Alberta premier touts sovereignty act's economic benefits, talks potential uses

Alberta’s premier is doubling down on claims her sovereignty act will boost the province’s fortunes – and she already knows how she might use the bill.

Speaking with CTV News Power Play on Friday, Danielle Smith said her flagship bill could be aimed at a couple of emissions-related decisions out of Ottawa.

“The federal government has two initiatives they’ve talked about that I’m very concerned about that might be the first use of the act if they proceed with it,” Smith said.

“We want to put them on notice.”

Smith says her flagship bill could push the feds to rethink 2030 emissions targets.

She believes those reduction efforts will handcuff Alberta’s energy industry, and says it’s not Ottawa’s place to mandate production cuts.

“This acts as a de facto production cap, and in our view, that would be in violation of the constitution,” the premier said.

“The intention of the bill was to make sure that we were asserting our sovereign jurisdiction.

“Nothing moves unless it’s pushed.”

The second possible use of the act will involve another environmental target: this one on fertilizer use.

The federal government has expressed intents to cut back on the amount of nitrogen emitted by fertilizer, in what was a highly-criticized decision.

Farmers and supply chain experts have been especially outspoken about the move’s potential impact, saying it could hurt the nation’s food security.

Ottawa argues significant progress on climate change is possible without producers completely scaling back fertilizer use, but says reductions are badly needed.

On Tuesday, Smith claimed she doesn’t want to use the act.

Her comments Friday represented quite the pivot.

“(This government is) not defending Alberta interest,” NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley told CTV News.

“If anything, they’re in the way of progress.”

Ganley says she, too, believes the emission caps need a rethink, but that there are better ways to get what Alberta wants.

“The federal government has set up tables to talk about issues like this and the province has refused to sit down.”

COMMERCE CLAIMS

The Premier also pushed back Friday against recent Calgary Chamber of Commerce claims the sovereignty act will hurt Alberta investment.

“The only thing that is creating business uncertainty right now is federal intrusion,” Smith said, before claiming multiple business owners have told her they’re actually on board with the bill.

It’s expected the act could be put into action by the spring.