Improving democratic processes and access to justice

Amendments to the Election Act introduce higher requirements for nomination papers.

• Alberta’s government has implemented an increase of the number of signatures required to run in provincial elections to 100 from 25.
• Electors are now prohibited from signing more than one nomination paper per provincial election.

Amendments to the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act clarify and expand the restrictions on party names that the chief electoral officer must follow when registering new parties or adjusting the register to reflect a party’s new name in the register of political parties.

• The chief electoral officer must now refuse to register a party, or adjust the register to reflect a party’s new name, if:
  • that party’s name uses a distinctive word or phrase that is uniquely associated with another registered party or predecessor to a registered party.
    • However, a successor party will be able to use the name of one of its predecessor parties.
  • that party’s name has the potential to be confused with the name of another party.
• These amendments took effect retroactively on July 4, when the amendments to the Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, took effect.
• Another amendment:
  • makes it so only the leader of a registered party may provide a statement of endorsement for a candidate under the Election Act or the Alberta Senate Election Act (previously, a principal officer of the political party or the applicable constituency association could provide a statement of endorsement)

The Conflicts of Interest Act already allowed MLAs or their spouse, adult interdependent partner or minor child to accept a non-monetary gift or benefit from their constituency association.

• Amendments to the act now allow MLAs or their spouse, adult interdependent partner or minor child to accept non-monetary gifts or benefits from their prospective candidate association.
• Gifts and benefits cannot include money. Examples of gifts could include mugs, articles of clothing, flowers or light refreshments.

Amendments to the Citizen Initiative Act:

• remove several requirements for citizen initiative petition applications to reduce red tape
• remove the requirement that a proposal cannot contravene sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982
• remove the chief electoral officer’s ability to provide advice and assistance and make recommendations regarding citizen initiative proposals
• remove the requirement that an application cannot be the same as or substantially similar to a proposal that, within the last 5 years, was the subject of an unsuccessful referendum or initiative vote
• remove the ability in the act to refer questions about citizen initiative proposals to the court
• require applicants to notify the chief electoral officer of their intent to apply for a citizen initiative petition
• deem applications to have never been made if they were submitted before the amendments come into force and the chief electoral officer has not issued a citizen initiative petition. Applicants can submit a notice of intent with the same subject matter, and if they do so within 30 days of the amendments coming into force without paying an application fee
• strengthen penalties for the unauthorized collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information collected during the initiative petition process
• strengthen identity verification requirements for canvassers when collecting signatures
• allow a committee of the Legislative Assembly to make recommendations about referendum questions resulting from a successful policy proposal
• allow the Minister of Justice to recommend changes to a constitutional referendum question resulting from a successful constitutional referendum proposal to ensure the question is clear and otherwise appropriate to be put to the electors in a constitutional referendum

To reaffirm that a binding referendum result is not required to be implemented if it would contravene the Constitution, an amendment to the Referendum Act states that Alberta’s government is not required to implement the results of a binding referendum if doing so would contravene Canada’s Constitution.

Amendments to the Legal Profession Act in relation to the Alberta Law Foundation Amendment

The amendments authorize the Minister to impose or approve with respect to Alberta Law Foundation bylaws and issue directives to the Alberta Law Foundation.

• The amendments also require the Alberta Law Foundation to make bylaws that are subject to the Minister’s directives, and are in accordance with the Act and the Act’s regulations.
• The Alberta Law Foundation did not have any bylaws and therefore operated largely according to internal practices that were not subject to external oversight. The requirement to have bylaws approved by the Minister provides government with opportunities to improve Alberta Law Foundation’s governance and alignment with the goal of supporting access to justice.

Amendment to the Legal Profession Act in relation to Legal Aid Alberta

References to the governance agreement between the Government of Alberta, the Law Society of Alberta and Legal Aid Alberta have been updated, signaling the sustainability of the services provided through the agreement.

Amendments to the Legal Profession Act in relation to regulation of lawyers

Amendments ensure regulation of lawyers remains fair and focused on professional competence and ethics, while protecting lawyers from misuse of the complaints process. The amendments:

• include a purpose statement for the Law Society of Alberta stating its mandate is to uphold and protect the public interest in the administration of justice and giving some details on what that entails
• state that the attorney general cannot be disciplined for actions they perform as part of their official duties, as is the case in the province of Ontario
• limit the education and training that the Law Society of Alberta can require to:
  • a law degree or certificate of qualification demonstrating competence in Canadian law
  • the bar admission course, including articling
  • education or training for specialized roles (for example, lawyer responsible for trust money, or articling principal)
  • education for training imposed because of disciplinary proceedings (for example, training on client confidentiality for a lawyer who breaches confidentiality)
• all of these must comply with the restrictions in the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act
• implement an improved screening process to quickly dismiss frivolous, bad faith and meritless complaints
• direct the Law Society of Alberta to establish a process for a complainant to request an appeal if their complaint is dismissed, rather than the complainant automatically being entitled to an appeal
• make decisions by the Law Society of Alberta’s Hearing Committee appealable to the Court of King’s Bench, rather than the Benchers of the Law Society

There are several amendments to the Justice of the Peace Act.

• Allows full- or part-time justices of the peace who have completed their initial 10-year term to apply for additional 5-year terms.
• Allows justices of the peace who have entered ad hoc terms after their initial 10-year terms to apply to return to part-time duties for 5-year terms. Applications for this move will be accepted until the end of 2026.
• Removes the requirement for the Judicial Council to determine whether new applicants for justice of the peace positions are qualified for appointment. The Judicial Council continues to have a statutory role in advising on the appointment of new justices of the peace, per the Judicature Act. This brings the Justice of the Peace appointment process in line with the appointment processes for provincial court justices and for applications judges at the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta.