Canadian Senator Kristopher Wells Opposes Alberta’s Employment Equity Restrictions

On November 4, 2026, Canadian senator for Alberta Kristopher Wells called at a press conference in Ottawa for Alberta to drop restrictions on employment equity programs in hiring and promotion. The next day, the Alberta legislature passed Bill 33 at third reading. The bill awaits royal assent.

Under the bill’s text, provincial bodies, including municipalities and public post-secondary institutions, could not use measures to support disadvantaged groups in hiring or promotion without a regulatory exemption. The bill also limits mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training, with an exception for training needed to do the job. The Alberta government says the changes are intended to put candidates’ qualifications first.

Wells says dropping these programs would make it harder for the most vulnerable groups to access jobs. MP Heather McPherson, the National Employment Equity Council and Amnesty International Canada joined the call to revise the bill. The council pointed to barriers facing women, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples and racial minorities. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms permits programs aimed at improving conditions for disadvantaged groups. Bill 33 changes the rules for their use in Alberta’s public bodies.

Uránia previously reported on Wells’s support for funding Canada’s federal LGBT action plan.