Maybe being premier of Alberta means never having to say you’re sorry!
No sooner was she sworn in Tuesday as Alberta’s 19th premier than Danielle Smith was in hot water for a remark she made at the end of her first news conference that in all her born days she’d never witnessed a more persecuted group than Alberta’s vaccine refuseniks.
Ms. Smith’s actual words of succour to the province’s Great Unvaxxed, just to be clear, were: “They have been the most discriminated-against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. That’s a pretty extreme level of discrimination.”
That comment struck a nerve – not so much among supporters of sensible public health policies, although them too – but among Albertans who had witnessed or experienced in their lives examples of discrimination considerably more severe than having to get a vaccination against a highly infectious disease to avoid an unpaid temporary leave from their work.
The criticism Monday night and yesterday morning was at times hot enough to reheat Alberta’s notorious Lake of Fire!
Yesterday, her second day on the job, Premier Smith issued a letter of explanation.
“My intention was to underline the mistreatment of individuals who chose not to be vaccinated and were punished by not being able to work, travel, or in some cases, see loved ones,” she said in the letter, which was distributed on social media where most of the brouhaha took place, but not on the government website, where a historical record is maintained.
It is of course a highly contentious claim by Ms. Smith that anyone was mistreated or punished by being required to be vaccinated to work in or visit health care worksites. The prevailing opinion among Premier Smith’s critics was that she’s standing up for people who faced consequences for their own irresponsible actions, not discrimination.
“I want to be clear that I did not intend to trivialize in any way the discrimination faced by minority communities and other persecuted groups both here in Canada and around the world or to create any false equivalencies to the terrible historical discrimination suffered by so many minority groups over the last decades and centuries,” the premier’s letter continued, concluding with her willingness to meet with members of minority communities so she could understand their concerns, as if they weren’t obvious.
It was soon noticed that while Ms. Smith explained, she didn’t really apologize.
And, it would seem, this wasn’t just observed by the excessively woke that Alberta’s conservatives normally constantly complain about.
A Twitter account associated with former Premier Jason Kenney published a sharply critical tweet about Ms. Smith’s unapologetic apology early yesterday afternoon
“An apology isn’t an apology without the words ‘I’m sorry’,” said the tweet from the @UniteAlberta account, which was often used in the past to slap back at Mr. Kenney’s critics. “Those words tend to be especially important when the apology is necessitated by a profound level of ignorance that many would consider disqualifying.”
“Yikes,” tweeted political blogger Dave Cournoyer. “I wonder if it was a former Kenney staffer who still had access to this Twitter account who posted this.”
“The account was run by a UCP comms staffer on behalf of Kenney’s office,” he noted.
Whatever it meant, the uncharacteristically woke-sounding shot from the right across Ms. Smith’s bow was deleted three minutes later.
Ms. Smith had supporters aplenty for her sorry-not-really-sorry explanation, though.
“I, and others, have been quite critical of Smith’s comment that the unvaccinated were ‘the most discriminated against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime’,” tweeted Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt in a short tweet thread about the uproar.
“Based on the vicious emails, voice mails, and tweets I have subsequently received, there are lots of people that agreed with Smith’s original comments,” he continued. “Yes they are a small minority of Albertans/Canadians, but they are angry. Very angry.”
“Those that are vaccine-hesitant or anti-vax, those that either didn’t get vaccinated or felt coerced in doing so are not going away. They support Smith and want to re-litigate covid restrictions,” he concluded. “They want payback and not just Kenney, Hinshaw, and other AHS officials.”
It was only Day 2 of Danielle Smith’s Alberta, but it was hard to shake the feeling that not only is Dr. Bratt right about the new premier’s core supporters, but that things are likely to deteriorate from here.
Ms. Smith seems sincerely persuaded that “discrimination” by Alberta Health Services against front-line health care employees who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 played a significant role in the continuing shortage of nurses and other health care workers.
Never mind the fact the number of AHS employees called back to work after the Kenney Government caved last May on the restrictions wanted by AHS leaders was only about 750 out of more than 125,000 employees.
That’s 0.6 per cent of the AHS workforce. Even accounting for a few employees in excluded or management ranks – where vaccination rates were higher – and those who quit rather than fight to get their jobs back, the number of employees lost to the health care system for “their choice not to be vaccinated,” as Ms. Smith would put it, would still be well under 1 per cent.
