Updated 10July 2023
On Thursday 6 July, Premier Danielle Smith announced the formation of her cabinet policy committees.
These five committees, in addition to the statutory Treasury Board committee chaired by the Treasury Board President and Finance Minister Nate Horner, reflect the government’s key policy priorities for the next four years.
The names of the committees are
- Alberta First
- Building Communities
- Economic Diversification
- Public Safety and Wellness and
- Legislative Review Committee.
All committees are chaired by non-cabinet members and have a balanced number of backbench MLAs and cabinet ministers.
In this brief I examine the significance and role of the committees as well as taking a more in depth look at the published backgrounds of the backbench chairs.
“I want to thank the cabinet ministers and MLAs who are stepping up to take on this important work on behalf of all Albertans. As we continue to hear from Albertans and Alberta organizations and businesses, it’s critical that we have robust conversations throughout the process. Each committee member brings a mix of experience and new perspectives to find solutions to our province’s immediate priorities, including growing and diversifying our economy, building safe, strong communities, and defending Alberta’s interests.” Premier Danielle Smith
Noteworthy is the absence of terms of reference for these committees.
The Alberta First committee is the highest political council to develop and deliberate on strategies central to Smith’s victory in her leadership campaign, namely the Sovereignty Act concept. Unsurprisingly, the name of the committee is the same as Smith’s leadership campaign. In her campaign literature, she made four commitments:
- Free Alberta from Ottawa’s control,
- Protect the rights and freedoms of Albertans,
- Unleash our economic advantage and restore the Alberta advantage, and
- Defeat Rachel Notley and the NDP.
Since taking on the premiership Smith has been adept in stemming internal party bickering and using the Trudeau- Singh alliance as a foil.
Throwback to Klein era?
The concept of these mixed MLA-cabinet policy committees has its origins in the Klein revolution when he created standing policy committees (SPCs). Comparison with the first Klein government is appropriate because Klein faced a very strong Liberal opposition party at the time.
While an official at Treasury during this period, I attended several SPCs dealing with proposed legislation affecting the financial sector. At one of the first SPC meetings I sensed great excitement among MLAs, MLAs believed they were being involved in actual policy-making. While some analysts viewed the creation of these committees as a bit of a sop to those not in cabinet, a gesture in politics is often as powerful as the substance. Cabinet is the final authority on what legislation, regulations to advance but having MLA involvement as Smith’s statement says – “MLAs who are stepping up to take on this important work on behalf of all Albertans,” acknowledges the role of the Legislative Assembly.
It is unclear whether the committees will hear directly from “businesses and organizations”- labour is not mentioned- and whether any of their meetings will be public. If so, this may represent an unwarranted by-passing of the Legislature but might sti;; provide some cover for the government when introducing legislation.
Since the Legislative Assembly won’t be called back until the end of October, we can expect that after batteries are recharged and summer vacations are finished full attention will be turned to the Throne Speech, budget, and legislation which will place “Alberta First” as the primary focus of this first session.
Chairs of Policy Committee
Without terms of reference, it is difficult to know what authority chairs will actually have. We do know that the chairs sit at pleasure of the Premier and the appointment can be revoked at any time. Presumably capably chairing these committees will mean a cabinet post- more money and notoriety- which goes with a ministerial office. Normally chairs formulate agendas- that is the priorities of the committee, distribution of records of-decisions, and overseeing the conduct of meetings.
Alberta First
The most important committee is the Alberta First policy committee which includes Smith as a member. It also includes the most senior cabinet posts including justice, energy, finance, environment, and jobs and economy ministers (See full listing of committees below).
Garth Rowsell, MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright chairs the Alberta First committee. He was first elected in 2019. Roswell’s background is in agriculture. He has been “involved in various agricultural businesses” and subsequently became at Edward Jones financial advisor. Community involvement includes stints as
president of Vermillion Rotary, Vermilion Vipers Swim Club and Vermilion Curling Club. Roswell is currently working on rural health issues. In the past legislature he chaired the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund.
Looking at his past legislative record his maiden speech emphasized the themes of rural crime. “For Nathan Saunders, owner of Saunders Repair Service in Marwayne, having your house entered illegally, your workshop broken into twice, four private trucks and five customer trucks stolen, plus untold vandalism, this scourge is a ghastly reality.” (Alberta Hansard, 3 June 2019, 310).
Roswell other interests include agriculture worker safety- notably the UCP’s “Farm Freedom and Safety Act” to undo WCB premiums and allow more private insurance into the market (Alberta Hansard, 10 June 2019, 608). Returning to the theme of rural crime in question period Roswell opined:
Given that the province of Alberta has seen an increase in rural crime under the NDP and given that I’ve heard many concerns from local residents about inadequate training for law enforcement professionals and given that Albertans want and deserve to feel safe and secure in their homes, to the minister: what is the government’s plan to ensure that our local, front-line service workers have the proper training in order to keep the province safe and prosperous?
