When Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party government passed the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act in 2020, critics warned it would lead to more criminalization of protests in Alberta. Now the Alberta Federation of Labour says that’s happening as the government has introduced amendments that could bar health-care workers from picketing hospitals and other health centres.

“That’s significant, because at this moment there are more than 250,000 Alberta workers at the bargaining table. A large proportion of those are people who work in the health-care system.”

“We think that the UCP has introduced this legislation to make it harder for them to exercise that right,” McGowan said. “It’s clear to us that they want to stop nurses and other health-care workers from setting up effective picket lines, because we’ve received legal interpretations of Bill 31.”

The interpretations suggest that if the bill is passed, picketers could be arrested, McGowan said. But that could open the door to a legal challenge arguing the legislation violates Canadians’ constitutional right to protest, protected in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.