Alberta to launch panel tour to 'chart a path forward' amid new pipeline talk

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a new panel will hit the road this summer with an eye on devising new measures for Alberta to assert autonomy and shield its economy from what she calls federal overreach.

The "Alberta Next" panel, which was announced in May, will hold a series of in-person town halls over the summer, with exact locations to be announced in the coming weeks. It will also collect feedback through online surveys.

Proposals that come out of those discussions could be put to a vote in a referendum next year.

"The Alberta Next panel will put Albertans in the drivers' seat," Smith told reporters at a news conference in Heritage Park in Calgary on Tuesday. "It will give them the rightful opportunity to decide how Alberta can become stronger and more sovereign within a united Canada."

Smith previously said she would chair the panel. In addition to Smith, the panel will include Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, economist Trevor Tombe, and Adam Legge of the Business Council of Alberta, among others, with some still to be announced. 

A government news release issued Tuesday stated that the panel would engage directly with Albertans to "chart a path forward for the province."

Wherever that path leads will be the latest development in a years-long face-off over energy and economic policy between Alberta and Ottawa.

"You know what Ottawa can't help but be fixated on? ... Punishing our energy sector and layering on policies to keep it in the ground," Smith said.

The government said the panel would consult Albertans on subjects like the possibility of establishing an Alberta pension plan, switching to an Alberta provincial police service from the RCMP and considering potential immigration reform, among other issues.

Some of the subjects echo the UCP's former Fair Deal Panel, which produced 25 recommendations, including developing a plan to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan and creating a provincial police force.

Asked by reporters Tuesday about how this effort would be different, Smith said that sometimes conversations that emerge out of the panel discussions lead to a "national dialogue."

"We identified six issues that we know have come up in the previous round of the Fair Deal Panel that we think Albertans now may want to put to a referendum so that we can take some action on them," Smith said. "But there may be others, and that's what we want to be able to explore."

Smith has said that her government doesn't plan on including a question on Alberta separation as a part of the 2026 referendum ballot. However, she reiterated Tuesday that citizen-initiated petitions could result in questions being added if the petitioners gather 177,000 signatures.

Lori Williams, an associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the addition of individuals like economist Tombe and Tara Sawyer, MLA-elect for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, suggested a balance of voices rather than a panel predisposed to a particular outcome.