Given the above, we can surmise that Roswell is keen on Alberta taking over policing in rural areas from the RCMP.
Building Communities
Building Communities is chaired by Martin Long the MLA for West Yellowhead. Long was first elected in 2019. According to his biography on the UCP site, he is “focused on keeping life affordable for Alberta families, helping find solutions to rural crime, strengthening and diversifying our economy, working to improve physician recruitment and retention, and ensuring that Alberta’s government maintains responsible fiscal management.”
He was previously the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Tourism, a role he continued under Smith. Prior to becoming MLA he was a power engineer and an operator in the forestry and energy sectors which “has proved to be a valuable asset during his time as an MLA.”
In Long’s maiden speech to the previous legislature he spoke glowingly of corporations role in Alberta.
I will always remember the time I spent walking through the halls of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and seeing the contributions wall of fame, seeing names like Repsol, Husky, Shell, Talisman, Millar Western, Weyerhaeuser, and the list goes on and on. I can only assume that other postsecondary institutions across Alberta are similar in the acknowledgement of industry’s financial commitments, industry which has invested billions of dollars in our technology and innovation to improve our performance, especially our environmental performance, for our future and the future of our children (Alberta Hansard, 4 June 2019, 402).
His main areas of focus included defending the corporate income tax cut by attacking the NDP on their $1.4-billion cost of phasing out coal power, their electricity cap, and the “$2.1-billion handout for petrochemical diversification and partial oil upgraders” (Alberta Hansard, 7 November 2019, 2262). ” Given the above, it will be interesting to see what roles corporations will be given in building communities or his potential rationalization of a royalty holiday to incentivize well clean-ups if Smith follows through on the R-Star proposal..
The other members of this committee include ministers of infrastructure, education, advanced education, municipal affairs, tourism and sport, and transportation and economic corridors. It seems that education, infrastructure, and sports may dominate discussions. Given the UCP’s track record with both urban and urban municipalities, expect conflict with municipal councils and school boards in the coming years. This committee may have to also deftly manage the enormous giveaway of Alberta taxpayers to underwrite the professional sports arena infrastructure in Calgary.
Economic Diversification
This committee is also chaired by a two term MLA Jackie Lovely who is the MLA for Camrose. Ms. Lovely previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Associate Minister for the Status of Women, on Treasury Board, the Premier’s Council on Charities and Civil Societies, and as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Families and Communities. Prior to becoming an MLA she worked in “sales development and project coordination” for a not-for-profit organization, a project management organization and international education.
She has been an ESL teacher and a member of Rotary and local chambers of commerce. She has a MBA, a B.A. and diploma in hotel and a restaurant administration from the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology. Her biography describes her reason for running for office as to “ensure the Alberta she was given is as good if not better for the next generation.”
In her 2019 maiden speech, she hoped that the new government would be able to encourage investors to seek opportunity in our rural towns, ”filled with kind, encouraging people anxious to meet and welcome investors “(Alberta Hansard, 27 May 2019, 76). She spoke of the contribution of the Augustana campus in Camrose and the various community organizations in her constituency. Her main interest in the first session revolved around rural crime- a theme that is specifically addressed in another cabinet policy committee.
In questioning Justice Minister Schweitzer after a woman constituent and her dog were killed she sought answers to address ”rural crime.” She followed up by praising Bill 27 to respect property rights-“It makes sure that law-abiding Albertans can’t be sued by criminals committing a criminal act on their property.” suggesting that the citizenry were “suffering from a catch and release program” (Alberta Hansard, 20 November 2019, 2388).
Assisting her in her task include ministers for arts, culture and status of women, technology and Innovation, forestry and parks, Service Alberta and red tape reduction and agriculture and irrigation. This committee appears to be the weakest on paper. This stands to reason so long as the province receives bountiful energy royalties, economic diversification, while an article of faith for Alberta governments, successive government have been unable to find creative ways to put significant dollars into agriculture, forestry and the arts.
Public Safety and Wellness
This committee is chaired by Scott Sinclair the MLA from Lesser Slave Lake. At 38, he is one of the youngest MLAs in the house and an aboriginal entrepreneur. Sinclair was a good hockey player where he played with the championship winning Estevan hockey club.
Subsequently he returned to Lesser Slave Lake to work for a local oil and gas company. Sinclair obviously learned from a previous business failure where his franchise did not survive, he moved his family to Edmonton where he worked at Glassmasters Autoglass subsequently establishing his own windshield company in 2019. According to the UCP biography “heis now a successful owner of two small businesses and spends his time raising his family while continuing to give back by doing motivational speeches for indigenous youth.”
“He looks forward to fighting for the people in northern Alberta and delivering positive results; while protecting their way of life and good paying jobs. Applying his unique skill set of business acumen, emotional intelligence, sense of humour and commitment, Scott is very excited to serve the people of Lesser Slave Lake.”
Assisting Sinclair is Deputy Premier Mike Ellis who is the Public Safety and Emergency Services minister. Other cabinet ministers on the committee represent health, seniors, community and social services, children and family services, indigenous relations, and mental health and addictions.
