Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed the government was looking into legislation to prevent regulatory colleges from punishing people for their political views like what has happened with prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson. Smith pointed out part of what the courts are limited by is professional bodies have the absolute power to govern without interference from politicians and judges. “So that’s the lesson that I took from the Supreme Court is that if we want to change the way the professional bodies operate, we’ve got to legislate the changes,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. “And so I’ve already got Mickey Amery, my justice minister, doing a review of the professions.” Calgary resident Dave asked if Smith had noticed the decision from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) about the appeal from Peterson seeking to overturn the social media retraining he was required to undergo by the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). “Now there seems to be a growing penchant for some overreach by the professional governing bodies of folks like doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc. that goes beyond regulating the competence and ethics of their members,” said Dave. “And it’s going into politics, social engineering, and free speech.” Given the decision from the SCC, Dave said the only way to regulate regulatory bodies is to legislate them to stay in their lanes by focusing on competence and ethics. When people sign on to become members, he said it looks like they need to forfeit their freedom of expression, thought, and peaceful assembly. Smith predicted people want regulatory bodies ensuring doctors and psychologists uphold patient safety. This is because they do not want doctors and psychologists engaging in practices harming people. In addition to patient safety, she said they should be focused on preventing misuse of funds. Stories have been published about lawyers misusing trust funds and doctors overbilling governments. While people need professional colleges, she said they “should be very narrowly defined and if we have to do that in legislation to confine them, we’re prepared to do that.” She added the Alberta government will go through the review and have more to say about it. Although it might not get to it this fall, she said it will by the spring. She acknowledged it encountered a similar problem with the teacher discipline panel. The teacher discipline panel had been turning a blind eye to serious transgressions against children. That was part of the reason it developed an independent regulatory college to provide oversight. “I’m not saying that’s the direction we need to go in all of these other instances, but 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,” said Smith. The SCC dismissed Peterson’s appeal against the CPBAO's order compelling him to undergo mandatory social media re-education from it on August 8. READ MORE: UPDATED: Supreme Court dismisses Jordan Peterson’s social media re-education appealThe ruling followed his loss in the Ontario Court of Appeal in January. “The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, dated Jan. 16, 2024, is dismissed with costs,” said the SCC.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed the government was looking into legislation to prevent regulatory colleges from punishing people for their political views like what has happened with prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson. Smith pointed out part of what the courts are limited by is professional bodies have the absolute power to govern without interference from politicians and judges. “So that’s the lesson that I took from the Supreme Court is that if we want to change the way the professional bodies operate, we’ve got to legislate the changes,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. “And so I’ve already got Mickey Amery, my justice minister, doing a review of the professions.” Calgary resident Dave asked if Smith had noticed the decision from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) about the appeal from Peterson seeking to overturn the social media retraining he was required to undergo by the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). “Now there seems to be a growing penchant for some overreach by the professional governing bodies of folks like doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc. that goes beyond regulating the competence and ethics of their members,” said Dave. “And it’s going into politics, social engineering, and free speech.” Given the decision from the SCC, Dave said the only way to regulate regulatory bodies is to legislate them to stay in their lanes by focusing on competence and ethics. When people sign on to become members, he said it looks like they need to forfeit their freedom of expression, thought, and peaceful assembly. Smith predicted people want regulatory bodies ensuring doctors and psychologists uphold patient safety. This is because they do not want doctors and psychologists engaging in practices harming people. In addition to patient safety, she said they should be focused on preventing misuse of funds. Stories have been published about lawyers misusing trust funds and doctors overbilling governments. While people need professional colleges, she said they “should be very narrowly defined and if we have to do that in legislation to confine them, we’re prepared to do that.” She added the Alberta government will go through the review and have more to say about it. Although it might not get to it this fall, she said it will by the spring. She acknowledged it encountered a similar problem with the teacher discipline panel. The teacher discipline panel had been turning a blind eye to serious transgressions against children. That was part of the reason it developed an independent regulatory college to provide oversight. “I’m not saying that’s the direction we need to go in all of these other instances, but 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,” said Smith. The SCC dismissed Peterson’s appeal against the CPBAO's order compelling him to undergo mandatory social media re-education from it on August 8. READ MORE: UPDATED: Supreme Court dismisses Jordan Peterson’s social media re-education appealThe ruling followed his loss in the Ontario Court of Appeal in January. “The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, dated Jan. 16, 2024, is dismissed with costs,” said the SCC.
