Alberta’s Smith says courts shouldn’t be gatekeepers on constitutional questions | USAEMALL.com

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says those seeking an independence referendum should not have “gatekeepers,” like the courts, standing in their way.

Smith spoke today on her radio call-in show for the first time after her government proposed legislation that would grind to a halt an ongoing court case on the issue.

She says giving Justice Minister Mickey Amery the power over referendum questions upholds democracy.

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Smith says the courts “seem to want to approve the ones they like, and hold up the ones they don’t like.”

It comes a day after an Alberta Justice Colin Feasby said a separatist question would go against the Charter and the province’s existing referendum law.

Feasby says in a decision Friday Smith’s United Conservative government’s proposed law to change the rules in the middle of the game is undemocratic.

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