Alberta plans to invoke the Sovereignty Act. Here’s what that means

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Premier Danielle Smith is making good on her promise to fight the federal government’s draft emissions cap regulations, saying she plans to pursue measures like withholding data related to emissions from the federal government unless approved by the province and barring any federal officials from entering oil and gas facilities.

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At a press conference on Tuesday, Smith said the province plans to invoke the Alberta Sovereignty Within A United Canada Act, which allows the province to push back against federal laws or policies that negatively impact Alberta. A motion could come as soon as Monday. 

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“We’re telling Ottawa your cap goes too far,” Smith said. “This is not the way federal-provincial relations should be.”

Miles ahead of the issue

Postmedia spoke to Eric Adams, a law professor at the University of Alberta, about what this means, the timeline, and the necessity.

Adams said the federal regulations are still only drafts and have not come into force yet. He said if the regulations were enacted, they would not have compliance requirements until 2030 at the earliest. He said in some ways, the province is announcing a future fight that “may not come to pass.”

“I think it’s an attempt to get in front of the issue,” Adams said.

“There (are) a lot of miles on the highway between now and then, and so the political context of this entire matter may change, and it may change dramatically, especially if there’s a change in government at the federal level.”  

On Nov. 4, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced draft regulations that would force oil and gas producers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about one-third over the next eight years.

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The regulations look to force emissions from upstream oil and gas operations to fall to 35 per cent less than they were in 2019 sometime between 2030 and 2032. Upstream oil and gas operations contributed around 31 per cent of Canada’s total emissions in 2022, according to Guilbeault. From 2019 to 2022, emissions from the sector fell by seven per cent.

Motion needs to be debated, passed

For the province to invoke the Sovereignty Act, a motion first needs to be introduced in the legislature that says the proposed federal emissions regulations are unconstitutional in the view of the legislature. Reporters were told this would likely happen next week.

The motion would first be debated, and if it is passed by a majority vote of MLAs, it would trigger cabinet to make a series of orders. Smith outlined measures her government plans to pursue through a mix of police regulations and legislation but said other changes would also be considered:

• Restricting Alberta entities from enforcing the federal cap
• Defining all Alberta oil and gas facilities as essential infrastructure
• Restricting access to oil and gas facilities to only those licensed by the province
• Withholding data related to emissions as proprietary information
• Selling Alberta oil via a government-run royalty-in-kind program

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“If any of this comes to pass, many years from now, then I think those will be future lawsuits to be had, but in the meantime, I think (this is) intended to present a response that is demanded by the political constituency that supports getting tough on Ottawa,” Adams said.

Alberta cannot pursue legal action against the federal government because the act has not been made into law yet.

Feds push back

In a joint statement to Postmedia, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Canada Jonathan Wilkinson and Guilbeault said under the regulations, production and jobs will increase while pollution goes down, calling it “a win-win-win.”

“While we fight for workers, the only people Premier Smith is fighting for are oil and gas CEOs taking home multimillion-dollar salaries and declaring that Christmas is coming early for their shareholders,” the statement said.

“We are very confident in the constitutionality of the regulations. The Supreme Court has confirmed the federal government’s role on environmental issues and the regulation of greenhouse gas pollution.”

— with files from Matthew Black and Tyler Dawson

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