THE DEVIL AND DANIELLE SMITH
Danielle Smith appears to have given in to temptation and grasped the phony solution to the phony CBC-NDP “scandal” over whether an elected Premier and MLA or their staff have the right to speak to prosecutors over phony politically motivated charges. The solution appears to consist of saying that she “misspoke” when she said she spoke to prosecutors rather than saying:
“Even if I did speak directly to a prosecutor and asked for an explanation as to how provincial COVID charges in Provincial Court survive the C.M. Decision of Justice Dunlop in the Court of Kings Bench, so what? I am the Premier, Crown Prosecutors work under my ultimate authority and I am entitled to seek answers to policy questions wherever I deem appropriate.”
For those of us who don’t follow COVID court cases The C.M. case was a case where NDP lawyers acting on behalf of the Rachel Notley supporting Alberta Federation of Labour tried to get an Order re-masking every kid in school in Alberta on the basis of alleged Charter of Rights violations. The Court of King’s Bench DISMISSED these claims “due to lack of evidence” (paragraph 130). Justice Dunlop also found at Paragraph 104 that parents wishing other people’s kids re-masked in schools may have been the victims of “misinformation or misunderstanding”. The Court also found that the Hinshaw order in that case was illegal as it was a cabinet decision NOT a proper medical decision under the Public Health Act. This very argument remains at issue in the Ingram Case where Deena Hinshaw testified in open court that she only advised cabinet and that PICC in fact made all of the decisions.
On January 25th Premier Smith issued a statement regarding a possible amnesty for people charged with violating Hinshaw Orders which read in part :
“After taking Office, The Premier and her staff had several discussions with the Minister of Justice and Ministry officials, requesting an explanation of what policy options were available for this purpose. After receiving a detailed legal opinion from the Minister to not proceed with options for granting amnesty, the Premier followed that legal advice. All communications between the Premier and the Minister of Justice and Ministry of Justice public servants have been appropriate and made through the proper channels.”
In other words, Premier Smith consulted with bureaucrats with a vested interest in never admitting that they are wrong and was force fed a legal opinion which says that elected officials should never interfere with decisions and actions of bureaucrats engaged in the oppression of citizens under questionable authority.
The complete lack of transparency in this process is appalling. Premier Smith needs to release the “legal opinion” that she was provided so that we can all assess the degree to which any elected leader could or should rely on a legal opinion of the “Ministry of Justice” to determine the degree to which individual rights were disregarded by the “Ministry of Justice”.
Justice Dunlop’s decision in the C.M. Case is binding on the Provincial Court. The ratio of that decision was found at paragraph 85 of that decision :
“[85] Dr. Hinshaw’s interpretation of the Public Health Act as leaving final decision-making authority for public health orders with elected officials is contrary to the Public Health Act and consequently unreasonable. The Order was based on that unreasonable interpretation. Because the Order slavishly implemented PICC’s decision. I conclude the Order was unreasonable.”
Justice Dunlop ruled that if a Hinshaw “Order” “slavishly implemented” a cabinet decision it was unlawful. Premier Smith is well within her purview and her DUTY as the PREMIER of Alberta to demand an investigation into the “Orders” issued by Deena Hinshaw to determine the degree to which ALL of those orders may in fact be illegal.
What should be concerning to everyone concerned for the state of our modern democracy is the degree to which “Ministry of Justice” bureaucrats consider themselves the “government” and act as our “governors”. It is becoming progressively clear that the modern administrative state does not view individual citizens as sovereign beings with inalienable rights. They see us creatures under their dominion to be “governed” as the bureaucrats deem “reasonable” without any reference to our rights and freedoms.
There is little or no doubt that moldy, Kenney leftovers like Travis Toews, Tyler Shandro, Jason Copping and Jason Nixon, have no place in caucus or cabinet. There is little or no doubt that all of the behind the scenes machinations, threats and rumors of caucus revolt every time Premier Smith might take a step that highlights the malfeasance in office of the Sky-Place cocktail club are being orchestrated on behalf of Toews, Shandro, Copping and Nixon.
Tyler Shandro, currently has the distinction of being the first Attorney General in Alberta history to be the subject of a Law Society Hearing while serving as Attorney General. A more blatant conflict of interest is hard to imagine. That Mr. Shandro has not resigned pending the outcome of this hearing, especially in light of recent disclosures concerning Mr. Shandro’s potential release of confidential information during the hearing itself, calls into question his understanding of responsible government and the doctrine of ministerial responsibility.
