Alberta has no constitution of its own as an independent state, and the transition has to produce one. It is not ungoverned in the meantime: Alberta operates today under the Constitution of Canada together with its own constituting statutes, and those continue to govern until a ratified Alberta constitution commences. This domain funds the process by which that happens: a constitutional conference, the drafting and legal work behind it, the referendum machinery, and the small standing office that carries the programme from preparation through to the first legislature taking office - the first Legislative Assembly elected under Alberta's own constitution, the present Assembly continuing throughout the transition in the meantime.
What it buys is process, not institutions. There is no department here, no service delivered to the public and no permanent body created. The cost is concentrated in people, legal capacity and public process for a defined period, and it falls away when the constitution commences and the elected government takes authority.
The principle is that the constitutional process is a one-time act of state formation with a fixed end. It is costed as a programme with a completion date rather than as a function of government, and nothing in it continues past the point where the Legislative Assembly assumes responsibility for constitutional matters.
C$ millions, fiscal 2026-27 price base. A one-time cost, a recurring cost and a payment to a member of the public are different things and are never added together.
How the figure is built
C$95.0M one-time, no recurring cost. This funds a 90-member Constitutional Conference sitting for twelve months from ID-6 months, the secretariat that supports it, a province-wide public consultation programme, and the drafting and legal work that produces a constitution for ratification. The body dissolves on delivery, so it carries no continuing charge.
The lines
| C$M | ||
|---|---|---|
| Delegate compensation | 8.0 | 90 delegates at half-time over 12 months, MLA-equivalent rate |
| Delegate travel and accommodation | 2.0 | 60 of 90 travelling, 12 week-long sessions, commercial rates plus airfare |
| Constitutional Administration | 4.0 | 25 staff fully loaded at C$150k |
| Conference facilities and operations | 6.0 | Venue, offices, security, catering, 12 months |
| Research, policy and drafting support | 8.0 | Subject-matter experts, comparative research, economic analysis |
| Public consultation programme | 12.0 | Portal, petitions, province-wide regional sessions, hearings, surveys |
| Constitutional Academy | 16.0 | Delegate education: guest lecturers, materials preparation, programme delivery |
| Communications and public information | 10.0 | Website, reports, media, public information campaigns |
| Printing, publications, document production | 4.0 | Briefing books, committee reports, draft and final constitutions |
| Legal and legislative drafting | 8.0 | Constitutional counsel, legislative drafters, legal editors |
| Capital | 5.0 | Submission portal and the records system that passes to the archives |
| Contingency reserve | 5.0 | 5.3% of the base |
| Bottom-up build | 88.0 | |
| Headroom above the build | 7.0 |
The people
Complement: 25 temporary, 18 months. This domain’s build is not divided into named post blocks, so the figure is stated whole rather than tabled.
Comparators
| Figure | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chile Constitutional Convention 2021-22 | C$34.4M budgeted, C$26.6M spent | 155 elected members, complete constitution, 12 months. The source figures are in Chilean pesos and are printed here so the conversion can be redone: about CLP 22,000M assigned to the Convention, CLP 18,751M executed between July 2021 and June 2022, and CLP 20,920M reported spent by August 2022. The Canadian figures are conversions at 2021-22 rates and are approximate. The Convention is not the wider process - the CLP 68,000M sometimes quoted covers the two plebiscites and the delegate election as well, which are excluded here for the same reason the normal-course rule excludes Alberta's |
| BC Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform 2004 | C$5.5M in 2004 dollars, C$8.5M on this budget's price base | 160 members, 12 months, selected by lottery with experts appearing as presenters rather than members - the closest published precedent for the model this Conference adopts. The published figure is the C$5.5M of public funds allocated in 2004; the second figure is the same amount restated on the 2026-27 price base used throughout this budget |
What these figures assume
- The Conference sits for twelve months from ID-6 months and dissolves on delivery of a draft for ratification. Extension is provided for where a durable constitution needs longer; it is not recognised, and the duration sensitivity is set out under contingency.
- Delegates are office-holders paid at an MLA-equivalent rate for half-time service. They are not employees and carry no pension or severance entitlement.
- Referendums and general elections are excluded. Running elections is a normal function of government and is met from the ordinary electoral budget whether or not there is a transition (the normal-course rule).
- Capital is limited to the two assets that outlive the body. Everything else is leased for the duration (the rule that a transitional service leases rather than buys).
Contingency, recognised at C$0
Duration. The budget assumes a Conference sitting twelve months from ID-6 months and dissolving on delivery of a draft for ratification. The paper provides for extension where a durable constitution needs longer, granted by the Government of Alberta before Constitutional Commencement and by the Legislative Assembly after it, and an extension moves this figure.
Cost here is close to linear in sitting time because almost all of it is people and leased space: C$49.0M of the C$95.0M varies with duration, a run rate of about C$4.1M a month. A three-month extension adds about C$12.2M, six months about C$24.5M and a full further year about C$49.0M, being roughly thirteen, twenty-six and fifty-two per cent on the one-time cost. Three things do not scale: the Constitutional Academy, because delegate education is front-loaded; the capital line, because the submission portal and records system are bought once; and the contingency reserve, which is sized on the base rather than on duration. Nothing is recognised for extension. The planning case remains twelve months, and an extension is a decision to be taken on the record rather than an expectation to provision against. Recognised at C$0.
How this connects to other domains
The referendums and the general election referred to in this paper are met from the ordinary electoral budget and are not costed here.
Sources
- Alberta Transition Plan supporting analysis, Constitutional Process, section 15 and the eleven budget categories at section 14.
- Chile: Convencion Constitucional budget and execution reports, 2021-22.
- BC: Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform final report and budget, 2004.
