Tea & Coffee w/ Paula & Jay | The Lavigne Show: Prof. Bruce Pardy joins hosts Jason and Paula Lavigne to unpack the first half of his proposed constitution for a free and independent Alberta. [The second half is available here].
Sections Covered:
1. Force and Threats of Force Prohibited
2. Using Force to Enforce the Rule Against Force
3. The Meaning of “force and threats of force”
The state’s sole mandate: enforce ‘no force’—powerful enough to protect liberty, restrained enough to never breach it.
4. Citizens Subject to No Other Laws
The state must remain neutral, prohibited from discriminating between individuals, while private citizens retain unrestricted freedom to associate, employ, or act—so long as their choices don’t impose force on others.
5. Flipping the Default
A state powerless by default—authorized solely to enforce prohibitions on force, adjudicate disputes, and repel external threats—renders Bill of Rights obsolete, as individual liberty flows inherently from the state’s inability to govern conduct beyond these narrow mandates, even under claims of ‘emergency’ or ‘public good.’
6. Term Limits: Amateur Public Servants
A six-year lifetime cap on all public service—from elected roles to bureaucrats—prevents careerist entrenchment (and enrichment) to ensure governance serves the people, not institutional self-interest.
Bruce Pardy is the executive director of Rights Probe and a professor of law at Queen’s University.
Contact us to book Bruce Pardy for an interview or appearance, or to subscribe to our newsletter:
rightsprobe@protonmail.com
One reply on “Part One: A blueprint for Alberta independence”
[…] to unpack the second half of his proposed constitution for a free and independent Alberta. [The first half is available […]