Defining Freedom: Bruce Pardy on Alberta’s Constitution for Independence

In this in-depth, two-hour conversation, hosts Jason and Paula Lavigne sit down with eminent legal scholar Bruce Pardy to walk through his provocative new draft: “Articles of Freedom: What the Constitution of an Independent Alberta Should Look Like.” Pardy outlines thirteen bold constitutional provisions designed to reimagine Alberta as a radically free and fully independent polity.

Together, Jason, Paula, and Bruce explore:

- What “freedom” really means when the state’s power is limited to only what the Constitution explicitly grants.

- According to Pardy, the current Canadian constitutional order fails to protect liberty due to its open-ended powers, technocratic regulation, and managerial oversight.

- The specifics of the proposed Articles range from prohibiting both force and threats of force (even by the state) to reversing the default, so that all powers must be expressly granted. From term limits and electoral structure to disempowering judges and eliminating non-human legal persons.

- Transitions: How to move from Alberta’s current legal framework to the one Pardy proposes — who counts as a citizen, what happens to Crown lands, existing laws, public institutions.

- Key trade-offs and potential objections: Is this approach realistic? How might it deal with emergencies, public goods, or the need for collective action? Does it risk unintended consequences?

By the end of the episode, viewers will gain a clearer understanding of what it would take — philosophically, legally, politically — for Alberta not just to become independent, but to embody a constitution built around the maxim of individual freedom rather than state power. Bruce Pardy challenges assumptions, tests boundaries, and invites Alberta (and Canadians more broadly) to imagine a constitution unlike any we have now.