Premier Smith can promise hard-pressed health care workers that “reinforcements are coming” if she likes. Rest assured, though, they are unlikely to come from the ranks of already-trained anti-vaccine health care workers suffering under the yoke of public health guidelines elsewhere.
Indeed, the direction now being taken by the UCP may have the opposite effect.
“Good morning #Alberta health care workers,” tweeted the president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa yesterday, apparently trolling former premier Kenney’s much-publicized attempt to woo skilled workers away from Ontario and B.C.
“At @CHEO we think racism is bad, immunization is good and we [HEART] occupational health+safety,” said Alex Munter. “Come join us if you’re vaccinated against Covid and your routine vaccinations are up-to-date (MMR, tetanus, Hep B, etc).”
The “We’re hiring” GIF attached to the tweet sure looked like the staircase in that Toronto subway station Mr. Kenney was bragging about how cheap it is to live in Alberta just days ago.
Meanwhile, I suppose we should be concerned that the wording of Premier Smith’s proposed amendments to the Alberta Human Rights Act to offer specific protection to vaccine refuseniks will be so broad that it will include not only COVID-19 inoculation but traditionally less controversial vaccines.
Will the requirement for vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella and other highly infectious diseases by post-secondary institutions that train health care workers have to go out the window as well to cater to Premier Smith’s allies in the COVID-conspiracy community?
Well, at least Day 3 of Ms. Smith’s tenure as premier can’t be as fraught as Days 1 and 2 … Can it?
Again, Danielle Smith says the wrong things, and this makes her look bad. For someone who has been a politician before, and was also employed in the media, she doesn’t know how to control her tongue. At times, she speaks with a forked tongue, contradicts herself, or just doesn’t know when to shut up. Danielle Smith is in no way a medical professional. Here’s something that she may not be aware of. Mandatory vaccination policies have been in existence, way before Covid-19 came along. There are certain instances where vaccination is required, and the matter cannot be challenged. Certain trades have regulations which require that people employed in that particular trade must be vaccinated, because of risks from the job, and they have to prove that they were vaccinated, to keep their job. It’s unavoidable. There are aid workers who go to places where there is carnage and destruction, after a natural disaster has struck, like a tsunami. They have to be vaccinated. It’s compulsory. For those involved in missionary work, who go to Third World countries, they also must be vaccinated. There is no way around it. For Danielle Smith to say that the unvaccinated are the most discriminated people, is absolute lunacy. It’s unfortunate that there are people who agree with her on this, but there are others that know better and don’t agree with her. Can Danielle Smith then justify people refusing to wear a seatbelt while driving, because she would think it’s discrimination? Would she think that it’s discrimination for a restaurant to show concern for an employee, who handles food preparation, after they find out the worker has hepatitis? What about the customers, and other staff at the restaurant? What if they got sick? When it comes to the safety and well being of others, there has to be measures taken to mitigate the risks. That’s not discrimination, no matter what Danielle Smith would want people to believe. At the rate Danielle Smith is going, her time in office, as the premier of Alberta, may not last that long.
Yes, this seemed to be more of a retreat than an apology, as was interestingly pointed out by someone affiliated with former Premier Kenney. Some politicians use distraction to their advantage to create a controversy to take attention away from something else, but I don’t think this was Smith’s plan here. I think it was a poorly chosen comparison and she realized it, or it was explained to her, some time after she said it.
While she has conceded her remarks on discrimination were off, other fundemental problems still remain here. For instance, it does not seem Smith’s views on vaccination have changed. They are far from the mainstream and when it comes to health care potentially dangerous in many ways.
It is unfortunate that a person can become Premier by appealing to a small minority with a huge sense of grievance. However, this is where we are now so this, and the recriminations that it seems will also follow, will likely negatively impact Alberta for the next several months.
Fasten your seatbelts, it is going to be a very bumpy ride during that time. Hopefully sanity will eventually prevail somehow.
So I guess what Ms. Smith really meant was “They have been the most discriminated-against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime, except for all the other discrimination victims.”
