Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday the federal government is “going to continue to work as constructively as possible” with Alberta, after the province passed a new sovereignty act to act as a “constitutional shield” against overreach by Ottawa.
“We are not going to get into arguing about something that obviously is the Alberta government trying to push back at the federal government,” Trudeau told reporters Thursday in Ottawa.
Trudeau previously said, “We’re going to focus on delivering to Albertans the way we have,” when asked about the province’s new legislation.
On Nov. 30, he told reporters, “We know the exceptional powers the premier is choosing to give the Alberta government in bypassing the Alberta legislature is causing a lot of eyebrows to raise in Alberta. And we’re going to see how this plays out,” said Trudeau.
The prime minister said his focus was going to be “constructive.” “I’m not going to take anything off the table, but I’m also not looking for a fight,” he said.
Premier Danielle Smith said during debate over the bill, “It’s not like Ottawa is a national government.”
“The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions. They are one of those signatories to the Constitution and the rest of us, as signatories to the Constitution, have a right to exercise our sovereign powers in our own areas of jurisdiction.”
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Treaty Six chiefs, and Treaty Seven chiefs said the sovereignty act infringes on their treaty rights.
Rick Wilson, Alberta’s indigenous relations minister, told reporters that Bill 1 specifically states treaty rights will be respected, and the government will listen to concerns and work to address them.
