If separatists get their way, would Edmonton be forced to go with them? Not if Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette has anything to say about it.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Paquette announced he is introducing a motion to research how Edmonton can shield itself from potential economic fallout \u2014 including exploring how Edmonton could remain part of Canada \u2014 should the province actually go forward with separation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we saw in Montreal and Quebec City when they were having these discussions is a lot of investment flight, a lot of pauses on investment because the risk was too high and even head office flight.They\u2019re still recovering from it,\u201d he told Postmedia. \u201cSo what are the mechanisms we can use in the City of Edmonton to protect ourselves? Up to and including a new partnership with the province so we\u2019re no longer in a parent-child relationship but a true partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way the provincial-municipal relationship developed in Canada was during an agrarian period when Canada was just forming. It doesn\u2019t quite make sense in the modern context. You will see around the world there is a much different relationship between municipalities with their attendant states where they have much more autonomy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting municipalities such as Yellowknife and Whitehorse have their own relationships with the federal government without territorial oversight, Paquette said that could work for Edmonton as well.<\/p>\n
Paquette\u2019s motion asks administration to explore several avenues related to strengthening Edmonton\u2019s autonomy from the provincial government, including exploring legislation up to the Constitution but also how the city\u2019s location within Treaty 6 and its relationship with Enoch Cree Nation could help establish a bulwark from provincial overreach.<\/p>\n
It also directs administration to explore how municipalities could band together to provide a united front and call for a new framework on how municipalities are treated by higher levels of government across the country, developing a new fiscal framework with the federal government to make the city less dependent on provincial transfers.<\/p>\n
But at the crux of the motion is a question of whether Edmonton need follow if the separatists get their wish or if the city could take its assets and stay Canadian.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our treaty partners, we can make the case to the federal government that because our population does not want to separate from Canada, there can be some special status afforded to municipalities who don\u2019t want to participate,\u201d said Paquette. \u201cThere are a number of federal investments in our region that obviously are national concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the beginning of those conversations we absolutely have to have. It would be fiducially irresponsible not to ask these questions at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paquette said the federal government owns enough properties in Edmonton, including military assets, that the city could make a case to remain a Canadian territory in the event Alberta goes the way of Brexit.<\/p>\n
Pointing out territories lack the authority of provinces, Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said the chances of municipalities staking out a new relationship with Ottawa under Danielle Smith\u2019s government was a \u201cnon-starter\u201d but said the idea that Edmonton or other parts of Alberta could separate themselves was an interesting question.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Alberta can secede from Canada, can Edmonton secede from Alberta? What about Indigenous reserves? What about national parks?\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re arguing Alberta can leave Canada, can you then make that same case that other parts of Alberta can leave Alberta? If not, why not?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you listen to some of the separatists, which is rurally based, they\u2019ve had over a year to talk about these issues. Now it\u2019s time for urban Albertans to respond back.\u201d<\/p>\n
ebowling@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If separatists get their way, would Edmonton be forced to go with them? Not if Ward Dene Coun.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[238439,901,49,48,23752,194008,50991,238440],"class_list":["post-701126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-aaron-paquette","tag-alberta","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-municipalities","tag-provincial-government","tag-ward-dene-coun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}