This whole situation leaves me wondering if Danielle Smith had an advisor vet the comments she intended to make, or if she didn’t think she needed one. If it is the former, she may want to look for a better advisor.
Meanwhile, it is pretty ironic, Jason Kenney giving advice on how to apologize.
Oh, dear. Maybe she should hit the campaign trail in Alberta’s southeast corner for a spell, where her remarks might find a more receptive audience. Or will they?
DC, I hope this comment won’t offend your readers, but it seems obvious she’s batshit crazy. Remember Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper? “I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.” Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove, 1964
I don’t know where anybody in Alberta gets the impression that Dingy Smith is anywhere near being Conservative. Just because she calls herself one doesn’t mean she really is one. She is Wild Rose (aka Reform) through and through. The fumbling, back-peddling and attacks on institutions appears to be very similar with Donald Trump. The chronic under-funding of health care and attacks on health care workers by Conservatives ever since Klein was Premier is where the problem is. As far as the anti-vaccine gang, I have no sympathy what so ever for their stupidity. In August of 2021, I had a heart attack and waited 10 hours to get admitted, while the waiting room of over-flowing with the idiots that refused to get vaccinated.
Most Canadians have only the vaguest notion of what political words mean. They just shout whatever bumper sticker slogans they have to in order to belong to a group. This is Canada’s fault. It is legal and profitable to pour poison into people’s ears and has been for decades. What were we expecting to happen?
I would add (for those of us a bit older) that when you say Smith is WildRose/Reform, those two political movements are really just warmed over Social Credit. Seems they are having their long awaited revenge – in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the CPC caucus in Ottawa.
Welcome to Smith-berta. The earth is flat here.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-blood-transfusions-resistance-covid-1.6613841
I guess when a column describing Danielle Straitjacket’s latest musings leads with a photo of Jason Kenney, with his brows furrowed, as if he’s thinking, “What the f*k?” You know you’ve wandered into a very special place.
While Smith releases what is claimed to be an apology for saying something that was weirdly dumb, the apology wasn’t even that in spirit. She should have just said, “Sorry and not sorry.” Of course, she tried to claim it was a statement made “in her experience”, but that just slams the whole thing into the ground because it presents an experience landscape that’s extremely limited — limited to that of her rural base, of course. Mind you, Smith’s rural base likely believes that, say, Jews were never persecuted because they rule the world and have “space lasers”. But what about all those single white males who can’t get a date/sex because 80% of the available and attractive women are dating/having sex with the 30% of desirable men? This is such a marginalized group — doesn’t anyone pay attention to Jordan Peterson, the smartest man on Twitter? (As for the remaining 20% of available women, Matt Gaetz says they’re too ugly to have sex with anyway.) But when Stockwell Day rides in and declares an apology was unnecessary, because every pearl-clutching LIEberal knows Smith meant no harm, and is likely right anyway. (Time to start calling Stockwell Day ‘four-eyes’ again?)
So-called Trudeau Apologies are often abundant and overused, but it least they tried to come from a good place. In the case of Smith Apologies, it’s more a matter of telling everyone off. (Or in a more verbose tone of Smith’s minimalist “Piss off, Vassy.” retort to the embarrassing end of her first political career.
Just: I’m going to let this one go, but I want you to know you’re sailing close to a couple of lines here. Ed.
Sailing close, maybe. How factual? Very.
Day did declare in a tweet he was called four-eyes because he wore glasses when he was younger. Sounds like a self confession to me.
As for Smith’s retort to Vassy Kapelos, yes, that really is a matter of historical record.
Now, if it’s a question of what Matt Gaetz said, come on? This is Matt Gaetz we’re talking about.
As for Jordan Peterson, the self proclaimed voice of Incels, he calls them “marginalized” and “in pain”.
And one more caveat, let it be known that I am a cruel and unfair loud mouth. One of benefits of just being me.
I can’t wait for anti-vaxx Dani’s epic debate losses to Rachel Notley.
I think it needs to be pointed out over and over that the most vocal anti-vaxxers are far more likely to commit hate crimes than to be victims of hate crimes. There is lots of evidence of their misbehaviour: bullying staff in stores, harassing health care workers, threatening politicians and journalists, lying and advocating violence all over social media.
Bullies are the biggest cry-babies.