Like the conflict of interest in being both Attorney General having a supervisory role over the Law Society and being the subject of its complaints process, Tyler Shandro has a clear conflict of interest in giving Danielle Smith “legal advice” with regard to Public Health Orders that he, himself, may have unlawfully interfered with as a member of cabinet. It is clearly in the personal political interest of Shandro, Toews, Copping, Nixon et al to continue the cover up concerning what Justice Dunlop decided was the unlawful interference by Cabinet in Public Health Act Orders.
It's no surprise that the mandate of the Panel headed by Preston Manning is limited to looking at potential legislative changes and has not been empowered to look at mistakes or abuses of power made by or engaged in by NDP appointed bureaucrats or the degree to which Cabinet was misadvised by Notley appointed and supported public health officials.
Like the purging of Jason Kenney from government, Tyler Shandro should be the next to go prior to the election. Premier Smith has a more than able replacement in MLA Jason Stephan. Jason Stephan is a lawyer of great depth of thought and intelligence who was awarded the University of Calgary Gold Medal for having the highest academic standing in his graduating class. Just a thought… but maybe its time for Danielle Smith to start getting legal advice from the top of the barrel.
Premier Smith also needs to take a page from Dame Margaret Thatcher’s book and look all of those that would extort her by threatening a cabinet and caucus revolt in the eye and remind them that she signs their nomination papers. The constant bullying of premier Smith smacks of the misogyny that drove Elizabeth Truss from the leadership of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. They can either fall in line or be replaced. Let’s face it – the UCP caucus is not marked by its bravery. The only two MLA’s with the guts to walk out of caucus are Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes.
I don’t think that the UCP caucus has gotten any more courageous in the last six months.
The other thing that Premier Smith needs to internalize is that there is no need to play defense every time the Notley-Trudeau-Singh CBC makes up a phony scandal involving Premier Smith acting in a principled manner concerning rights abuses perpetrated under the banner of “Public Health”. Apologizing and explaining is completely ineffective as that is the reason for these issues being raised in the first place. The old political axiom “if you are explaining you are losing” needs to be fully internalized. CBC employees and NDP appointed bureaucrats aren’t voting UCP in any event.
Rachel Notley needs to be made to explain how we would have been better off as a province and as a people if she had been Premier and succeeded in following her apparent, socialist, political idol Chairman Xi by turning Alberta into Zero-COVID-Land.
Make no mistake. The stakes couldn’t be higher. A Rachel Notley governed Alberta would see full implementation of 15 minute city plans that are based on the ability of someone to WALK 3/4 of a mile in a 15 minute period. Of course the purpose behind these plans is to make automobile use progressively more and more frustrating for citizens as a means of curtailing our freedom of movement in the name of climate change. Parking and traffic flow will become even more restricted as more and more bike lanes compete for road space in cities where a “15 minute walk” or bike ride is far from practical at -40 degrees Celsius. It’s no coincidence that the City of Calgary stopped publicizing how many people use the multi-million dollar downtown bike lanes. It’s embarrassing to them.
The 15 Minute City Bylaw in Oxford, UK, included “traffic filters” allowing “residents to drive freely around their own neighborhoods but … fined 70 Pounds for driving into other neighborhoods through the filters.” (Oxford Student, January 25, 2023) These filters are accompanied by cameras which allow for near constant monitoring and penalization of the formerly free movement of citizens. Shanghai Rachel needs to be held to account and needs to be made to explain how the constant erosion of our economic interests, freedom and rights as Albertans in the name of Alberta’s alleged 0.27 % of global carbon emissions are justifiable in any rational sense.
The continuing protection of NDP bureaucrats at AHS and the College of Physicians and Surgeons by Toews, Copping, Shandro and Nixon is not serving us well. It is time to start treating Albertans like we are well educated adults capable of making our own decisions.
The upcoming election campaign needs to be run free from fear over challenging Rachel Notley on both the COVID and climate hysteria that she parrots from her bosses Trudeau and Singh. To do that Premier Smith needs to rid herself of all of the Kenney-NDP influenced members of her cabinet and caucus starting with Shandro, Toews, Copping and Nixon.
Jeffrey R.W. Rath, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B. (Hons.)
Foothills, Alberta, January 30th, 2023