Why this article is proposed
Most of the rights in this article exist somewhere in Canadian law, but they are scattered across the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, federal statutes (the Criminal Code, the CSIS Act, the Privacy Act, PIPEDA), and provincial statutes (Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act). The article would gather them into a single provincial framework and entrench them so they cannot be reduced by ordinary legislation.
What it would change
Section 1 entrenches a high threshold (compelling and demonstrable public interest, narrowly tailored, proportionate, with judicial review) for any restriction on online expression. Section 2 bans bulk and algorithmic surveillance without individualized suspicion. Section 3 limits the government's ability to enlist private platforms to suppress lawful content. Section 4 requires annual transparency reports and creates a Digital Rights Oversight Commission. Section 5 creates civil remedies.
The legal basis
These rules sit on Charter foundations (s.2(b), s.8) and on provincial jurisdiction over property and civil rights in the province (Constitution Act, 1867 s.92(13)). Provincial entrenchment is allowed under Constitution Act, 1982 s.45. The article cannot bind federal surveillance, federal broadcasting and telecommunications regulation, or federal content laws, all of which remain under Parliament's authority.
Open questions
Two questions for Albertans: whether the high threshold for restricting online expression is workable in practice given that some restrictions (defamation, intimate-image abuse, child-safety rules) are already in force; and how to draw the line between protecting Albertans from federal surveillance overreach and respecting the lawful exercise of federal investigative authority under judicial warrant.