Two comments from others that I think are relevant: first from a doctor saying that there are serious problems with needed surgeries [like joint replacements] because the beds were and are crowded with COVID patients, too many of them unvaccinated. This jibes with second comment from a very smart woman who said that those who are unvaccinated chose this course, where Natives, LGPTQ2S+ people, Black people, do not have a “choice” but face discrimination continually. As well, those Albertans who are immunocompromised have choices that include serious illness through to death if they choose to remain unvaccinated or associate with those who choose that option. Choices have consequences, like not being allowed to compromise others through ones choices.
Today’s news about an alleged hate crime:
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-issue-warrant-for-windsor-ont-man-following-anti-semitic-threats-against-local-doctor-1.6107477
I wonder if our new Premier is executing a strategy. She has softened her position on the Alberta Sovereignty Act. Now Supreme Court decisions will be accepted by her government. This should anger her core supporters.
She is maintaining their support with her discrimination statement and has turned their attention (and most albertans’ attention) away from her distancing herself from her campaign position on the ASA.
UCP supporters do not appear to have enough attention span to notice Dani’s rank hypocrisy. Same as it ever was…..
Ok, Jason was right, an insane person has been put in charge of the Unhinged Claptrap Party. Am I surprised – no. So far I am just a bit taken aback at the lady’s claims though – bearing in mind those that who chose to not have a vaccine did have a choice on the matter. Those of visible minorities, disabilities, and gender orientations have none I believe. So I will leave it there, other than to ask if the non-vaxxed are discriminated against, or simply penalized for the safety of society, much as sale of unpasteurized milk is like wise forbidden for good reasons.
Well said, the crazies are in. As Kenney said lunatics are taking over and they have extreme hateful and divisive voices.
42,423 UCP members elected a premier for 4,500,000 Albertans or less than 1%.
Well, Smith is drawing the battle lines with a vengeance. And by that, I mean she’ll avenge the “discrimination” by AHS against medical staff who refused the Covid-19 vaccination. (We’ll pass over the way provincial courts have ruled that employers can establish conditions for safe working environments—which now includes mandatory vaccination, where appropriate. Can you, my friend, think of a MORE appropriate workplace for mandatory vaccination than a hospital?)
There are always people who want to play the Victim. There are always others who agree, and sympathize—and then manipulate the Victims by promising to Save them. That’s what makes Smith and her groupies dangerous. They already know the Answer. It’s whatever they want to believe, evidence be damned. They display in full what Gwynne Dyer called “the ancient primate instinct to gather in groups and treat every other group as the Enemy.” (TV special The Human Race, episode 2, ca. 1999).
I dunno, I’m torn between the risks of Smith doing big damage in the months before the next election, and watching Smith prove her incompetence. Will she screw up badly enough to wreck her chances of winning? Will Smith’s government be such a train wreck even her MLAs turn on her? (Will she use Liz Truss as a role model? Pray, friends, if you’re inclined to!)
Of course, it might all be a colossal bluff, like the Free Alberta Fantasy and the Alberta Sovereignty (or “Suicide,” your choice) Act. Smith said she’d investigate AHS and replace the management. If she skips the investigation and fires the CEO and VPs, “chaos” will be much too mild a word. Smith must have advisors, political and legal, and they may restrain her impulsive conspiracy-chasing tendencies—but will she listen to them? Her predisposition for foot-in-mouth disease was well known in her Wildrose days. She hasn’t mellowed much.
Then there’s Alex Munter’s job offer. Yeah, he’s taking a jab at the whole UCP, RepubliCon mindset—but what will Queen Dannie say? Is she smart enough to abandon the War on Doctors? Will Smith repudiate Jason Kenney’s “they-cost-too-much” attacks? Or will Smith double down again—and thereby alleviate Ontario’s shortage of trained medical professionals? The one certainty is that she won’t say nothing.
Time will tell, I guess. Meanwhile, you may have to follow your family doctor to Ontario for a checkup. Better book your flight early….
“… employers can establish conditions for safe working environments”. So, if health care sector employers can’t establish immunization requirements for their workplaces, what of workplace health & safety requirements in other workplaces? Will oil & gas employers have to drop mandatory H2S training? If you go in to work a sour gas site & drop dead, too bad, so sad? What about mandatory safety harnesses for construction workers building office towers? Will we now see people falling from the sky in downtown Calgary & Edmonton?
