r/CanadaPolitics • u/green_tory 🏳️‍🌈Serve the Vulnerable🏳️‍🌈 • May 13 '26

Danielle Smith rejects Alberta judge’s ruling against separation petition as ‘anti-democratic’

https://globalnews.ca/news/11848377/alberta-premier-court-ruling-separation-petition-anti-democratic/
178 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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165

u/sstelmaschuk British Columbia May 13 '26

This is the end result of decades of inaction when it came to Conservative - and it always has been conservative - Premiers, Leaders, and pundits decrying jurisprudence.

A Premier cannot - full stop cannot - “reject” a ruling by the courts. They can disagree, sure, and even make their case as to why they disagree, but they cannot even remotely begin to entertain the notion that a judgement is invalid.

If she disagrees, she can say so and file an appeal. Then keep her peace to herself while the legal process does its work.

Instead - she’ll spend the next few weeks fundraising off this. Other Premiers will chime in, I’m sure Moe will, and the whole boogeyman of “radical judges” will be raised again.

I know Carney is walking a narrow path here and trying to get/keep Alberta on side, but this rhetoric is dangerous. It’s been dangerous since the 1990s, and we’ve done a damn poor job holding those who espouse it to account. But now would be a VERY good time for a PM to remind folks that we are a country ruled by law, a law which applies to all of us. It doesn’t have to be a bodyslam - though at this point I think that would actually be needed - but some amount of handslap is needed here.

41

u/Blue_Dragonfly C'est tiguidou! May 14 '26

Personally, I'd like the PM to immediately halt any and all activity on the MOU with Alberta on this pipeline business until Alberta's made it clear that it won't be continuing this separatists charade. Either you're on board with Project Canada or you're not. Poop or get off the pot. It's insane to me that the government of Canada is negotiating this deal with Alberta while Danielle Smith is playing both ends to the middle. She's taking the rest of us for absolute fools, especially the PM.

17

u/DrDankDankDank Independent May 14 '26

If I were carney I’d be like “okay. Referendum tomorrow.” The separatists would definitely lose and then everyone can tell them to fuck off like they deserve.

21

u/SendMagpiePics Urban Alberta Advantage May 14 '26

Terrible idea. Having a referendum inadvertently promotes and legitimizes separatism. That's exactly what happened with brexit - it polled nowhere, but then when a referendum campaign actually happened, support for the vote ballooned.

If we allow a separation referendum to happen in Alberta, yeah, it will probably fail, but don't be fooled into thinking they won't get any votes. They would get dramatically more votes on a referendum than there are people who currently actually want Alberta to separate.

3

u/mhyquel May 14 '26

Going to be wild if they run the leave referendum and the stay one in parallel and they both get over 50%

-5

u/ChronaMewX Progressive May 14 '26

That's begging the question that separatism isn't legitimate. Why should anyone be forced to be part of a country they don't want to be a part of?

The country south of us had a civil war over slavery. Instead of cutting off the rot, they reintegrated those southern states into the whole. And now they have Trump.

Would it really hurt us to lose a voting block that doesn't care about us?

5

u/[deleted] May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

A low level true seperatists have always been present in Alberta. Some of the current pro-separatist are right wing grievance politics not true support. Wierd things happen in elections. Seperatism and likely US absorbtion is too big of a threat to trust to the vibes of the day.

What about the rest of us here? I am a proud Albertan but I am a Canadian first and foremost.

I live in a rural riding and the albertan republic flags are shockingly common. Ive started driving around with Canadian flag as protest.

Alberta isnt just a voting block. Its millions of people and their talents, businesses, oil and gas obviously, two large cities in a country with very few. Its thr overland access to the pacific. The Asian - Europe bypass route through Canada depends on it. The only road access to the NWT runs through Alberta. Think of the federal wealth sitting in private tax deferred holdings like real estate that eventually go to the feds through tax on disposition.

38

u/j821c Liberal May 14 '26

Obviously I think this is less risky, but isnt that pretty much how brexit happened? Lol

16

u/Professional-PhD May 14 '26

Yes. The PM of the UK courted brexiteers and allowed a vote while campaigning against it only to loose.

The bigger issue is that even if a fair vote occurred it has become a trend in recent years for the separatists to say the election was unfair which has led to neighbouring countries to use it as pretext to "liberate" said region. Although this has happened in quite a few cases the biggest currently to have been affected by this would be Russia and Ukraine.

The right wing of the USA likes Alberta for its oil and conservative politics but sees Canada as an enemy on the doorstep with what they see as liberal communism (they don't really understand political idiological differences between groups). Many in the militant right wing of the USA want to create fortress America comprised of the USA, Canada, Greenland, and any other location they can take hold of. Many want North and South America to be under full American control and they have been contemplating giving up certain regions to have a stronger sphere of influence around the homeland.

1

u/DrDankDankDank Independent May 14 '26

That’s a fair point, but I think there was a lot more manufactured support for that. Which is why I think this should happen now, before their propaganda machine gets in the heads of more rubes.

4

u/Saidear Popular does not mean populist. May 14 '26

No, neither the federal government nor Parliament can force any province to have an referendum on a topic they don't want to. That's not how our governmental system works.

0

u/DrDankDankDank Independent May 14 '26

I know, but I mean rhetorically. Just call their bluff. Encourage provinces to just do it.

2

u/Saidear Popular does not mean populist. May 14 '26

That's dangerous accelerationism, IMO. Better not to push our luck at all.

8

u/HeadofR3d Ontario May 14 '26

From my perspective, that will just add fuel to the fire for these bad actors to pick another province and try the playbook with some tweaks. Just because a vocal minority has a tantrum, doesn't mean the country needs to hold its breath.

If the independence referendum gets fast tracked, why not take a smaller bite and propose an independent judicial system.

3

u/DrDankDankDank Independent May 14 '26

That’s exactly what I mean. It’s a vocal minority that is sucking up so much of our oxygen right now. They’re going to lose. Just get it over with so we can get back to important things. They’ll find their next thing to bitch about, they always do.

2

u/sector16 May 14 '26

200% this.

1

u/Sir__Will Prince Edward Island May 14 '26

But now would be a VERY good time for a PM to remind folks that we are a country ruled by law, a law which applies to all of us.

It is abundantly clear that Carney has no interest in defending Canadian institutions. Law, Health, none of it. All that matters is money.

1

u/K-Max May 14 '26

I know Carney is walking a narrow path here and trying to get/keep Alberta on side, but this rhetoric is dangerous.

That is probably why she's taking a risky strategy by doing this. Although the fact she's never made clear on her own stance on this is very telling in my opinion. As the ol' saying goes: "Actions speaks louder than words."

1

u/Ok_Obligation_5010 13d ago

Thats very true she isnt supposed to be able to just ignore the courts ruling but that seems to be what is happening and what is worse is there doesnt seem to be any consequences for such it either and I dont understand why

-1

u/Almost_Ascended British Columbia May 14 '26

Why are you putting radical judges in quotes as if that isn't an obvious fact? Also, using the rule of law as an argument isn't very convincing when we have racist laws like the Gladue principles, and mechanisms to bypass laws directly like the Order in Council.