Alberta Premier Considers Reforms to Regulator, Refers to Jordan Peterson Case
The Alberta government is considering legislation to prohibit regulatory colleges from imposing penalties on individuals for their political beliefs.
Premier Danielle Smith says the move would prevent people like well-known Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson from being reprimanded for speaking out on sensitive issues.
The courts are limited by professional bodies having the authority to govern free from any influence exerted by politicians or judges, Smith said.
“We’ve given absolute power to professional bodies to govern in a way without interference, then politicians don’t interfere and the courts don’t interfere,” she said.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery is currently reviewing the operations of professional colleges, Smith said.
She described the bodies governing doctors, lawyers, and other professions as necessary to ensure professional conduct, but said their authority should be “very narrowly defined” to ensure they stay in their lane.
“We’ve had stories in the past where lawyers misused trust funds or doctors have over-billed,” she said. “Those are the kind of things that we want and need the professional college to look at.”
The government review of professional college operations will determine if legislation will be required “to confine them,” Smith said, adding that the province is “prepared to do that,” but may not be able to address the issue this fall.
“If we have to get to it in the spring, we will,” she said. “We have to find a way to get the professional colleges, focusing on the real harms that are being caused, as opposed to trying to dictate to members what their thinking should be on any issue.”
Peterson Case
Peterson’s case has received national attention since 2022 and was in the news again earlier this month when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear his case and dismissed it “with costs.”
Peterson was appealing a 2022 order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) that he undergo a social media training program on professionalism in making public statements. The order was issued after the college received complaints about social media posts made by Peterson.
Peterson, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto in psychology, said the top court’s decision will subject him to “indefinite re-education.”