“Come to Alberta”, we say, where your right to a safe & healthy workplace no longer exists. That’ll sell ‘em.
Calling those afraid of the vaccine “refusniks” is like calling homosexuals “fags”. Both terms have NOTHING to do with the folks they’re used to describe. Calling people names is wrong. I used to enjoy this blog. You’ve sunk even lower than the cons on this one. It makes me sad. I pray for your souls.
With all these people making critical comments about her, Danielle Smith must be wondering what happened to the button she used to push to cut off uncomfortable calls when she was a talk show host.
Golly, I wonder what could get the right so riled up that they need revenge??? On a related note, know anyone that lost everything during lockdown and committed suicide? Oh, right, you folks love suicide, with MAID and all. Oh well, I guess revenge is unavoidable. Or… maybe you could apologize for being so mean? Nah. Revenge it is.
Are her comments restricted to covid vaccinations or to vaccinations in general?
You know, polio, MMR, smallpox, hep, etc. The typical vaccinations that are basic requirement for most health care workers and some food industry workers.
Brett: While this has not yet been clarified by Ms. Smith, it would appear it will apply to all vaccinations – unless, that is, some members of the UCP Caucus grow a spine. DJC
I suspect it also applies to people who fail to have their dogs vaccinated for rabies.
It was former MLAs from the Lougheed era who taught me to never trust a Reformer , they destroy jobs not create them and boy were they right. It didn’t take Smith long to prove them right. Firing Deena Hinshaw for daring to promote getting vaccinated. In other words Smith doesn’t give a damn about who died from COVID or what it’s done to the well-being of our doctors and nurses. If the people in Brooks-Medicine Hat are dumb enough to elect her I can see a lot more doctors and nurses walking out the door.I am going to get some blood work done today to go along with a recent medical and it makes me wonder if these fools are too afraid to get that done also.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-vaccine-human-rights-analysis-1.6615900
This is correct. Monkeypox Marlaina would make Typhoid Mary look like an amateur. Mary Mallon was known to have killed only three people, after infecting about 50. She became famous for this, back in the days when ordinary people with common sense knew what plagues and epidemics were.
Imagine how many people could die from future epidemics in Alberta if Smith gets her way. One infected hospital worker with measles or polio, or maybe coming to work sick with cholera or Ebola — freedom!
In pre-vaccine days, Canadian children used to die from measles, its complications or from opportunistic bacterial infections, due to immune suppression by the measles virus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles
Vaccines or no vaccines? Hmmm.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ebola-uganda-vaccine-kampala-1.6614069
Yes, I’m preaching to the choir here, but not Marlaina’s choir, which is tone-deaf and deaf-deaf, probably from measles. If this goes ahead, Alberta employers had better get ready for a wave of remote work far beyond the Covid pandemic. Who would want an in-person job that could cost their life?
Danielle Smith is insensitive to realities of life, especially harsher ones like the rapacious period of between front lines breaching the city wall and arrival their restraining commanders in the rear some horrific time later, or urchins rushing the soup kitchen to palm all the dinner rolls before wheezing derelicts can shuffle in. She’s too focused on cultivating victimhood, the nitro of her modus kerosene, to see such realities.
Perhaps she’ll be disabused of this worldview by the realities of governing, but having been elevated to premiere by only a percent of the populace and evidently informed solely by the anti-vaxxer faction of her bifurcated party, she’ll probably need instruction. As caretaker of her predecessor’s mandate, the next half year would normally afford her the perfect opportunity to learn the job, the remaining time being not too long to profitably attack her legitimacy, and not too short that she can’t propose policy and correspond with the general electorate in good time for the approaching contest. But, then again, Smith is not normal.
Every indication is that she intends to stick with what she knows: the reactionary victimhood of ginned peeve, from sabotaging school boards to egging-on irate callers on right-wing talk-radio, and on to skulking into a party convulsing in the throes of schism. Since the corollary of victimhood is revenge, it’s hardy surprising Smith’s essential fascia is a bundle of crowbars lashed to a jerrycan of gasoline. Like the original battle axe bundled with tribal truncheons, if Smith departs from the fascicle by compromising on her extreme promises, punishment is mandatory. She is like a Dog Soldier lashed to a tree—that is, all in.
