I heard Jason Kenney was going to be on CBC last night speaking about Alberta independence so I tuned in for as long as I could stomach David Cochrane. The unbelievable hubris and lack of humility on display by Jason Kenney was something to behold. He characterized the Albert independence movement as a group of people who have been lied to, are misinformed and are self-serving in their desire to “break up Canada”.

He spoke about Jeff Rath, the lawyer who took the government to court over the illegal Covid restrictions and uneven persecution of businesses, as being the person who mobilized members of the UCP to vote Jason Kenney out as leader of the UCP and who was now looking for another cause to “rant about.” He also said that if the independence minded people wanted to be serious, they should form a political party and throw their hat in the ring.

Jason Kenney should read some history of the foundations underlying democracy. His message totally contradicts the premise that it is the people and not the government who are, or at least who should be, the ones calling the shots. Not a bunch of elected representatives who take it upon themselves to ignore the will of the people and instead tell them what is good for them and what they are allowed and not allowed to do. And therein lies the fundamental reason that so many people feel independence is the only hope for Alberta.

By now, it should be clear to any citizen that our governments, and the people in the parties that form them, do not feel beholden to the people who elect them. They do not represent the individual interests and will of the people in their respective constituencies. On the contrary, it appears that as soon as they get into power they magically lose their representative public service mindset and become controlled puppets of the party they represent. The people be damned.

I find it hard to believe that there is a single person in Canada who is at least 40 years old, that wouldn’t say this country has regressed politically, economically, and spiritually over that span of time. Justin Trudeau famously said there is no Canadian identity, that Canadian values are global values and then he proceeded to try and make that statement a reality by flooding the country with 10 million new immigrants, refugees, foreign students and temporary foreign workers. The output of that experiment is clearly evident today with countless displays of new arrivals to Canada engaging in organized crime, flaunting our laws, taking our institutions and systems for granted, manipulating our social programs, and bringing historic regional and ethnic grievances to Canada from their home countries. Sadly, Canadian values do appear to have become “global values”.

Jason Kenney was right about one thing. The political party he represented did reject him and kick him out as leader. Not because he wasn’t articulate or capable, but because he betrayed his most sacred duty - standing up and protecting the rights of the citizens of Alberta against the authoritarian overreach of the federal government. And we understand that since it happened once, it can, and almost certainly will, happen again.

Danielle Smith saw what happened to Jason Kenney and she has obviously learned from his experience. She has tried to listen to the people and implement the policies and actions that are important to them. Moreover, she has consistently stood up to the federal government in the face of federal overreach. Despite her best intentions, however, we know she is powerless to bring about the changes that will allow Albertans to freely exercise their unalienable God-given rights as long as we remain in a federal system that is fundamentally flawed.

Under our constitutional framework our rights are nothing more than privileges. Privileges that can and have been taken from us. Under our current system of government our elected leaders have become irresponsible, unaccountable, and increasingly corrupt.

The solution, as hard as it may be for some Albertans to admit, is painfully obvious. We need a new constitution - one that recognizes unalienable rights and limits government excesses. We need a new form of government - one that prioritizes legislative supremacy and provides meaningful checks and balances. And it is obvious that we are never, ever going to get that in “a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada”. We need, and we must have, an independent Alberta.

• Darrell Knister