Alberta premier Danielle Smith has decided that she’s not taking no for an answer when it comes to her demand for more say in the appointment of superior court judges in the provinces, and is putting forward a motion for a constitutional amendment to demand such a power, and is patterning it off of a similar motion from Quebec.

Feb 19 Ms Smith announces a referendum to initiate a process to amend s 96 of the Constitution (appointment of judges).And then today she announces, w/out waiting for that vote, that the Leg will be asked to adopt a motion on the same issue.Doesn't she trust voters?www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?…

— NigelBankes (@nigelb.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T00:31:00.468Z

Here's the text:

— NigelBankes (@nigelb.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T02:02:39.364Z

Smith will try and spin this (since it only refers to AB) as an amendment that only applies to AB and thus does not engage the 7/50 formula. Good luck with that.Also makes me wonder whether she spoke to Ontario and SK before hanging them out to dry (given the joint letter the other week).

— NigelBankes (@nigelb.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T02:06:19.965Z

Of course, along the way, she is making arguments for this that have no basis in reality. Alberta already appoints provincial court judges and justices of the peace, and she has invented whole cloth this notion that somehow federally-appointed judges are being parachuted into the province from outside. No—the people named to the bench are already lawyers within the province. The provincial judicial advisory committee selects from local candidates who apply, and has members of the local legal community vet them for suitability. There is no federal imposition happening here, other than the fact that it’s not Smith who gets to choose for her own ideological reasons.

This is ridiculous.1) Good luck opening that Pandora's Box.2) Alberta already appoints provincial court judges, which handle the bulk of criminal cases.3) The premise here is utterly false. Federally-appointed judges aren't parachuted in. They come from the province and communities they serve.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T02:08:27.386Z

OF course, this all in service of inventing a new grievance that has never existed before, because she needs to find new things to get the population riled up about. And you can bet that this is going to include more dramatics and histrionics about the fact that she is not being allowed to influence the next Supreme Court of Canada appointment, which is for a western seat on the Court (but is unlikely to be from Alberta given that Justice Moreau is already from Alberta, and there hasn’t been a Saskatchewan judge on the Court in quite a while now). But needing to invent new things to be mad about is her hobby, because if she didn’t, then people might turn their attention to her government’s incompetence and corruption.

It's just lies all the way down with Danielle Smith.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T02:08:27.387Z

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-03-30T22:08:01.849Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian attacks near Poltava killed one and injured three, while artillery strikes killed another person in Nikopol. Air defence units being formed by private companies are now in operation, which is meant to help take the burden off of the front-line units. President Zelenskyy says that security accords with Gulf countries are either signed or nearly so.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney held a press conference with Doug Ford to announce measures to help halve development charges for new homes. (We’ll see if municipalities live up to it).
• Carney finally announced the process to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada. No announcement yet on who will lead the process.
• François-Philippe Champagne is headed to China this week to continue to forge “closer ties.” (But they’re still soft-pedalling the forced labour issue.)
• Champagne also announced that they will be consulting on their anti-fraud strategy for the next four weeks.
• Dominic LeBlanc says that trade talks are officially back on with the US (not that there is a deal to be had, because it won’t be worth the paper it’s written on).
• The federal government’s proposed overhaul of First Nations child and family services in Ontario has received the approval of the Human Rights Tribunal.
• The federal government is booking $1.5 billion to maintain their newly acquired fleet of CC-330 Husky air tanker and transport aircraft.
• The Bank of Canada is stepping up its audit of payment companies after one company saw millions of dollars in restaurant tips go missing.
• Canada Post plans to move ahead with broad restructuring that will see the end of home delivery in the parts of the country that still have it.
• The bill on refugee claims has now received royal assent, and immigration lawyers are expecting Charter challenges given its disproportionate, arbitrary powers.
• Pro-Palestinian group Samidoun is now formally dissolved after being added to the terror entity list in 2024.
• The CEO of Air Canada announced he will retire this year, after ongoing criticism about his inability to learn French.
• Avi Lewis says he’s open to conversations with provincial party leaders about their concerns over his views on resource development.
• The Alberta government is tweaking the citizen petition rules again, this time to ensure no recall petitions within a year of an election.
• Naheed Nenshi says he’s not planning to change his party’s name just yet.
• Marty Patriquin looks at how Quebec has thus-far managed to avoid the same spike in problem gambling as other parts of the country.
• Susan Delacourt suggests that we not be so quick to dismiss Avi Lewis’ chances, given his attempt to revive a more robust left-wing populism.
• Paul Wells goes through a couple of outside groups’ report cards on the government’s progress with their promises.

Odds and ends:

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I'm talking about Mark Carney's dismal attendance at QP over his first year in office. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T00:14:53.722Z

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