Alberta’s New $25,000 Fee for Democracy - PSYCH!
The $25,000 Sleight-of-Hand: How the UCP Killed a Petition, Then Made Sure You Couldn't File Another
EDMONTON – Premier Smith’s government has executed a flawless, two-part manoeuvre to silence citizen initiatives. Part one was brazen. Part two was sneaky. Together, they form a masterclass in how to dismantle public accountability without leaving fingerprints.
Let's start with the brazen part.
This fall, the UCP passed Bill 14, which amended the Citizen Initiative Act. Buried in its text was a provision that cancelled all previously approved petitions that had not started signature collection. Wiped out. Gone.
This wasn't an abstract change. Its most famous casualty was Albertan music icon Corb Lund's petition—a grassroots campaign to stop coal mining in the Rocky Mountains.
The government, facing overwhelming public sentiment it didn't like, didn't debate it.
They didn't refute it.
They simply used a legislative pen to erase it from existence.
Poof.
Problem solved.
Now, for the sneaky part.
Having used the formal legislative process to kill the petition that already existed, the government then turned its attention to preventing future ones.
They could have easily added a new, prohibitive fee to Bill 14.
They had the bill.
They had the chance.
They chose not to.
Instead
They waited.
They waited until the Legislative Assembly was dismissed for Christmas. The MLAs—including the opposition who could have screamed bloody murder—were gone. The chamber was dark.
In that silent, unscrutinized gap, the Cabinet convened and used an Order in Council (OIC)—a piece of administrative paperwork signed behind closed doors—to inflate the deposit for filing a new citizen initiative from $500 to $25,000, a 5000% increase.
Connect the sequence. It's surgical.
Step One (The Kill): Use a public bill to legally nullify existing, successful citizen campaigns you find inconvenient. Corb Lund's petition is sacrificed on the altar of legislative majoritarianism.
Step Two (The Prevention): Use a secretive, unilateral cabinet order to price out any future campaigns before they can even start, ensuring no new "Corb Lund petition" can ever afford to file.
This isn't just changing the rules. This is burning the rulebook, salting the earth, and then charging an admission fee to look at the ashes.
It’s a cynical one-two punch that reveals a government not just annoyed by public dissent, but terrified of it. So terrified, it requires a dual-strategy: a legislative hammer for the threats that have already mobilized, and a silent, financial guillotine for the threats yet to come.
It calls to mind a classic bit from Eddie Murphy’s Delirious. He offers an ice cream cone. “Want a lick?” The friend leans in. “PSYCH!” Murphy yanks it back.
The UCP’s routine is more elaborate and cruel. First, they snatch the full, delicious cone right out of Corb Lund's hands and toss it in the trash. Then, they turn to the rest of us, holding up an empty hand, saying, “See? No cones here. The process is fine!”
And then, when we’re not looking, they use a secret memo to install a $25,000 vending machine for new cones that they know no one can afford.
The message is now incontestable:
Your voice is not just an irritant to be managed; it is a threat to be systematically eliminated. We will erase the victories you've already earned, and then we will bankrupt your ability to ever earn another.
So, congratulations, Alberta. Your government didn't just raise a fee. They performed a political autopsy on public dissent. First, they terminated a living, breathing example of citizen power (Corb Lund's petition). Then, they designed a prohibitively expensive birth certificate to prevent any new ones from being born.
They offered the promise of direct democracy. Then they showed you the legislative and regulatory graveyard where it now rests.
