Speaking at last night’s UCP leadership debate, frontrunner Danielle Smith said that Alberta’s government is supposed to be the “last bulwark against a lawless Ottawa” when it comes to mandates and bodily autonomy.

The debate, hosted by Rebel News and the Alberta Prosperity Project, saw three candidates square off: Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, and Todd Loewen.

When asked to comment on whether section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms needs to be removed or changed, Smith said that there wasn’t anything wrong with the Charter specifically but that Canada’s institutions had let down Alberta and that it’s, thus, imperative that Alberta pass its own Sovereignty Act.

“I had the great opportunity to interview Brian Peckford, the last living signatory to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and he told me the two most important words in section 1 are “reasonably demonstrable.” There was nothing ‘reasonable,’ and there was nothing ‘demonstrable’ about the decisions that they made,” Smith said, referencing the government’s pandemic response,” Smith began.

“And it’s been proven. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms keeps winning case after case after case,” Smith continued. “They got Dr. Deena Hinshaw before the courts — and essentially, if you look at some of that testimony, it comes down to ‘well, we didn’t really have any evidence [that vaccine mandates or lockdowns were necessary], we were just doing it because everybody else was. That’s not a good enough reason to violate your rights.”

Smith continued, saying that Alberta is a signatory to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but that Canada’s institutions, including the House of Commons, Senate, media, and medical institutions, all let Alberta down when it came to the proper application of the Charter. As a result, Smith says she believes Alberta must increase its sovereignty and become a “bulwark” against the lawlessness seen over the last two years.

“We are the last bulwark against a lawless Ottawa,” Smith said. “It’s part of the reason I feel so strongly that we need to pass the Alberta Sovereignty Act. And we need to make sure that we stand up for the rights and freedoms of our citizens at all times.”