Do separatist leaders think the law doesn't apply to them? | Alberta Primetime

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:02]Alberta Prime Time with Michael Higgins.

[00:00:05]>> Welcome to Alberta Prime Time. Ahead tonight, we'll hear from the federal jobs minister on support for workforce development in our province. But first, from cooperation concerns over data leak investigations to the impact of a pipeline deal on the separatism cause.

[00:00:23]Let's kick off the program with tonight's politics panel. Joining us this evening, Lorie Williams, political scientist at Mount Royal University. And Ray Martin is a former MLA and former leader of the Alberta NDP. Good evening to you both. And let's begin with the ever growing workload facing elections Alberta ahead of the October referendum.

[00:00:44]>> The volume of work is unprecedented. I used to drink from a garden hose. Now I'm drinking from a fire fire hose. And front and center at the moment, David Parker, leader of the Centurion Project, a separatist group accused of accessing and sharing the electors list. Elections Alberta, says Parker is not cooperating with investigations, refusing uh to sign a statutory declaration confirming he will comply with a direction to cease and desist. Lori, let's let's start on the David Parker element. Well, while Elections Alberta says it will be pursuing all legal avenues, how much of a stumbling block could this be in its ability to investigate the data breach?

[00:01:24]>> Well, it could be uh a barrier in this one particular um instance. And and and I think the biggest concern here is that he's refusing to comply with the cease and desist order. In other words, the uh the the the the cap that they want to put on the the spread of this this information, this private list or this list of private information about almost 3 million Albertans. Um their ability to contain that has has been materially affected by David Parker's um actions here. Now, um we'll see here there have been changes to the legislation that Elections Alberta says have hindered their ability to investigate. This has been uh an ongoing issue for more than a month. They still haven't contained it completely and they're now meeting resistance from David Parker. Um so it does raise questions about their ability to investigate, their ability to control it. Certainly legislative changes uh will be required and and this is why uh I along with several others are calling for a public inquiry to actually find what the problems are and to shore up the legislation to deal with this more effectively. when you've got someone who's calling elections Alberta at the very time that he's released this private information on over three million almost three million Albertans um he's he's saying that the agency that is charged with protecting that information is the problem he calls them uh corrupt to the core a den of evil a tool to suppress democracy and this is actually hurting the se separatist cause it's causing divisions between and amongst separatist leaders um and and I think is is creating a lot of concern and distrust amongst Albertans who might have been sympathetic towards separatism if they think that the the leaders of the of the of the cause are um are unwilling to comply with the law who think the rule of law does not apply to them um and see the the institutions that are meant to protect our privacy uh are being disrespected in this way. Ray, how do you see this playing politically or or does it fall off the radar where the legislature is concerned with with the spring sitting just a day away from coming to a close?

[00:03:34]>> Yeah, it uh it's unbelievable that a guy like David Parker I mean it's an extreme right and uh I was just looking at the organizations that uh are like Parker.

[00:03:49]Look, look at all the organizations.

[00:03:51]Republican Party of Alberta, Take Back Alberta, Alberta Prospa, Prosparity, Stay Free Alberta, Centurion Project, David Parker. So that it's just an extreme right excuse to uh to uh be arrogant and not follow the rules the way they should. It's just unbelievable that somebody could do this and and get away with it. hopefully that they're going to move on them and uh uh you know and tell them that to stop. They've told them once, but they have to be a little more harsh with them and say enough is enough. If you're not doing the right thing, then maybe jail's the answer. I wouldn't care if they did that for them.

[00:04:37]>> Lori, we we heard the the chief electoral officer's comments a moment ago about drinking out of a fire hose.

[00:04:43]ju just how overloaded an agency is this to be in in in the weeks and months ahead?

[00:04:51]>> So, we we've already heard that they've asked for additional money to deal with the uh the recall campaigns and and these referendum questions. So, they've had to count the signatures and verify them for Thomas Lucas's petition, the Forever Canadian petition. They are looking at the possibility of counting and verifying the signatures on this petition. and the scrutiny is going to be very high because because of this this voters list and fake names on the voters's list, the possibility that it was used to add names uh of people to the list without their knowledge, that's a real concern. Um some might recall that um when memberships were in uh uh handed out to folks in the the UCP leadership campaign, um Cam Davies was associated with putting names on the list from people who didn't know that they were on the list. So, with all of those questions out there, there's a re a very high threshold to meet to to try to restore some degree of confidence in in the process. Uh, and I'm not sure that can be done in the time that we've got here, particularly if it's just Elections Alberta within its uh restrictions, the privacy commissioner within their uh restrictions and the RCMP um with their their burdens as well, whether this can all be done in a timely manner that is before um October 19th. uh add to this the possibility that Cororblund's petition might u reach its threshold and and add to the number of uh u petitions and signatures that need to be investigated and verified and and you can see that it it presents significant challenges to elections Alberta and they have been underresourced both in terms of of funds but also in terms of of authority because of the changes in the legislation that happened last summer.

[00:06:33]>> All right. Um now along with all the focus on separation there is also now uh plenty of buzz building around finalization of the pipelineou is the final piece of the puzzle in the memorandum of agreement on a a new west coast pipeline signed by the Albertan federal governments last November. An announcement now expected Friday that the two sides have hashed out a deal on industrial carbon pricing. Ray, if if this does come to pass in a couple of days time, to what degree could this derail momentum around the separatism cause?

