Culture minister bashes 'Laurentian elites' as Alberta celebrates birthday holiday
EDMONTON — Alberta celebrated its inaugural birthday party holiday with Culture Minister Ron Orr bashing the prime minster and “Laurentian elites” while asserting the province has received the short end of the stick in the federation for more than a century.
RON ORR, JASOM KENNEY
“The family compact of Laurentian elites have always skewed the deal in their favour,” Orr told assembled dignitaries, including Premier Jason Kenney, Indigenous leaders and Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani, on a sunny morning Thursday near the legislature grounds.
“There are many in our province who are frustrated … that Alberta has never really been granted that full fair deal with the federal government that was promised.”
Orr said Alberta has been treated unfairly from the start, noting it wasn’t granted provincial status until Sept. 1, 1905, almost 40 years after Confederation.
He said the unfairness continued with Alberta not gaining control of its natural resources until the 1930s, then facing a federal challenge to those resources in the national energy program of the 1980s, followed to this day with other policies deemed detrimental to the province’s golden goose industry.
“The attacks of our recent (Justin) Trudeau government on our energy, our resources, our wealth, our freedom — there are just so many ways that Albertans have struggled to achieve our full and our fair place in this Confederation," Orr said. "But you know what? Albertans will succeed."
He said Alberta has become one of Canada's economic powerhouses "and we truly are the envy of the world in so many respects."
“Happy Birthday, Alberta. That is what today is about," Orr said.
Earlier this week, the province announced it is projecting to take in a record $28.4 billion in non-renewable resource revenues this year, delivering a $13.2-billion surplus for a province of 4.5 million people.
Kenney, who is stepping down as premier early next month once his party selects a new leader, recently announced the creation of Alberta Day, which is not a statutory holiday, to celebrate the province’s heritage and culture.
Events, concerts, activities and fireworks are scheduled throughout the province over the weekend.
Thursday’s kickoff saluted Alberta’s Indigenous history, with speakers and First Nations musical performers.
Kenney told the audience, “In expressing gratitude for those who have gone before us, we of course must start with the people who first inhabited these lands, the Indigenous people … who created the first communities, who were the first entrepreneurs, who were the first custodians of this magnificent natural habitat.”
Kenney added that it's time to celebrate a province that has “unique culture, history and geography, but is also proudly part of the great Canadian federation.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2022.
Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
WOULD THE LAURENTIAN ELITE INCLUDE THE CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION PARTY IN OTTAWA OF WHICH ALL BUT ONE OF ALBERTA'S MPS BELONG TO, ALONG WITH THE TORIES IN THE SENATE?
ASKING FOR A FRIEND
Danielle Smith says premier, Alberta Lt.-Gov. wrong to comment on sovereignty act
CBC/Radio-Canada - Yesterday
United Conservative Party leadership candidate Danielle Smith called it "inappropriate" for both Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani and outgoing Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act.
UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says it's inappropriate for Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her top priority legislation, the Alberta Sovereignty Act, before he has seen the bill.
United Conservative Party leadership candidate Danielle Smith called it "inappropriate" for both Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani and outgoing Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act.
UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith says it's inappropriate for Premier Jason Kenney to criticize her top priority legislation, the Alberta Sovereignty Act, before he has seen the bill.
© Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press, Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press
Smith made the remarks in a video posted to social media Friday and in an accompanying news release.
A day earlier, Lakhani said she would consult with legal experts before giving royal assent to a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation.
Lakhani said her constitutional role is the most important part of her job and that Alberta must follow the rule of law.
The act, as described by Smith, would give Alberta the ability to ignore federal laws that aren't in the province's best interest.
Smith called on Lakhani to retract her statements.
The former Wildrose leader also took issue with Kenney's comments on 630 CHED Friday morning.
Kenney told host Shaye Ganam that Smith's act would put the lieutenant-governor in a very "awkward" position and hurt investor confidence in Alberta.
"This is unprecedented and entirely inappropriate political interference in our democratic processes," she said in a news release sent Friday.
In the video, Smith accused the premier of trying to tip the scales in favour of his "preferred" leadership candidate Travis Toews, who served as finance minister in Kenney's cabinet before stepping down at the end of May.
"You want to talk about creating a constitutional crisis," Smith says in the video.
"Having a caretaker premier in the position where he is acting the way he is is what's creating a constitutional crisis.
"I would ask him to stop. I would ask him to stop weighing in on this contest. And if he wants to continue in the position of being a caretaker, in the meantime, that's exactly what he should do."
Smith's supporters have criticized Lakhani for her comments on the sovereignty act. Peter Guthrie, the UCP MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, claimed that the federal Liberals were influencing Lakhani. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Lakhani to serve as Alberta's lieutenant-governor in August 2020.
"It appears the Ottawa elites through Trudeau's appointed representative are interfering in the UCP leadership race on a piece of legislation that hasn't yet been written or debated in Alberta's legislature," he said on Twitter. "If Trudeau is against, it must be right."
Lakhani said she needs to see a bill first before deciding what action to take. She plans to raise the question of how to handle a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation with her counterparts at vice-regal conference in Newfoundland next month.
Smith and Toews are among the seven candidates running to replace Kenney as UCP leader.
Kenney plans to step down as soon as a winner is announced on Oct. 6.
Smith made the remarks in a video posted to social media Friday and in an accompanying news release.
A day earlier, Lakhani said she would consult with legal experts before giving royal assent to a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation.
Lakhani said her constitutional role is the most important part of her job and that Alberta must follow the rule of law.
The act, as described by Smith, would give Alberta the ability to ignore federal laws that aren't in the province's best interest.
Smith called on Lakhani to retract her statements.
The former Wildrose leader also took issue with Kenney's comments on 630 CHED Friday morning.
Kenney told host Shaye Ganam that Smith's act would put the lieutenant-governor in a very "awkward" position and hurt investor confidence in Alberta.
"This is unprecedented and entirely inappropriate political interference in our democratic processes," she said in a news release sent Friday.
In the video, Smith accused the premier of trying to tip the scales in favour of his "preferred" leadership candidate Travis Toews, who served as finance minister in Kenney's cabinet before stepping down at the end of May.
"You want to talk about creating a constitutional crisis," Smith says in the video.
"Having a caretaker premier in the position where he is acting the way he is is what's creating a constitutional crisis.
"I would ask him to stop. I would ask him to stop weighing in on this contest. And if he wants to continue in the position of being a caretaker, in the meantime, that's exactly what he should do."
Smith's supporters have criticized Lakhani for her comments on the sovereignty act. Peter Guthrie, the UCP MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, claimed that the federal Liberals were influencing Lakhani. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Lakhani to serve as Alberta's lieutenant-governor in August 2020.
"It appears the Ottawa elites through Trudeau's appointed representative are interfering in the UCP leadership race on a piece of legislation that hasn't yet been written or debated in Alberta's legislature," he said on Twitter. "If Trudeau is against, it must be right."
Lakhani said she needs to see a bill first before deciding what action to take. She plans to raise the question of how to handle a potentially unconstitutional piece of legislation with her counterparts at vice-regal conference in Newfoundland next month.
Smith and Toews are among the seven candidates running to replace Kenney as UCP leader.
Kenney plans to step down as soon as a winner is announced on Oct. 6.
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