Given its composition this committee will consider opioid addiction, treatment recovery, rural crime, crime in urban areas, and policing issues.
Common Demographics
Below I list some of the common demographics of the constituencies represented by these chairs.
Small towns (population under 10,000) or small cities (over 10,000 population) are represented in these constituencies-
Martin Long-West Yellowhead– Jasper (4,113 -2022, 4,590 -2016); Hinton (10,087-2022, 9,882 -2016); Edson (7,903 -2022, 8,414 -2016).
Total votes cast- 20,257, UCP- 14,452 NDP-5805
Jackie Lovely- Camrose– Camrose (19,847 – 2022,18,742 -2016); Wetaskiwan (12,317 -2022, 12,655- 2016).
Total votes cast-20,428 UCP-12,900 NDP-5582
Scott Sinclair- Lesser Slave Lake- Slave Lake ( 6,377 -2022 ,6,651 -2016); High Prairie (2,386- 2022, 2,564 -2016) Total votes cast- 7,849, UCP- 5,108 NDP-2,636
Garth Roswell- Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright– Lloydminster (20,574 – 2022, 20,321-2016); Vermillion (2022- 3,993 -2022, 4,084 -2016), Wainwright (2022- 4,453, 4,507-2018)
Total votes cast-17,602, UCP- 13,071, NDP-3097
While the average constituency had 20,269 voters- these four MLAs an average of 16,389 voters. Depopulation is seen in seven of ten these small towns/cities. Each of these seats were won comfortably by the UCP.
Future directions
These committees will drive both the legislative mandate which will be detailed in a speech from the throne as well as budget decisions.
I expect a particularly ambitious legislative calendar from the Smith government as was the case with Jason Kenney summer of rolling back “bad” NDP policies. Depending on the status of energy and environmental discussions with the federal government this summer, I expect much of the Free Alberta Strategy will be mapped out including termination of the RCMP policing agreement and a new Alberta Revenue Agency. Tensions with urban school boards and some smaller urban municipalities will take place over budgets, capital spending and land management practices.
The three men and one woman who will be chairing these committees are well known in their communities, if not widely known in provincial policy circles. All of them are from rural areas with small population centres. Agriculture and oil and gas are the dominant industries, and these MLAs will support policies to strengthen their communities or policies that purport to serve their constituents’ interests. Rural crime, policing, the opioid crisis and the quality of health care in their centres will be dominant issues. Issues central to Calgary and Edmonton like homelessness and housing may receive less attention.
Given the well orchestrated hate directed to the Trudeau-Singh government, Alberta First initiatives will be front and centre for the Smith government. The issue of production limits, essential in any rational plan to curb CO2 and methane emissions will be the lightening rod which may trigger an all-out confrontation with the federal government. Another issue to watch is the role, if any, the federal Environment and Climate Change department will play in monitoring of tailings ponds leaks at Kearl Lake.
Policy Committee Membership
Alberta First
Chair: Garth Rowswell
Private member: Chantelle de Jonge
Private member: Shane Getson
Private member: Grant Hunter
Private member: Jason Stephan
Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Relations: Danielle Smith
Minister of Affordability and Utilities: Nathan Neudorf
Minister of Energy and Minerals: Brian Jean
Minister of Environment and Protected Areas: Rebecca Schulz
Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade: Matt Jones
Minister of Justice: Mickey Amery
President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance: Nate Horner
Building Communities
Chair: Martin Long
Private member: Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk
Private member: Andrew Boitchenko
Private member: Eric Bouchard
Private member: Scott Cyr
Minister of Advanced Education: Rajan Sawhney
Minister of Education: Demetrios Nicolaides
Minister of Infrastructure: Pete Guthrie
Minister of Municipal Affairs: Ric McIver
Minister of Tourism and Sport: Joseph Schow
Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors: Devin Dreeshen
Economic Diversification
Chair: Jackie Lovely
Private member: Nolan Dyck
Private member: Myles McDougall
Private member: Glenn van Dijken
Private member: Ron Wiebe
Private member: Justin Wright
Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation: RJ Sigurdson
Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women: Tanya Fir
Minister of Forestry and Parks: Todd Loewen
Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism: Muhammad Yaseen
Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction: Dale Nally
Minister of Technology and Innovation: Nate Glubish
Public Safety and Wellness
Chair: Scott Sinclair
Private member: Brandon Lunty
Private member: Chelsae Petrovic
Private member: Angela Pitt
Private member: Peter Singh
Private member: Tany Yao
Minister of Children and Family Services: Searle Turton
Minister of Health: Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Indigenous Relations: Rick Wilson
Minister of Mental Health and Addiction: Dan Williams
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services: Mike Ellis
Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services: Jason Nixon
Legislative Review Committee
Chair: Jason Stephan
Private member: Nolan Dyck
Private member: Myles McDougall
Minister of Energy and Minerals: Brian Jean
Minister of Justice: Mickey Amery
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