Author: Alex Dhaliwal
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is moving to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices across much of the public sector, saying taxpayer-funded jobs should be awarded on merit, not identity.
Bill 33 (introduced Tuesday by Justice Minister Mickey Amery) would prohibit public agencies, Crown corporations, universities, colleges, school boards and municipalities from having DEI policies in place for hiring and promotion.
“Albertans expect public institutions to hire and promote the best qualified people and ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to succeed based on their skills, experience and qualifications,” Smith told reporters in Edmonton.
“These changes will help to ensure that fairness is at the heart of hiring.”
The bill would amend the Alberta Human Rights Act to allow the implementation of programs designed to improve opportunities for disadvantaged groups on the basis of race, gender, disability, religion and sexual orientation.
The changes would restrict the use of those programs in relation to hiring and promotion at the covered public institutions, with the appropriate exemptions set out in the regulations. Existing protections against workplace discrimination would remain in place.
Mandatory DEI training would also be prohibited unless necessary for the job. Other compulsory training would have to be “ideologically neutral” and focused on workplace duties.
Smith’s government says the changes would be based on an individual’s skills, experience and qualifications rather than any diversity-related criteria.
Officials confirm that, at present, provincial employees are hired on merit. It’s conceivable that those same restrictions could eventually be extended to publicly funded non-profits as well.
Officials also confirmed that targeted education programs for Indigenous doctors, teachers and lawyers could go ahead.
The government didn’t provide any figures on how often the affected institutions actually use their DEI hiring preferences.
Opposition NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley called the proposal “a solution in want of a problem” and said Smith should focus on affordability and health care.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Sandra Azocar, whose union represents nearly 100,000 workers, also criticized the proposal.
“This is pure dog whistle politics,” Azocar said, accusing Smith of playing to segments of the United Conservative Party.
The legislation follows a November 2024 UCP convention vote to scrap DEI hiring and training across Alberta’s public service and Crown corporations in favour of merit-based hiring.
The move also follows legislation passed last year restricting mandatory diversity training by professional regulators, partly inspired by Ontario psychologist Jordan Peterson’s disciplinary case.
Bill 33 would also expand protections against the non-consensual distribution of intimate content, including AI-generated deepfakes and threats to distribute such material.
The bill would create a provincial offence carrying fines of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.
Ganley said the NDP supported those protections but opposed bundling them with the DEI restrictions.
Juno News reached out to Alberta’s Justice Ministry for clarification on the proposed restrictions but had not received a response by the publication deadline.