The Constitution of Alberta describes the fundamental rules under which the Canadian province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

is governed. As is typical of all Canadian provinces, and Westminster systems more generally, Alberta's is an

unwritten constitution An uncodified constitution is a type of constitution where the fundamental rules often take the form of customs, usage, precedent and a variety of statutes and legal instruments.Johari, J. C. (2006) ''New Comparative Government'', Lotus Press, N ...

. Alberta's constitution, like the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's (on which it is modelled), includes any and all pieces of

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

decisions,

proclamations A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

, and conventions which together inform how the province operates. Many statutes are important to understanding the

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

of the province, but nowhere are they consolidated into a single document or even a list. The office of

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

at one time suggested 23 acts which might be included, but cautioned that this was not a "definitive list". However, since Alberta is a part of federation, its powers are clearly delineated in law, via the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

. As part of the Canadian federation, Alberta, like all of the provinces, is bound by the terms of the

; this includes rules concerning the division of powers between the federal order of government and the provinces, as well as the rights of individuals vis-à-vis the state. The legislature of the province can only legislate on topics delegated to the provinces under

Section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867 Section 92 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: article 92 de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1867) is a provision in the Constitution of Canada that sets out the legislative powers of the legislatures of the provinces of Canada. The provin ...

, and since 1982 it is further bound by the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part ...

'', in both instances being subject to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

. At the time that Alberta was created, the basics of its structure were set out in a statute passed by the federal parliament, the ''

Alberta Act The ''Alberta Act'' (french: Loi sur l'Alberta), effective September 1, 1905, was the act of the Parliament of Canada that created the province of Alberta. The ''Act'' is similar in nature to the '' Saskatchewan Act'', which established the p ...

'' (1905). This is considered a constitutional document and is listed as such in the appendix to the ''Constitution Act, 1982''. Nevertheless, Alberta has always had the power to change its own internal composition without the approval of the federal parliament (within limits), and has done so on many occasions. For example Alberta has at various times had both a

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

and a hybrid

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

/ instant-runoff voting electoral system. Since 1982, provinces have had the option of making some laws explicitly part of their constitution under a formula contained within the Constitution of Canada. Alberta has done this only once . The '' Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act, 1990'' enshrines the existence of Métis settlements in Alberta and provides a guarantee that they will not be abolished without the consent of the Métis people in Alberta. "The constitution of Alberta, which, in the British tradition, is unwritten, was amended to provide constitutional recognition for the changes. The preamble to the Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act, 1990 offers crucial insight into the objects of the legislation..."

References

{{Constitution of Canada Politics of Alberta