REFERENDUM TWO

With the question of separation answered, the rights and freedoms that the people want protected by law should be reconfirmed.  This requires Albertans to provide more direction to the CG as to the values that the people want protected.  Therefore, the second referendum will focus on a new bill of rights.     

WHY?  

In a land of immigrants, we should all pay homage to the sacrifice that our forefathers have made.  The brave people that stood up against kings, despots and dictators and demanded basic rights for all.   We should all learn from their struggle to earn the rights and freedoms guaranteed in historic document’s such as the Magna Carta and the Constitution of the United States of America.   

OUR RIGHTS  

The current bill of rights states “It is hereby recognized and declared that in Alberta there exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, color, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or gender expression, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely:   

a.  The right of the individual to liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;   

b.  The right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;   

c.  Freedom of religion;   

d.  Freedom of speech;   

e.  Freedom of assembly and association;   

f.   Freedom of the press;   

g  The right of parents to make informed decisions respecting the education of their children.”   

Can anyone say that these rights have been honored?  Recall any point on the long list of laws and acts that have been created to reduce the effect of our rights and freedoms on their agenda's.  Recall the overall effort that political parties, businesses and special interest groups have made to outright ignore, circumvented or change a right or freedom without the approval of the people.   

From the AAIM Option viewpoint, it seems that political parties consider the rights and freedoms of the people to be a hinderance to their party agenda.   

AAIM Option research has learned that the workers perspective is that employers consider the rights and freedoms to be too restrictive and so they ignore the bill of rights and write policies that are often contrary to the workers right of free speech, expression and religion.    

Don’t agree?   

Ok, fair enough, consider that the proof is.  

•   In the effort that political-parties make as they seek ways to circumvent the rights and freedoms of the people.   

 •  In the laws that are created to restrict the freedom of speech.  This freedom alone has been under constant assault for decades as political parties try to restrict the opposition ability to speak out against thier bad policies.    

•  In the company policies that restrict or dictate clothing, behavior, speech and access to fair process.  

•  In the attack on the right of parents to make informed decision’s respecting their children’s education.   The former NDP government worked hard to curtail this right by legislating that schools must keep parents in the dark on the activities and social behaviors of their children.  

Federally, laws are being created to punish anyone who will speak out against the bad policies and laws that have brought this great country to it’s economic knees.   So called Hate Laws that prevent us from speaking out about the poor immigration policies and the refusal of the federal government to stop illegal immigration.    

REFERENDUM

The Alberta Bill of Rights and Freedoms will add detail for the;  

1.  The CG and Senate to know their limitations, their responsibilities and determine the changes to existing law and the creation of new laws to guide the transformation of the bureaucracy.  

2.  The Justice System to have better understanding of the peoples demands for justice for victims of crime.  Judges will have greater clarity as to their limits to pass judgement or to affect the outcome of decisions made by any government agency once approved by the CG and Senate. 

3.  Businesses of all sizes and types will know what the people expect from them, such as a set of laws that protect all persons, regardless of employment classification, from abuse and misuse by the employer.  

Doing so will provide greater clarity of intent will be achieved.  The language of the new act will be such that the intentions of each right, freedom and responsibility will be unquestionable.   

RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE:

What are rights?    

According to Wikipedia “Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory."    

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,  

"Rights structure the form of governments, the content of laws, and the shape of morality as it is currently perceived.  Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.  Rights are often considered fundamental to civilization, for they are regarded as established pillars of society and culture and the history of social conflicts can be found in the history of each right and its development."     

Now is this time for Albertans to take charge of the rights and freedoms that must be protected.  A coalition style government such as the one proposed by the AAIM Option plan would have the will of the people to ensure each right of the new bill is etched in steel, never to be encroached upon or altered without a referendum result of 75%       

NEW RIGHTS:

Do we need to add more rights to the existing bill?   If so, which rights will that be?

•   Free Speech & Expression:  Should a citizen of Alberta have the right to express their opinions without the censorship of the justice system, the media, a business or the public overall.   

