REGINA — The political fallout was still being felt at the Legislature Wednesday following word the previous day that Saskatoon Centre MLA Betty Nippi-Albright had quit the NDP to sit as an independent.
The move created shockwaves at the Legislature Tuesday, with the news coming soon after MLAs voted on Bill 48 — the Compassionate Intervention Act. As it turned out, her stance on Bill 48 proved instrumental in Nippi-Albright’s decision to leave the NDP.
In her initial statement on social media Tuesday, Nippi-Albright had said she could “no longer support the direction of Carla Beck’s leadership.”
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Nippi-Albright expanded further on her reasons for leaving. She made it known that directions she got from Beck on an independent report into the compassionate care issues commissioned by Nippi-Albright’s own office were a factor in her decision to leave.
Nippi-Albright said the direction she got from Beck was “not to reference, read from, or table the independent, non-partisan report my office commissioned. That direction came on Monday, just hours before my second reading response.”
She said she was “told very clearly do not reference the report, do not read from the report, do not table the report in committee. This was despite the fact that the report was commissioned by my office, paid for by my office budget, and was fully non-partisan and evidence-based.
“All MLAs and caucus staff were invited to the consultations. They were briefed on the findings in a scheduled Zoom meeting, and I re-sent the full report to colleagues and caucus staff, including the leader, to ensure everyone had access to the evidence. I commissioned two independent researchers, both PhD candidates with more than a decade of experience in mental health, addictions, public policy, and community consultation. I instructed them to analyze the bill, identify potential implications, propose amendments, and ensure the report contained no political spin, only non-biased, evidence-based analysis. They delivered exactly that.”
Nippi-Albright said the report reflected the “voices of service providers, public health and legal experts, Indigenous communities and organizations, people with lived and living experience.”
“These are the people most affected by Bill 48, and their message is consistent: Bill 48 creates serious risks without safeguards, capacity, or evidence needed to protect people.”
Nippi-Albright also took issue with statements from Beck on Tuesday afternoon.
“Yesterday, we voted against Bill 48. Yet, in the leader’s press release and in her third reading response, she said several times that she supports forced treatment, using language that closely mirrors the government's framing.”
Nippi-Albright described Beck’s statement about opposing Bill 48 as having “been performative when, at the same time, she has repeatedly stated she supports forced treatment, even after being presented again and again with evidence showing this legislation is not in the best interest of the people we were elected to serve. That position is not supported by evidence, and it contradicts what experts and communities have been telling us.”
She said this matters because Bill 48 will “create serious harms for the most vulnerable people in our province. The independent analysis shows clearly the risks. Expanded detention powers without safeguards, increased overdose risk, lack of treatment capacity, disproportionate impacts on Indigenous and racialized communities.”
Nippi-Albright reiterated her responsibility is “to the people of Saskatoon Centre and to those whose voices are too often overlooked. I continue to advocate for evidence-based approaches that protect people, not approaches that increase harm.”
As for why she chose to sit as an independent, Nippi-Albright said she would “speak to that in the days ahead. Today, it is about Bill 48.”
For their part, the NDP raised questions about why Nippi-Albright had decided to quit. They pointed to a PowerPoint presentation from which they said they had based their 17 proposed amendments that were presented (and ultimately rejected) at committee on Monday, and claimed that in one of the recommendations that Nippi-Albright said that she was in support of forced treatment as a last resort.
“You know, I’m really glad you brought that up because I’ll tell you when that happened,” Nippi-Albright said in response to reporters.
“That happened when we heard immediately about the government proposing forced treatment. And that was in August, before we even had the bill. That was before the bill.
“So when we received the bill on Dec. 5, I analyzed it, I read it, as every MLA should be doing, is analyzing these bills through a critical lens. I did that. But I soon realized that, oh, I don’t have the capacity. And that is why I reached out to researchers that specialize in already do this kind of work to analyze it. And once that happened, and when we heard ‘hey, this is not the way to go,’ I said ‘this is not the way to go.’”
But Nippi-Albright said it “fell on deaf ears.”
“And I’ve said, we have to change our response based on evidence that we’re seeing.”
As for her thought process on speaking out, Nippi-Albright said she entered politics “to serve the people in this province.”
“I didn’t enter politics to have any desires to form government. I have no grandiose ideas of climbing the ladder that does not exist for First Nation women in this province. I joined politics because I have an education. I have a voice. I have that lived experience, a perspective, a unique perspective that no other legislator in this province has. And that is why I decided I’m going to do this… .The directive that I was given was, do not make any reference to this. Do not make, do not bring this up in committee. The only thing that they took is the recommendations. That was it. So, I was muzzled.”
NDP surprised
At a news conference Wednesday, NDP leader Carla Beck said she was surprised to hear Nippi-Albright say that Bill 48 was the issue that motivated her departure.
“I’m surprised because we moved 17 amendments to change the bill based on that study that Ms. Nippi-Albright commissioned. And as a caucus, we made the decision to vote against the bill alongside Betty after the government blocked all of those amendments at five hours of committee the day before.”
Beck said that to “say today, even after her press conference today, that I am surprised, honestly, is a bit of an understatement. I would say that I don’t think that Betty is being completely honest in her representation of how things went, but I can say this with all sincerity, I do wish her all the best. I have never doubted her desire to do better for the people of this province.”
When asked about the accusations that she had blocked a report on Bill 48 from being referenced, tabled and read during discussions, Beck said she disagreed with that.
“As I said, that bill in its entirety was not only presented to the legislative legal services, it was the basis of that report. That report was the basis of the 17 amendments that were brought forward in five hours of committee, which Ms. Nippi-Albright, as well as Ms. (Meara) Conway spent trying to improve this bill.”
As for the accusation that Nippi-Albright was not being allowed to talk about the report in its entirety, not just the recommendations to the public, Beck said “I disagree with that as well.”
“So, as I said, Ms. Nippi-Albright had five hours in committee. I think we’ve all been there for press conferences, avails, where she has spoken about this issue. Again, the 17 recommendations that came out of that report were the basis of the amendments.
“I honestly, as I said, I remain surprised by her decision that this was characterized, has been characterized in the way that it has been. I think the facts show that that is not the case, that that report was considered, in fact, was the basis of those amendments, and certainly her voice has been present throughout the debate on this bill.”
When pressed on whether she told Nippi-Albright whether she could bring that report up during debate or reference it during her responses, Beck said Nippi-Albright was “told that she was not to table the report in its entirety, but there was no muzzling of talk of that report.”
“Again, I do remain surprised,” Beck said. She added that her party’s focus “remains on the bill” and pointed to their caucus chair Matt Love standing with firefighters in Saskatoon, “continuing to demand a focus on all of the things that this bill will not address and has not addressed.”
“And that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on. I think our goal is there, along with Betty’s goals, to see this crisis treated with the urgency that is required. We are losing a person a day in Saskatchewan right now. A call every hour in Saskatoon in the month of April. That’s what we’re going to continue to focus on.”
