Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the United Conservative Party AGM in Edmonton on Saturday. Her speech echoed some of the rhetoric of Donald Trump that appeals to her party’s base.Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
You couldn’t have faulted Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for thinking she might receive something of a hero’s welcome at this weekend’s United Conservative Party convention.
After all, she would be waving a freshly signed memorandum of understanding with Ottawa to build a new pipeline to the northwest coast of B.C. Sure, there were literally mountains to cross before it came to fruition, but it was still a deal many thought improbable.
So, she was surely stunned – and the look on her face confirmed it – when she was heavily booed after hailing the MOU as an illustration that Canada still worked for Alberta. It got worse.
Smith defends Ottawa energy deal at UCP convention
Jeffrey Rath, spokesperson for the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project, got up on the convention floor and denounced the MOU. He prompted a raucous standing ovation among delegates when he screamed into his mic: “How many of us here favour a free and independent Alberta?”
It was a humiliating moment for the Premier, one, oddly enough, for which she could likely take a great deal of credit.
The anti-Canada, anti-Ottawa rage in the convention hall is what you get when you spend your entire time in office denouncing the rotten deal Alberta has received in Confederation. When people are repeatedly told that Eastern political elites have been a giant thumb, pressing down on the province to keep it in its place and ensure it doesn’t enjoy its full potential.
The Alberta Prosperity Project is the monster Ms. Smith (and predecessor Jason Kenney) helped create. Now that monster is turning on her.
Participants vote on a resolution at the UCP AGM in Edmonton.Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
It was quite a spectacle and certainly made Ms. Smith’s convention speech the next day a must-watch. She fared much better – while still hearing plenty of boos when anything pro-Canada was suggested – offering enough policy pledges to satiate the ultra-right-wing inclinations of this party. Make no mistake, the UCP is MAGA North. Many of Ms. Smith’s speaking points could have been ripped directly from the pages of a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump.
She talked about how exhausting her job is, battling both leftists and the mainstream media. This, ironically enough, on the same day The Globe and Mail published a damaging, almost 7,000-word exposé on the health care spending scandal dogging her government. But she had lots of policy nibblies to keep delegates clapping instead of jeering. Although one wonders how she plans to accomplish some of her promises.
For instance, she told the convention her government will instruct provincial entities not to enforce or prosecute any violations of the federal gun-seizure program. Or pursue potential charges against Albertans who might shoot someone who has broken into their home. “I’ve got a little tip for low-life criminals out there: if you don’t want to get shot, don’t break into someone’s home,” she told the hall to generous applause. (How she intends to override the Criminal Code of Canada was not explained).
She promised to take greater control over immigration, an area in which the federal government has ultimate authority. The Premier railed against DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and other “destructive” mandates and heralded the government’s banning of certain books in public libraries.
There was less enthusiasm by delegates for the Premier’s defence of her deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney on a new pipeline. “But my friends, let us not throw in the towel and give up on our country just as the battle has turned in our favour and victory is in sight,” she said.
Five more Alberta UCP caucus members face recall petitions, bringing total to 14
A Premier who has spent her entire time in office in a defensive, fists-up posture when it comes to Ottawa, was now urging her party to drop theirs and give peace a chance. Many in the crowd were having none of it.
I don’t believe for a second that the 4,500 or so folks at the UCP convention represent the vast majority of Albertans, yet they are certainly setting the province’s agenda. While Ms. Smith may still have control of the UCP board, she understands the party base controls her future as leader. As such, provincial policy will always skew toward making these people happy, the feelings of more centrist, open-minded Albertans be damned.
Ms. Smith saw what happened to the last UCP premier who got on the wrong side of the party base. And she doesn’t want to suffer the same fate as Mr. Kenney. Yet, the road she is embarking on – trying to sell a deal with a federal government she has indoctrinated her supporters to be deeply suspicious and wary of – is politically fraught.
“Premier Smith is asking an angry army that she has led on to the field to now sheath their swords and trust the enemy,” Derek Fildebrandt, a former UCP MLA and now conservative media publisher said on X. “It’s a tough ask.”