From the inside, Smith’s rat pack now has the run of a whole cheese shop while the cat’s away. From the outside she and her clique look more like bank robbers who’ve locked themselves in the vault so the law can’t disturb their gleeful frolicking upon piles of money—at least not until the commencement of banking hours on the morrow.
Until then, one wonders who, if anybody in her simmering caucus will apprise her of certain realities like the Constitution, the rule of law, social licence and, most paramount, the next election as it nears. That’s the only reality Smith has ever had to endure: every time she got near victory, the pot of gold moved just beyond reach. In the matrix of warped time it might well be that her party win is really harbinger to a bigger loss. Unfortunately, Albertans will have to suffer many defeats in detail until that big test can be done.
Failure can be salutary if lessons are learned, but it remains to be seen in this case—that is, if it’s recognized that her wreckage-strewn pathway to power ultimately results from the utter failure of the UCP to govern, to lead, to get along with federated Canada, and to maintain party unity. There’s no evidence yet that Smith requires any rationale to pursue her agenda other than the fact that she’s installed in the premier’s office somewhere behind ultra-partisan storm troopers but ahead of democratic restraint. Indeed, her appeal to the systemic sluggishness of due process of law rather presages sequel to Home Alone: get this teenage orgy done before the parents get back.
I’m always struck by parallels between the Canadian partisan right and tRumpublicanism, in this instance the near certainty that Danielle’s UCP-leadership rivals are contemplating contingencies to contain and blunt her noted skill at beggaring electoral prospects: insofar as destroying political parties goes, the only thing worse than Smith’s two out of three so far is the looming probability of trifecta. From politicians’ point of view, she has big potential in terms of their seats, their province, and even their country. They say bad things come in threes so, if a teacup gets broken, break two more to exhaust bad luck on the known rather than risk getting waylaid by the known unknowns.
Smith’s caucus has a range of motives, from protecting Albertans against head-off radical policies to getting re-elected by riding constituents in spite of her, but not knowing from where fire will be returned in response to the wagonload of provocations Smith promises to scattershoot from the laager will probably keep palace conspirators sitting safely on their hands, at least for the time being.
However, the meter is already running and eventually riding constituents will want to see commitment. In these crazy circumstances it’s exceedingly hard for incumbents to discern what that might be, so much depending on how Smith games the systems she’s targeted and the responses she intends to goad. It can’t even be predicted whether Smith will have fallen out of favour of the very faction which she courted for the leadership by the time next spring’s general election rolls around. After all, Kenney won government with nearly 60% of the popular vote in 2019 only to fall from favour of the rural SoCon faction he was so assiduously cultivating when Covid pandemic protocols interrupted the big fall and winter festivals of 2020; by 2022 he was forced to resign with 51% approval of his own party. Thus it’s not beyond possibility that Smith—who won the leadership with only 2% more party approval than Kenney, but about 59 percentage-points less electoral approval—will have somehow offended the snarling feral sentiments of the feedumbites she herself cultivated with promises even less feasible than K-Boy’s. Some UCP MLAs—I bet most— will just have to wait and see. Frightful indeed.
Like tRump’s, count on Smith’s most ardent supporters to overstate their loyalty in her defence as it becomes more and more urgently needed. Count on the sweating of declarative loyalty and the self-sustaining paranoia that it isn’t enough, but expect a certain amount of aloofness from some MLAs nonetheless when the laager comes under a hail of political ballista which can’t be discerned from ‘friendly fire.’ Like the GOP under tRump, the circumstance recommends hanging on for dear life and riding the thing out. Unlike the USA, our Westminster parliamentary system saves us from the tRumpublican gong show that persists even two years after The Orange One lost the presiduncy. If Smith loses, she’ll either be chump done for the UCP’s sake or champion of a fringe party.
