Alberta premier pushes legal challenges to federal policies in justice ministry mandate letter

Law360 Canada (October 2, 2025, 3:08 PM EDT) -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has given marching orders to her justice minister on the issues she expects him to tackle during the upcoming legislative session.

At the top of the list is using “every legal means possible” to overturn or overhaul a number of federal initiatives, such as the Impact Assessment Act, the oil and gas emissions cap and Ottawa’s clean energy regulations.

“Albertans have entrusted us with a clear mandate: to deliver results, strengthen our communities, and build a future rooted in prosperity, opportunity, and responsible governance,” Smith says in her mandate letter to Justice Minister Mickey Amery. “Our government was elected to get the job done — and that is exactly what we will do.”

But University of Calgary law professor Allan Ingelson said he felt there has been a “reduced prospect of success” for potential legal challenges by Alberta of federal projects over the past couple of years.

“The Alberta government can talk about challenging the federal government’s legislative jurisdiction, but the key element to me is the recent Building Canada Act — specifically its message that Canada must build critical new infrastructure, which includes becoming an energy superpower,” said Ingelson, who also teaches at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.

The Building Canada Act makes quite a difference when it comes to its review of energy projects, said Ingelson.

“It’s good politics for Danielle Smith to make statements like she has, but from a legal standpoint, the federal government is in a much stronger position because it has clarified where it stands,” he said. “Oil pipelines, for example, are the kind of project that could conceivably fit the criteria for projects of national interest. We need to keep in mind that we are still trying to clarify where we are headed with this, but the Act has put the federal government in a much stronger position.”

The letter also asks Amery to work on introducing legislation aimed at providing greater oversight and appropriate safeguards for medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and prohibit medical assistance in dying where a person seeks this procedure based solely on a mental illness.

But Lorian Hardcastle, who also teaches law at the University of Calgary, said the issue of oversight for MAiD, especially for people with mental health issues, has been a vexing one at the federal level.

“The federal government promised years ago to legalize MAiD in this area, but they pushed the timeline back — and there are reasonable people, including psychiatrists, on both sides of the issue,” she said. “I think there’s a public perception that to get MAiD, your condition has to be incurable, and many people find it hard to believe that psychiatric conditions can truly be incurable. And so, there’s been a lot of pushback from the public there.”

Hardcastle said the federal MAiD legislation is “perpetually” going to have numerous legal challenges because it draws lines based on age, what kind of condition a person has, and other areas.

“And Alberta wants to limit it in terms of what it can do, so I think back to what happened after abortion was decriminalized [Morgentaler] — there were some conservative provinces who said our citizens do not want this, so what can we do within provincial jurisdiction to deal with it?” she said. “For example, access to abortion in New Brunswick is terrible because they won’t pay for it if it’s done outside a hospital, and most are done in clinics. And so, we could see something similar here — we’re not going to pay for MAiD if it is done for mental health reasons.”

But a slightly less contentious issue in the mandate letter is a call to strengthen Alberta’s justice system through “increasing the number and scope of applications judges, focusing more resources on support staff for Alberta’s three courts and administrative tribunals so that matters are adjudicated in a timely manner, supporting innovative approaches to resolving legal matters, both in and outside courthouses, and continuing to expand virtual and online accessibility.”

All this was welcome news to Graham Johnson of DDSG Criminal Law, who described the staffing situation in some provincial courtrooms as “pretty much untenable.”

“The clerks are just working flat out, and when people do that, more errors tend to occur,” he said. “In places like Fort McMurray, for example, some days there are just not enough clerks available to sit in court, so one will appear remotely from some other small town and attempt to record and make notes of the proceeding — and that is hardly ideal.”

The focus on an increase in resources was also applauded by Christopher Samuel, president of the Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Branch (CBA Alberta).

“In particular, I will say that the Edmonton law courts building is in fairly urgent need of repair — there have been several well-documented issues with that facility that have made headlines, and it’s long overdue for renewal,” he said. “We also agree that increasing courthouse security is an important priority — it’s important to make sure that all justice system participants are safe and secure when accessing those facilities.”

But one aspect of the letter where Samuel did raise some concern was a call for Amery to introduce comprehensive legislation to “protect the free speech rights of all provincially regulated professionals and work with affected ministries to implement those free speech protections for the professions under their responsibility.”

“We’re taking a wait and see approach in terms of what this change will be, but legal regulators should have the ability to regulate the conduct of its members,” he said. “You don’t stop being a lawyer when you leave the office, and if you’re engaging in conduct that brings the administration of justice into disrepute — whether that occurs during working hours — there needs to be an ability for the regulator to control and supervise that conduct.”

The letter also calls for Amery to advocate for federal legislative changes to bail and “other matters under the Criminal Code that put the safety of Albertans first” — an issue that has shown up on the radar of other provincial premiers, such as Ontario’s Doug Ford.

For his part, Johnson said there is some reform needed to the bail system in Canada, but he comes at it from a different perspective than the provincial government — namely, the safety of his own clients.

“Stepping back and looking at the big picture, there are situations where people are being released when they probably should not be released, because they’re just not in a position to deal with their issues on their own,” he said. “But that raises the question whether jail is the answer — and my answer is no, this has to go along with things like being able to get access to treatment, better access to housing and a more coordinated approach.”

Smith finalizes the mandate letter by directing Amery to “work closely with the public service, including your Deputy Minister and other senior officials in your ministry, to support the priorities outlined in this letter with the highest standard of professionalism, integrity, and creativity.”

“I also expect you to regularly and proactively reach out to all ministry-related stakeholders in order to take feedback and identify potential solutions on issues of importance to them, including finding ways our government can reduce burdensome and unnecessary red tape and barriers that are hurting their members’ ability to grow the economy and improve quality of life for the Albertans they serve,” she says.

The Alberta legislature is scheduled to return on Oct. 23.

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