Canada

Attendees at the first stop of Premier Danielle Smith’s travelling “Alberta Next” roadshow in Red Deer were overwhelmingly supportive of her series of proposals to enhance Alberta’s autonomy.

This is likely due to the fact that free tickets for the event were released to UCP members before the general public, a source who holds a UCP membership confirmed to the Progress Report.

In June, Premier Smith announced a 14-person panel that would solicit Albertans’ input on six policy areas—equalization, a provincial pension plan, a provincial police force, withholding social services from some immigrants, constitutional reform and forgoing the Canada Revenue Agency. In the following days, the panel was expanded by two members, bringing the total to 16.

The town halls are divided into each policy area, with attendees shown a five-minute video before they were given the opportunity to line up and provide feedback on each issue. These videos, which have been criticized as “heavily biased,” are the same ones participants in the province’s online survey have to view before answering questions, which are themselves leading.