Former Alberta cabinet minister accuses government of killing key tool for scrutiny

EDMONTON — New rules are now in effect in the Alberta legislature that one opposition member has warned will effectively allow Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government to duck some queries for years.

“If this was a confident government, one with nothing to hide, they would answer the questions, but they’re not,” Peter Guthrie told reporters last month after the changes were first introduced.

“So then the question becomes: What is it that they’re trying to hide?”

Guthrie left Smith’s cabinet last year over a falling out over allegations of political interference in multimillion-dollar health contracts. He now sits in the legislature as the leader of the Progressive Tory Party.

In the fall, Guthrie put in writing more than two dozen questions and formal submissions calling for answers and documents that detail specific government spending and the effects of controversial policies.

That includes queries on issues as far-ranging as potential social media “influencer partnerships,” contracts, health-care severance payments, workplace harassment and the cost of taxpayer-supported trips for high-level staff.

But with changes to procedural rules, the last of which took effect last week, those questions could languish on the government’s to-do list for years.

Previously, the government had 15 sitting days to accept or reject written questions, and then 30 sitting days of the legislature, once accepted, to respond. The new rules extend that response deadline to 120 sitting days. And, when they’re rejected, they’re no longer debatable.

There are only 54 such days scheduled this calendar year, and the provincial general election is scheduled for October 2027.

Written questions, once rejected, are also no longer debatable in the house – a move both Guthrie and the Opposition NDP said takes away a key tool of democratic accountability.

Guthrie said he believes the rule changes were made in direct response to his 18 written inquiries, noting that on the first day they could have been addressed last December, the government abruptly shut down the business of the house.

“These are very highly sensitive questions and the public has a right to know,” he said.

The government has said the early adjournment came after its offer to give more time to debate controversial government bills was declined by the NDP.

More recently, Guthrie took to social media, saying in one video that “effectively, this government has built a system where it never has to answer detailed questions from MLAs again.”

One of Guthrie’s questions asks for details about how much severance has been paid by Alberta Health Services as it massively restructured the health system. Another request calls for the details of all travel by the premier, ministers and staff that was paid for by taxpayers over more than two years.

Other rule changes limit emergency debate in the house and the number of written questions that can be posed to the government by each member.

Government house leader Joseph Schow told reporters last month the deadline of 120 sitting days will still give Albertans a timely response.

“I don’t think that one single member should be able to dominate the entire private member’s day,” he said at the time.

Later, speaking in the legislature, Schow said many of the changes are focused on giving more space for debate.

“Most of these changes directly or indirectly allow for a significant increase in debate time in the house, which is absolutely vital to our duties of representing our constituents,” he said.

NDP members have said the government’s moves aren’t about efficiency, but deflection.

“The parliamentary system requires an opportunity for the opposition to oppose, and these changes, I’m sorry to say, take away much of that,” NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told the house last month.

Schow pointed to one day in which the Opposition proposed 30 emergency debates, saying the opportunity was being misused as a “delay tactic.”

NDP house leader Christina Gray said when the government is doing unprecedented things, the Opposition will respond in kind, noting the 30 proposals came as the government had introduced a bill forcing striking teachers back to work using the Charter’s notwithstanding clause.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2026.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press