Former deputy premier calls Bill of Rights changes ‘a mockery’

Former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk discusses the recent resumption of the legislative sitting and the upcoming United Conservative Party's annual general meeting with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Let's maybe start on those amendments to the Bill of Rights. The government claims these changes will modernize and strengthen human rights protections. How far do you think they go to achieving that?

Thomas Lukaszuk: They don't go anywhere. Unfortunately, because even though the human rights and the Bill of Rights legislation is largely symbolic as a piece of legislation, it was really to underscore Albertans' values and what we value in our society and our communities. I hate to be crass about it; Premier Smith has turned it into a bit of a bathroom wall on which you can write anything you want.

The stuff that she's introducing, number one, Alberta has no jurisdiction over, so what's the point of enshrining it in such an important piece of legislation? And the other aspects are really self-contradicting. If we have an autonomy over our own body, does this apply to women's reproductive rights? All of a sudden, no, not those. This is where government will tell you what you can do. Does it apply to transgender children? No, this is where government will step in. If we have a right to decide what's best for our children, does this apply to parents consenting to a variety of medical treatments? No, this is where government will step in.

She also includes gun ownership knowing full well that this is 100 per cent exclusively federal jurisdiction. It's enshrined in the Criminal Code of Canada. If a province cannot do anything about it, then why enshrine it in Alberta's Bill of Rights?

It really makes a mockery of something that was very important on a symbolic level and now it really means nothing.

MH: Then it is likely to hit roadblocks.

TL: There will be legal challenges to it, for sure. Danielle Smith is known most for telling Ottawa to stay out of Alberta jurisdiction on gun laws. She definitely is getting 100 per cent into federal jurisdiction, so she's really contradicting herself on this level, as well.

But not only will there be legal challenges, which will cost us both on the provincial side and the federal side – we pay for it twice – but it really makes a mockery of a bill. No one can rely on this bill anymore as a fundamental piece of legislation where we can point out and say, "Look, this is my right. This is what we believe in as Albertans."

MH: This is in response to her base, for her base to have their rights and freedoms respected. Is that not her prerogative?

TL: Sure it is, and that's the sadness of it, because she's really politicizing this important piece of legislation. And let's not forget, her base is no more than five to ten per cent of Alberta’s population. She is supposed to be the premier for all Albertans.

MH: It is a powerful base though.

TL: Powerful with respect to her remaining the premier or the leader of the party, but not powerful within the scope of Alberta voters and I find it very unusual that she seems to be acting as if her leadership review, this coming weekend in Red Deer, is the end all. Forgetting that there actually will be an election in this province and some of the announcements, including the Bill of Rights, that she's been putting forward over the last two or three months, are clearly aimed at that five to ten per cent of her base, but will lose her a lot of votes of moderate conservatives who perhaps voted for her in the last election but will say, "Well, this is just too much."

MH: Let's shift gears then to this weekend's UCP AGM and as you point out, the importance of the leadership review. Jason Kenney stepped aside with 51 per cent support. Allison Redford and Ed Stelmach during your era in government were shown the door with 77 per cent. How challenged do you expect Danielle Smith to be this weekend?

TL: This leadership review is important because these are your party members, these are people who paid $400 just to register for a convention, they travel, they pay for a hotel.

and If in that group you cannot muster more than 70 per cent, you’ve got yourself a problem with the rest of Alberta.

A leader should be scoring high 80s within her own milieu, her own support base, but I'm seeing that she's very worried for some reason. So whether she has internal party polling, because she's taking steps again, putting forward legislation which will jeopardize her re-election, I think she is worried.

She is taking unusual steps of making promises to our Muslim community, busing large number of children into the convention and really going on a fringe with her announcements, like the Bill of Rights, for example. Which really jeopardizes her re-election just to win this leadership race.

I personally think she would have passed it because it is motivated UCP supporters who will be at this particular convention and the numbers of people who are showing up are pretty high. But I think she is concerned and she's taking unusual steps to get through this hurdle, probably hoping that Albertans will forget about it and she will start moderating again after the leadership.

MH: In looking at the convention overall, what are you watching for in terms of an outcome? Maybe over and above the leadership review itself, and what does that say about the road forward for this government?

TL: Well, the road forward will be difficult because it started with Jason Kenney. Jason Kenney, to win his leadership and to combine the two parties, attracted some of the most radical members of the Wildrose Party, hoping that once he uses them for this one vote, he will be able to sort of extricate them and free himself of them.

It's like that saying, once you sleep with dogs, you catch the fleas and it's hard to get rid of the fleas. He never got rid of them and when he was leaving, he actually said that the crazies basically took over the asylum.

Danielle Smith was part of that group that entered the UCP and she was not only attracting more of them, but starting to pander to them and adjust her policies to appease them, forgetting that the majority of UCP supporters are still mainstream Albertans who are looking for some sort of balance.

So the next two years, she has two options: Either she will continue on that pathway to keep that small fringe group happy, and by doing so, jeopardize her possibility of getting re-elected in a general election, or she will start moderating and going back a little bit closer to centre, yet upsetting that ten per cent because they will feel that they were had, that they were fooled.

So it's sort of like the analogy of dating two people at the same time. Valentine's Day becomes a problem when both of them want to go on a date with you at the same time.

Danielle Smith will have that same problem on election day. She will have to decide which Danielle Smith she is, and by doing so, she will upset either one group or the other.