[00:07:11]>> Well, you know, the the first thing is I you you have to get our people on board if you want to make that. The BC premier is not happy. A lot of indigenous people in British Columbia are not happy. And so you you're going to have to deal with that because uh you can't just build a pipeline and go across say the indigenous uh tribal areas and and go into Vancouver if they don't want you there. So it's not a a foregone conclusion uh that people seem to think it is. I think there there has to be a fair amount of negotiation before anything happens. Lori, how how do you see Premier Smith maybe making use of of this latest development above and beyond getting a new pipeline? Does it does it become a tool of sorts to to make more of a stand against the separatism movement?

[00:08:09]>> It looks like that's exactly what it's doing for Danielle Smith. She has for uh for a long time been talking about a sovereign Alberta within a United Canada. She's added the word independent now. a sovereign and independent Alberta within a united Canada. This seems to have given her more confidence to stand with uh Canada to take a stand that she thinks that Alberta has is in a more advantaged position as part of Canada than outside of of Canada. You put together that and the bungling that's happening on on the separatist side and I think it's made things a bit different. But it's important to understand that separatist leaders are calling on their supporters to join the UCP in order to put more pressure on Daniel Smith. They're essentially threatening a a leadership review or a split in the party. Um, which is what Daniel Smith has been clearly trying to work around up until this point. It it's important to remember that Mark Carney got a standing ovation in uh Calgary amongst business leaders when theou was signed. And days later, Danielle Smith got booed at the uh the um UCP annual general meeting. And that at that same meeting, a separatist leader got a standing ovation. So, there's there's still a contingent of wellorganized individuals who have the capacity to really mobilize and focus their their people and their resources to try to push push things to make things more difficult for Danielle Smith. And then we still have, as Rey has suggested, the need to get cooperation from other partners, particularly investors, and the separatist um question is leading some investors not only to be reluctant to add uh funds to Alberta, but actually pull some out. So, there are there are barriers to to uh to overcome still, but this is looking like a very good step in the right direction.

[00:09:55]>> All right. Uh we'll put the panel on pause for a moment. And on the other side of the break, Federal Jobs Minister Patty Haidu joins us on partnering with Alberta on tariff impact support. We'll dig into that when we come back.

[00:10:20]Welcome back. We heard from federal jobs minister Patty Haidu before the break on partnering with the Alberta government on the investment of nearly $70 million over the next three years on workforce skills development and connecting uh Albertans with in demand jobs. Lori, is is there something to be said for timing of this announcement with anticipation now of of the pipelineou deal being finalized Friday?

[00:10:47]>> I'm I'm not sure it was planned this way. Uh I think it is important to to recognize and the federal government is going to need to do its work to to convey all of the things that have happened with this government in terms of trying to help uh provinces and individuals within Canada deal with the impact of this this volatile international um environment between uh Donald Trump's uh tariffs and and threats around uh the the Kusma agreement now oil prices u surging difficulties in in meeting the demands that exist uh internationally. These are all very important moves um that require the cooperation, collaboration not just between provinces and the federal government but among provinces as well.

[00:11:32]There are going to be challenges as we've seen here this money that's going into trying to to train people in the skilled trades. Those those results won't be seen immediately. And so that messaging about what is being done u at a time when people may not be feeling like things are are improving will be an important part of the messaging and and perhaps a source of hope for people that are struggling in the current climate.

[00:11:55]>> Ray, what what do you make of the level of Alberta Ottawa engagement here expanding an initiative like this to further strengthen the workforce at a time when uh there there's not only the impact of tariffs but there's all the separation turmoil playing out in the background.

[00:12:12]Yeah, I I think we have to look at what we uh can do. It's everything's going to take time, but uh I think the key to me is uh getting more skilled uh young workers out in the job market. And that has implications obviously for institutions like Nate and Sate and uh their uh uh educational establishments, but I think we're going to have to move and bring more of those in fast because uh uh we we clearly need more young workers coming in or we're we're not going to go very far. So I think we have to uh set up more people uh more institutions like NAT or seed they may specialize or whatever but we've got to get more young people in the labor market or we're going to face uh trouble. We see the as you pointed out the the interest rates go or the the uh unemployment rates going up from 6.5 to 7. that will continue if we don't do some other things. So, we really have to put a lot of money into uh creating uh jobs in the skilled markets like plumbers and pipe fitters and that sort of thing. We better do this fast because uh it's going to get worse if we if we don't move quickly. Lori, if we could come back to that the the pipeline element, what what do you feel Friday could mean for the Smith Carney Alberta Ottawa relationship?

[00:13:52]Well, I think this in combination with with the other initiatives taken by the federal government will send the signal that that Mark Carney keeps talking about cooperative federalism, how federalism actually benefits uh Canadians and including Albertans, how how Albertans are better off within uh within Confederation because of some of these possibilities than they would be otherwise. Um it can be a little bit complicated for people to digest. But if people start to see um for example somebody who wants to go into the trades getting the money they need to finance them through the the the time they need to take in education if they're getting the money they need so that they can actually uh make that longerterm investment that can make a huge difference. And one of the themes that Danielle Smith has been uh focusing on is youth unemployment in the province.

[00:14:38]it was it was a central issue in the uh in the u consultations that she did amongst Albertans. Um I I think this is a a major concern particularly youth unemployment and this does address that quite directly. So I think there is again potential for this to to to work out in the longer term. The question remains whether Albertans and other Canadians are going to lose patience as things continue become to to be challenging and these policies aren't yet yielding results.

[00:15:10]>> All right, folks. We're out of time.

[00:15:12]Have to leave it there. Great to see you both. Thank you for this.

[00:15:15]>> Thank you, Michael.

[00:15:16]>> Thank you.