The newly-announced Alberta Next Panel will be conducting province-wide public consultations this summer and fall, garnering input on issues such as the possible creation of an Alberta police force and an Alberta pension plan.
The panel is made up of Premier Danielle Smith, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA-elect Tara Sawyer, and various other government-appointed academics, business leaders and community members.
For her part, Premier Smith says the panel is “giving everyday Albertans a direct say in the direction of our province. It’s time to stand up to Ottawa’s overreach and make sure decisions about Alberta’s future are made here, by the people who live and work here. This isn’t just about talk.”
The panel’s website includes a number of online survey questions. Regarding a possible Alberta Provincial Police Force, one question asks, “What aspect do you like most about an Alberta Police Service?” It also asks, “What concerns you most about shifting from the RCMP to an Alberta Police Service?”
Regarding a possible Alberta pension plan, a survey question asks, “What potential benefit do you like most about Alberta opting to leave the CPP and create its own Pension Plan?” It also asks, “Which risk of opting out of CPP to start an Alberta Pension Plan are you most concerned about?”
NDP leader and MLA-elect Naheed Nenshi says, “The Danielle Smith do-nothing panel is solely about her own political agenda and not the interests of Albertans. Albertans demand better from the UCP government.”
The panel’s recommendations – whatever they turn out to be following the consultation process – will be submitted to the Smith government by year-end.
Whether this Alberta Next Panel initiative will end up providing meaningful input into the future of the province or turn out to be nothing more than a taxpayer-funded political exercise designed to push the UCP agenda forward remains to be seen.
What is known is that any decisions made as a result of the Alberta Next Panel process will very likely end up being election issues in 2027.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan
