St. Albert Mayor Cathy Huron has expressed frustration around the new Alberta Next panel, launched and chaired by Premier Danielle Smith in an attempt to voice provincial rights.
The panel was first announced on May 5, with 15 members and possible future issues announced since then. Possible initiatives that the panel will hold referendums on include ditching the RCMP for a provincial policing service and withholding some social services from non-permanent immigrants.
Despite the list of 15 members on the panel, there isn’t a representative who has a history in local politics, raising concern from Mayor Heron, who stated that “the province doesn’t listen very often to municipalities.”
In order to vote on the polls on the panel’s website, you must first watch a video which are often multiple minutes long and contain information that invite viewers to vote to one side.
The video before the survey on immigration mention ties between immigration rates to rising housing costs and unemployment.
Heron mentioned that she finds the videos to be “heavily biased”.
Many of the questions that the Alberta Next panel intends to dial in on are issues that Albertans have already voiced their opinions on, including a 60+% opposition to the creation of a provincial pension plan, an idea that continues to be pushed onto residents by the panel.
