UCP government ‘intentionally delaying’ Forever Canadian committee: Opposition

Alberta's NDP are accusing the UCP of delaying a committee on the Forever Canadian petition. Deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi speaks on Alberta Primetime.

Alberta NDP Deputy Leader Rakhi Pancholi joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss her role on the committee to review the Forever Canadian petition, which she says is being delayed by the UCP government.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: You’ve been urging the government to convene the committee before March 24, today.

Why that timeline?

Rakhi Pancholi: We’re really trying to make sure the almost half- million Albertans who signed the Forever Canada petition are heard by this government. This petition was filed with the legislature back in December, so the UCP government could have called this petition back or called this committee back in December. Instead they waited more than three months to do that. They’ve convened this committee, but yet there’s no sign of a first meeting.

What we’re trying to do is say: “Look, half a million Albertans have made their concerns and their views very clear. They are proud Albertans and proud Canadians. They’ve signed this petition.” The next step is the government needs to respond and take some action in response, but the UCP seems to be intent on delaying it. I have asked multiple times in question period and I sent a letter to the chair of the committee, MLA Brandon Lunty. He’s the MLA for Leduc-Beaumont. I asked him when the first meeting of this committee was going to be held. Because we think those Albertans deserve to have their voices heard. We deserve to get to work on this. The opposition members are ready to do that, and we are concerned the UCP is intentionally delaying this committee work even longer than they already have because they don’t want to deal with this until the fall or even later, because they’re waiting to see what’s going to happen with the separatist petition.

MH: You’ve accused the UCP of slow-rolling this committee.

What’s your read on why the government is taking its time, and what’s the message it’s sending?

RP: We always knew by lighting the fire under separatism, as the premier has done - she made multiple changes to the laws, she overturned court decisions so the separatist petition could go forward. By doing that she lit a fire that she frankly, has not been able to control. What she did not anticipate was there are more Albertans who are proud Canadians and are proud to say they want Alberta to work within Canada rather than without. They made their voices heard quickly and loudly.

Let’s remember that the Forever Canadian petition was filed under the old rules, the tougher rules which required way more signatures. They had less time to gather them and yet overwhelmingly we saw this outpouring of patriotism and support from Albertans to stay within Canada. I don’t think the premier anticipated that. In fact, I’m pretty certain she didn’t. Now that’s happened, she’s not sure what to do with it. Especially because she has done everything she could to make sure her friends and the base of her party, who are separatists, get their petition on the ballot. So she’s probably trying to delay the consideration of the Forever Canada petition because she wants to see what’s going to happen with the separatist petition. She has her own referendum she’s called in October on many anti-immigration measures. She has taken those steps and she’s trying to push this Forever Canada petition to the side and ignore the voices of half a million Albertans. We’re not going to let that happen.

MH: Why does this need to be dealt with sooner rather than later?

What is most at play here, if delayed?

RP: We believe it’s important that the committee table a report about next steps for the Forever Canadian petition before the legislature rises in mid-May. The way the legislation is worded, it says 90 days from when the committee is convened the committee must table its report with the legislature. However, if the legislature is not sitting at that time, it gets pushed over until the next sitting. Right now, 90 days from when the committee was first convened would fall on June 7. If we rise in the legislature before that time this report is not going to see the light of day. There’s going to be no recommendations made to the government about what steps to take next until November. So we’re pushing to have this first meeting of this committee.

Actually, we’re pushing to have work done on this committee so we can table a report with recommendations about what to do next on this petition before the legislature rises on May 14. That is our goal. We think it should be pretty simple. Albertans have made their voices heard loud and clear. We want to get to work so we can have recommendations from the committee come out before the legislature rises.

MH: Do you want or need to know what comes of the separation petition before the committee completes its endeavours?

RP: I’m sure the government would like to know, but I believe we have an obligation under the legislation - legislation this UCP government has been a huge champion of, although they’ve changed the rules many times for their separatist friends. We have an obligation as government, as a legislature. The only petition that has been tabled with the legislature so far is the Forever Canada one. It is the only one that has met and actually far exceeded the threshold for signatures they needed.

We don’t know what’s going to be coming with the separatist petition. Right now, the only one before the legislature is the Forever Canada one and almost half a million Albertans signed it. Their voices deserve to be heard. They don’t deserve to have this dragged out even longer. It’s been over four months already, simply because the government has their own agenda. They deserve to be heard right now. We’re ready to get to work, and for some reason the UCP isn’t.

MH: Once the committee meets, what will you be advocating for?

RP: First of all, we want to know the timeline and we really want to make it clear we want to have a report ready before the legislature rises on May 14. We want to make sure there’s an opportunity for the petitioner to come forward and to speak to the petition and present that work to the committee. Then we need to get ready to make some recommendations.

The Alberta NDP has always been clear that we do not think a referendum on separatism is a good idea for our province. We’re seeing that play out right now. Even the conversations happening in our province around the separatist petition are impacting economic investment. It’s chasing investors away. We’re hearing that from chambers of commerce and large corporations in our province. We know this is damaging. We’ve looked at what’s happened in Quebec, but our view is that almost half a million Albertans have made their feelings very clear.

UCP MLAs continue to dodge questions of whether or not they are separatists. We’ve asked them to sign a pledge saying they are proud Canadians and they denounce separatism. They refuse to do that, even though they’ve worked so hard to get that very question on a petition and on the agenda for a referendum. We think this conversation should go to the legislature and each MLA should have to vote on whether or not they support staying in Canada and denouncing separatism.