Will Alberta be a Republic, Constitutional Monarchy, or Something Else?

The APP is proposing Alberta become a constitutional republic. Here’s why:

1. Protected Democracy – The terms “democracy” and “republic” are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same. The term “democracy” derives from a combination of the Greek words demos (meaning “people”) and kratos (meaning “rule”). Thus, democracy is best described as a political system where the people’s majority is the law of the land. It means that power is divested among the population, which is good. It also means that if 51/100 citizens vote to harm a man, the man might lose his shirt, or worse, his rights, which is problematic.

   As for the term “republic,” it derives from the latin res publica (meaning “public affair”). For the most part, it’s basically the same as a democracy, albeit with one exceptional difference. Whereas a pure democracy makes no provisions or guarantees for the rights of men, a republic does.

   When democracies fail and deny the rights and freedoms of minorities or certain citizens, republics engage their constitutional provisions and declaration of rights to protect innocents from being harmed. An absolute democracy practices unlimited power, but a republic uses law to shield its people from oppression, allowing them to own property, freely speak, and vote.

2. Minimized Kleptocracy – One of the ways that a republic shields its people from oppression is by handcuffing the powers of government. In a pure democracy, bureaucrats can do practically whatever it wants on the grounds that it’s acting in the majority’s interest. Thus, if the government says the majority wants lockdowns, the government locks the nation down; if they say the majority wants a socialist economic system, the government will impose a socialist economic system.

   But a republic makes it so that a government is allowed to act in the majority’s interest, only so long as the action is lawful, for no one, including the President or Prime Minister, is above the law. They are not allowed to steal wealth or inappropriately leverage their position for personal gain. A constitution restricts the government\’s ability to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, by outlining a framework for acceptable and unacceptable actions. This helps guarantee individual rights like the freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to own property, even if corrupted heads of state want to take those rights away.

3. Accountable Bureaucracy – A republic gives a government and its people two particular guarantees. First, it guarantees a government the stability to pass laws, policies, and reforms. Second, it guarantees citizens the ability to judge those laws, policies, and reforms, at the ballot box.

By setting a stable, clear, predictable, election cycle, republics enable the government to accomplish the work they need to do with a reasonable level of security. Their actions may be unpopular in the moment, but this political apparatus allows them to work without fear of being forcibly removed from office for doing what’s right.

But if those lawmakers do wrong, as they often do wrong, voters have the ability to reflect their displease at the next election. By entrenching a nation’s democratic right in a constitutional code, bureaucracy is forced to give a regular account to its citizens. That citizens are able to vote their conscience without fear of being jailed for expressing their beliefs means they’re able to judge their government’s performance, and then show their judgement at the ballot box.

Finally, even if a bad leader is elected, which happens all too often unfortunately, the republic gridlocks the government and mitigates the damage done to the nation until the country is able to elect a new leader during the next election.

Put simply, the APP is proposing Alberta become a constitutional republic because a republic is the safest, freest, strongest, and best way to protect the Albertan’s rights, freedoms, dignities, and home.