said giving Justice Minister Mickey Amery the power to be “permissive” about referendum questions, which is included in the new legislation, upholds democracy.

“Whether it’s the chief electoral officer or the court, they seem to want to approve the ones they like and hold up the ones they don’t like, and that’s not democracy,” Smith said.

Her comments came a day after Alberta Justice Colin Feasby said a separatist referendum question would go against the Charter, First Nations Treaty rights and the province’s existing referendum law.

The separation question was referred to the courts by Alberta’s chief electoral officer, Gordon McClure, this summer. McClure said at the time that he was just following the rules laid out for him, but Smith’s government criticized him for creating red tape.

Feasby said in a Court of King’s Bench decision Friday that Smith’s United Conservative government’s proposed law to change the rules in the middle of the game is undemocratic and undermines the administration of justice.

Smith, however, said Saturday that citizen-initiated referendums were never meant to have “a pile of gatekeepers” holding them back.

The UCP’s bill, tabled Thursday, would make Feasby’s court decision moot, should it pass into law.

The legislation also gives the separatist group, the Alberta Prosperity Project, the ability to re-apply to start collecting signatures for an independence referendum.

Amery said Thursday his bill provides a “reset,” and the government doesn’t want to see the courts delay direct democracy.

“If those seeking independence believe that they have the support for it, this is their chance to prove it,” he told reporters before introducing the bill.

For months, Smith has said she supports a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.

She has not explicitly endorsed pulling the province out of Confederation — a move many in her party want her to make.

The government’s bill is yet another move against the courts from Smith’s UCP, which has argued unelected judges have overstepped their boundaries and need to be reigned in.

Her government has invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause four times during the fall legislature sitting to shield its laws from court challenges.

The UCP used the clause to force teachers across the province back to work and end a three-week-long strike, imposing the terms of a pay agreement roundly rejected by teachers.

That has been one of the driving grievances sparking a groundswell of recall petitions against her caucus members.

McClure said earlier this week that 21 recall applications — including one against an Opposition NDP member — have been approved.

That represents almost a quarter of elected legislature members in Alberta, and those recall initiatives are expected to cost some $6.7 million.

The UCP also used the notwithstanding clause to curtail existing and potential legal challenges against three laws affecting transgender people.

Those laws strip away the ability of transgender girls to receive gender-affirming health care, ban transgender female Albertans from competing in sport, and require parental consent when kids want to change their name or pronoun in school.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2025.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press