WHEREAS the Province of Alberta has certain rights and powers afforded to it under the Canadian constitution, including but not limited to the ownership and control of natural resources;AND WHEREAS the Province of Alberta has not been afforded consideration by the Parliament of Canada by the placement of their elected senators in the Canadian Senate;AND WHEREAS the Province of Alberta pays $23 billion in federal tax while only receiving $14 billion in federal transfer payments from the Government of Canada resulting in a net contribution to the federal government of $9 billion per year, based on 2002 figures;AND WHEREAS the issues that face the Province of Alberta and the residents of Alberta include but are not limited to, the lack of protection by the Government of Canada from unfair trading practices and international tariffs, underfunding of the provincial health care system, the lack of response to Albertas concerns regarding the gun registry, the Kyoto Protocol, the past three-year drought and most recently the lack of sufficient federal support for the devastation of the multi-billion dollar Alberta beef industry;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the Government of Alberta to immediately adopt and enact the three principles of the Alberta Agenda, those being an Alberta Pension Plan, provincial policing and the collection of our own personal income taxes.

The Alberta Residents League is not a political party. The ARL is made up of Alberta citizens who want the provincial government to use the rights and freedoms afforded Albertans under the constitution for the protection of Albertans. The ARL is not promoting separatism but rather is promoting less Ottawa in our lives. Alberta Agenda Summarized: create our own Alberta Pension Plan (APP) like Quebec has done collect our own revenue from personal income tax, as we already do for corporate income tax, like Quebec does Alberta is a major province, we should have our own provincial police force like the other major provinces, Ontario and Quebec resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy so we can fix healthcare, it certainly wont be fixed through the government in Ottawa also automatic use of the section 33 Notwithstanding Power coupled with a referendum to allow Albertans, rather than nine unelected judges appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by the Prime Minister, to choose what Albertans really believe our moral and freedom standards of our Alberta society should be.

The AAMDC has no resolutions currently in effect with respect to this issue. With regard to the federal gun registry however, Resolution 23-02F, endorsed at the fall 2002 convention, calls on the Government of Alberta to enact legislation to prevent any infringement of the right to own and use firearms in a responsible manner, and following an appropriate referendum vote, would require the province to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect that legislation.Resolution 12-01S, endorsed at the spring 2001 convention, calls on the provincial government to withdraw from participation in and enforcement of the federal firearms legislation, and to hold a province-wide referendum on the issue.Resolution 15-98F, endorsed at the fall 1998 convention, calls on the province to take whatever action it deems necessary to ensure that Bill C-68 is not legally binding in Alberta, and urges the province to form an alliance with other provinces in opposition to the legislation.The province has indicated that the notwithstanding clause cannot be used to exempt Alberta from federal gun control legislation.With regard to the Kyoto Protocol, Resolution 12-02F, endorsed at the fall 2002 convention, calls on the Government of Canada to delay any vote on the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol until the commitment to develop a workable implementation plan in consultation with all provinces, territories, stakeholders and Canadians has been fulfilled. Resolution 12-02F also calls for the Government of Alberta to pursue all legal and legislative options available to counteract ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the federal government, unless the province is satisfied that a fair implementation plan has been developed. In its response, the province stated that it does not support the federal governments decision to ratify the protocol. The Alberta government would not allow the federal government to step into areas of provincial responsibility.