While Premier Stelmach has taken some steps in the right direction, Alberta’s legislature and MLAs are still far too marginalized in favour of the premier and cabinet. Much stronger changes must be made to strengthen the ability of our representatives to act effectively in the interests of the citizens who elected them. The authority and mandate of legislative committees must be enhanced, opposition party research and staff budgets must be increased and legislative officers such as the Auditor General and Ethics Commissioner must be given the mandate and resources to do their work in the public interest. 

The Problems:

The subservience of the legislature in Alberta is reflected in many ways: short sittings; excessive party discipline; limited and ineffective committees; opposition parties that have difficulty fulfilling their roles due to lack of resources and staff; inadequate power and resources for legislative officers.

The dominance of the executive – the premier and cabinet - is apparent as well: the inordinate use of orders-in-council for high levels of spending; routine high surpluses resulting from artificially low revenue projections; the cabinet determining the use of “surplus” funds with inadequate reference to the legislature; the apparent power of the premier to make important decisions on policy and resource allocations on his own without proper recourse to the legislature; the excessive cabinet secrecy that obscures key elements of decision-making; the inordinate use of closure; the overall lack of control of the executive by the legislature.

While Premier Stelmach’s government has taken some steps to address a few of these issues, we still have essentially an overly-powerful and unchecked executive, and a marginalized and under-utilized legislature.

The Changes Needed:

There is much more that can and should be done to enhance the power and effectiveness of our elected representatives in the legislative assembly, and at the same time to increase the legislature’s ability to act as a necessary check on the executive:

• Further strengthen the committee system with enhanced multi-party standing committees that have the power and capacity to examine and review all relevant policies and legislation
• Provide adequate research and staffing support for the work of Opposition parties
• Increase the resources and broaden the mandate of the Public Accounts Committee
• Strengthen the mandate of and provide the necessary resources for officers of the legislature such as the Auditor General and Ethics Commissioner
• Agree on a less restrictive notion of what constitutes an issue of confidence in the government, and allow more free votes by MLAs on matters which are not confidence issues
• Ensure that respect for the legislature is demonstrated by announcing policy initiatives in the legislature rather than in the media or other venues
• Impose tougher limits on the use of closure to cut off debate on legislation
• Enact further restrictions on cabinet’s ability to spend money by enhancing requirements to obtain prior legislative approval

Comments from the PIA Democracy Forums:

• Reducing the power of the Premier is crucial
• Limit orders-in-council to genuinely extraordinary situations
• We need to start with fostering respect for the role of opposition in a democracy
• More research funding for the Opposition is a “huge issue”
• Smaller parties need more support, because of a lack of economies of scale
• [All committees] must be able to meet when the legislature is not in session, and have a budget that enables [their]work
• It is essential to increase the independence and resources of a number of key officials responsible to the legislature
• Greatly reduce the number of secret meetings
• Opposition parties need to cooperate on advancing bills with specific democratic reform objectives

PIA advocates six steps to promote democratic renewal in Alberta:

1. Institute comprehensive reform of electoral and political party financing

2. Abolish the Public Affairs Bureau and replace it with a system that is more open and non-partisan

3. Initiate a Citizens' Assembly to make recommendations on proportional representation

4. Strengthen the role of the Legislature and MLAs by further increasing the power of and support for legislative committees and officers

5. Create a high-profile Commission on Gender and Democracy to develop a comprehensive approach to achieving gender equity in our political system

6. Require a more open, thorough and effective approach to public consultation on issues of public policy development