Tensions high at town hall as Alberta Next Panel faces polarized crowd in Edmonton

A divided crowd shouted at each other — and at Premier Danielle Smith — at the Alberta Next town hall in Edmonton Thursday night.

The 16-member panel, chaired by Smith, are holding 10 town halls across Alberta this summer to hear what people think about some proposals for how the province can reset its relationship with the federal government. 

The panellists found a skeptical and critical audience in west Edmonton. Some in the crowd laughed at Smith, when she said in her introductory remarks, "when Edmonton speaks, we listen."

Many in the audience jeered at the videos that introduced each of the topics, particularly the section on leaving the Canada Pension Plan in favour of an Alberta plan. Some even pushed back at the premise of the panel. 

"Alberta doesn't really want you doing this right now," one man said.

WATCH | See one of the night's exchanges: 

While people hostile to the proposals dominated the microphones, many supporters were in the crowd. The majority of people in the room were in favour of each of the six initiatives during the straw polls taken throughout the night. 

Kathryn Speck thanked Smith for being a truly democratic leader who is willing to listen to citizens.

"I apologize on behalf of these rude Edmontonians," she said. 

The panel is asking people to weigh in on matters like switching to a Alberta Pension Plan, replacing the RCMP with a provincial police service and reopening talks on the Constitution "to empower and better protect provincial rights." 

Bruce McAllister, the panel's moderator, lost patience with the crowd at a number of points in the evening. He yelled at one person in the audience telling him to "knock it off" and urged another to not "be a jerk."

Most of the people who spoke about the Alberta Pension Plan proposal were opposed to the idea. Several people told the panel that Albertans have rejected the idea so they didn't understand why Smith and her government wouldn't let it go. 

Expense policy change challenged

Two audience members criticized the province's new expense disclosure policy, which removes a requirement for the premier, ministers, deputy ministers and senior staff to  publicly disclose receipts for expenses over $100.

Smith said she was also confused by the policy. She said cabinet wanted to address the concerns of MLAs who didn't want the names of their favourite hotels disclosed publicly for safety reasons. 

"That was what the policy was supposed to be," Smith said. 

"It turned out to be something quite different. So we're going to see if we can maybe track down how that happened and do a reversal on that." 

Thursday night's event was the third town hall meeting. Earlier events were held last month in Red Deer and Edmonton.

WATCH | Will Alberta Next panel result in a plan, or just another outlet for frustration? 

At those town halls, some Albertans offered support for the proposals, some protested at the gates and others dismissed the panel as a self-serving political exercise meant to stir up discontent and division.

It is set to host events in Fort McMurray and Lloydminster in two weeks.

The premier has said one of the reasons for the panel is to address concerns that are inspiring separatist sentiment in the province.

Alberta public opinion pollster Janet Brown has said the government's effort is not a polling exercise but a public engagement exercise and that changing the survey questions midstream underscores that.

She has said the survey will offer a good idea of who participated in the process but it's not a random representative sample that reflects public opinion.