Alberta’s Opposition NDP is accusing premier-designate Danielle Smith of having little to no interest in issues that affect residents province-wide.
Smith, a former 770 CHQR radio host and Wildrose Party leader, won the UCP leadership race on Thursday after announcing her return to politics in March.
In a news conference on Friday morning, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said Smith was elected by a “fairly extreme group” within the United Conservative Party that represented only one per cent of Albertans.
She also said Smith’s proposed Sovereignty Act will plunge the province into economic chaos. The Sovereignty Act, if passed, would allow the Alberta legislature to refuse enforcement of federal laws or policies that are seen as violations of provincial jurisdiction.
Some experts have warned the proposed legislation would cause a constitutional crisis.
“The fact of the matter is that this party continues to be divided and Albertans are going to continue to be the second consideration of these elected officials after they finish focusing on their own internal drama and their own internal political interests,” Notley said.
“Smith has made it plain that the real issues Alberta families are struggling with are of no interest to her. Instead, she’s preoccupied with the so-called Sovereignty Act.
“By passing an illegal, unconstitutional act and chasing investors and economic certainty out of your province… It’s not a way to stand up for Albertans, it’s actually just a way to play cynical politics for your own self-interest at the expense of regular people.”
Notley said Smith’s policy will also destroy Alberta’s public health care system. Smith previously spoke out against COVID-19 public health measures and pledged to revamp the health system by giving each Albertan a health spending accounts and firing the board of Alberta Health Services.
“Her disinterest in science or some of her whacky ideas around health care and cancer treatment… She’s made a number of statements that are very distant from mainstream ideas,” the Alberta NDP leader said.
“I worry that if our health care system has any time under the leadership of the UCP and Danielle Smith, it is going to be harder and harder to pull it back from the brink of the cliff and to restore it to a place where it can continue to provide the support and care that Albertans need when they or their loved ones are sick or injured.”
Calgary-Mountain View MLA Kathleen Ganley slammed Smith in a tweet on Friday morning.
“The Sovereignty Act is not a law, it’s a tantrum,” Ganley’s tweet said.
Party unity critical to win provincial election: political commentators
Meanwhile, the UCP caucus is pledging to be a united front ahead of the provincial election next year.
Former finance minister Travis Toews congratulated Smith for her win and said he is committed to working with her despite his loss.
“Unity is so critical for our party and movement. We have a big tent, diverse conservative party in this province and it’s important that we maintain a big tent, diverse party,” Toews said at a news conference on Friday.
“My commitment now is to work with the premier-designate and caucus in Cabinet to ensure that everything we put forward as a government is the best policy possible for Albertans.”
Toews said he is still concerned about the Sovereignty Act but isn’t opposed to voting in favour if it’s in the best interest of Albertans. Toews previously opposed the proposed bill, calling it a “constitutional fairytale” in a united news conference in early September.
“Many of the objectives of the Sovereignty Act initiative, I’m very much in favour of… I’m going to work constructively to reposition Alberta to ensure that policy coming out of this government is in the best interests of Albertans.”
Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer, who was knocked out in the first ballot, said she is optimistic about the party’s future.
“It actually was a beautiful morning to see everybody, and I’m just I’m really proud of how everybody came together… I’m really looking forward to having the conversation and seeing how that moves forward,” Aheer told Global News on Friday.
But University of Calgary political science professor Lisa Young said the results underline potential caucus management challenges.
It took until the sixth and final ballot for Smith to get a majority of the votes — 53.8 per cent — beating former finance minister Travis Toews’ 46.2 per cent. Brian Jean was knocked out in the fifth ballot.
Smith needs the support of the entire party in the general election, Young said.
“The caucus wants the party to win the next election so they want to be united. The question is, can Smith create the conditions that allow them to be united?” asked Young in an interview with Shaye Ganam on Friday.
“I think the critical issue here is the Sovereignty Act… That is the critical test.
“They might be able to fall back on the argument that the legislation that she put forward just creates a process for opting out of federal legislation, but it’s still creating a process for doing something that’s unconstitutional.”
Young also said Smith will need a seat in the Alberta legislature if she wants to win the provincial election next year.
Michaela Frey, who had earlier signalled she did not intend to compete in the 2023 provincial election, says it’s her hope that Danielle Smith will choose to run in the constituency of Brooks-Medicine Hat.
“Is she going to also call a by-election in Calgary? I think that’s a disastrous first political move to say me getting into the legislature is important enough to call a by-election but not for the people of Calgary-Elbow,” Young said.
–With files from Adam Toy, Global News and The Canadian Press
Comments