Should this right have restrictions for speech or other forms of expression?  If so, what restrictions?    

•   Privacy:  Should privacy rights be added to the bill of rights?     

Should each citizen of Alberta have the ability to know what information is being collected, shared or sold by any government agency or any public or private organization, business, agency, union, association or individual? Should this right allow a citizen of Alberta the ability to control the access to, and use of, personal information including intellectual property, medical data, video, and photographic material?     

•   Protection:  Should protection rights allow each citizen the ability to protect themselves, their family and property from trespass, harmful acts, damage or theft.  

•   Necessities of Life: The right to health, education, shelter and food should be the cornerstone of all rights.  In a land of plenty and prosperity there can be no acceptable reason why any citizen should be without the necessities of life.    

•  Justice: Is the Liberal party ideology of rehabilitation over punishment working for you?   Do you believe that the current legal system is providing justice to victims of crime?  The AAIM Option says no it is not.  What do you think?

Assembly & Association:  The right to assembly and associate has been under some debate.  We witness our governments at every level ignore blatant acts of crime in the name of protest for environmental or some social cause.  These groups have disrupted life, burned and damaged infrastructure and more.  Then, use of the federal emergencies act (formerly known as the war act) to stop a peaceful protest by truckers.  Should any government be allowed to restrict this freedom, let alone use a war act to stop one?  Should this freedom be made to be a right of the people?

NEW FREEDOMS:

Generally speaking, a freedom is having an ability to change without constraint.  Unlike rights, the freedoms the people want, can, and could be restricted by the court or by the government in certain circumstances.    

•   Citizen Freedoms: To be free of special interest group agenda’s, religious zealotry, intemperance or extremist views that are contrary to the peace of all persons.   Sounds good, but how can we do this without violating the rights and freedoms of the people or censorship of the media?    

•    Travel & Movement: By accepting that everyone has the freedom of travel and movement about any public space, the CG will have a mandate to ensure that any person can get where they want to go in a public space.  As an example, the CG will need to get capital transport and communication projects completed quickly so everyone can be free to move about without hassle or unnecessary expense.  This will entail massive, multi-year capital projects to bring our transportation system into the 21st century.  

DISCUSSION & DEBATE PERIOD     

From the date of the referendum announcement up to the final week of this referendum phase, the discussion and debate must examine the value of the rights that exist, as detailed, in the current bill of rights.   

Do these rights achieve the goals for which they are intended, or have they failed?  The debate must consider the pros and cons for each of the rights and freedoms proposed.  

The discussion must include what a right means and how a right will affect taxation, law enforcement, justice, privacy and personal freedoms.  Ideally, a wide view perspective of what life would be like after the referendum should be presented.  Doing so may be the best method to help those with more self interest in mind, consider the peoples best overall interest's when they vote.         

TALK ABOUT IT:

•  How will adding the right to privacy affect the ability of the security and intelligence services to prevent crimes, acts of hate or terrorism from occurring?     

•  Should the right to speech have restrictions, limits?      

•  Would adding the right to justice ensure that the courts consider the victims right to seek justice? 

•   Necessities of Life: Would adding this right direct the government to ensure that an energy assistance trust is established to put an end to power or gas being shut off to heat homes in the cold of winter or air conditioning in the heat of summer.   Will the homeless become a legal responsibility of the people?

THE QUESTION: 

Selecting the rights and freedoms will require a multi answer question to be asked.       

SHOULD ALBERTA CREATE A NEW BILL OF RIGHTS and FREEDOMS THAT WILL INCLUDE THE RIGHT TO?    

1. Free Speech.    

2. Privacy.    

3. Protection.    

4. The Necessities of Life.    

5. Justice.   

6. Assembly & Association.   

7. Self Identity & Decision.     

8. Citizen Freedom.    

9. Freedom of Travel & Movement.       

THE ANSWERS    With the selections of the majority made the CG would form a committee to start work on drafting the new bill for approval by the people.