As usual, the juiciest events will be the most intentionally obscured; again, it will be easy to do in the melee. If UCP purges are ruled out before the election, a few options for UCP MLAs present: first is to ride it out to see what the writ period’s like, to see what’s the best way to get re-elected in riding contests; if that’s priority, then the question of UCP victory or defeat is only important insofar as Smith remains leader —and one would expect her to be dumped if she loses, her erstwhile supporters not likely to be as forgiving as in 2012. Voters will certainly be challenged to know whether their respective UCP candidates sincerely support Smith’s ideology or are merely biding for her ouster. Another approach might be to criticize the leader’s platform on campaign, to distance from her—a tricky gambit since it would imply a UCP defeat (which might be predictable at that point) and presumably entail some kind of level-headed clean up afterwards—sans Danielle, of course. Another would be to cross the floor to sit as an Independent under some catchy title of buffalonian purport. Another would be to decline renomination for incumbency to “spend more time with family”, the vacancy filled with a Smith toady who will likely assist in the party’s defeat. All of these are predicated by Smith remaining in power until the Big Day, and by the way she came into the job, it’s unlikely any argument of legitimacy, cogency, or ability will pry her out of it. Only voters can do that—if not in her very own parachute riding, then effectively by the whole electorate.
For their own sakes some UCP MLAs will ask Smith to temper her rhetoric and agenda. Not much risk in exposing oneself because there isn’t enough time to organize retaliation. This could be the only leverage more temperate MLAs have before deciding what other options exist. Still, waiting until closer to election is most prudent.
As I’ve often said, the future of the partisan right hangs heavily on whether it can scrape extremist mire off its boots. But IMHO—as I think the elevation of Smith (or Poilievre or tRump or Bernier) shows—remediation is nigh impossible at this late stage of decline. The future thus has to be the creation of a new party of the right to effectively leave the extremist element behind like a swimming fox does fleas. At this point it’s still too chaotic to convince some centre-right moderates that the UCP is actually antithetical to real conservatism, that the far-right has an iron grip, and that the party is therefore irredeemable. Some moderates have already thrown in with the NDP—and some still bide.
Ironically, Smith might just be the catalyst to get this next phase under way—just have to hold the nose and ride it out knowing that the rule of law, the culture of Canadian altruism, and the common sense of its citizens are the enduring bulwark that will ensure survival of any partisan position allowed in a free country.
Meanwhile: O, Danny-girl, the pipes, the pipes are calling…
It does seem like this version of Dani (the tiny dancer) has struck a nerve. Here’s a song, to hopefully calm the the horses, before we ride! https://youtu.be/FoZKgyM98aM?t=3
It is truly amazing how stupid many of our fellow seniors are. One claims that it’s not fair that Calgarians expect Smith to run in the Calgary riding when she has only been on the job for a few days and hasn’t had a chance for them to get to know her. You can’t be any dumber than this guy. Why does he think it’s any different in Brooks /Medicine Hat? The truth is the majority of Albertans don’t want anything to do with this nut case and that’s why they weren’t supporting her or the rest of the fools in the UCP.
https://i.redd.it/7sk3o8poawt91.jpg
Is this real?
!?: Yes, I believe it is. DJC
Day 4 was Justin Ling’s article about one of her social media places.
https://www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/danielle-smiths-own-private-alberta?sd=pf
https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1581383301121515520
And @cspotweet went there and found more stuff she wrote in this thread:
https://twitter.com/cspotweet/status/1581052151937503232
Related is this article by Smith about the war in Ukraine; 8 months ago:
https://www.todayville.com/canada-is-not-a-serious-country-danielle-smith/
Valerie…well, that was informative….I wish I could say I’m surprised, but it also makes me wonder, from watching the news clips and trying to figure out, “what is wrong with this picture ?”….is someone suffering from long covid??
IMHO, given the symptoms it is a possibility?? But hey, I’m not a Dr so I could be wrong, and then that just brings up more inexplicable behavior…..nowadays its hard to keep up with all the undercurrents…
Sanity Check for all.
Friends let’s no be divided by political theatre and fake outrage acting games by certain Politicans. When you step back and observe this as an independent observer, controversy sells.
Also, “Libertarians”, are at their core, are political opportunists who are seeking office for their financial master down in the US. Follow the money, the largest independent Comapny in the world, fake outrage, twisting and warping facts, anti climate, using the Anti Vax Conspiracy crowd. This is all for a very practical purpose, to allow special interest billionaires who have placed their sweetheart snake oil salesmen as politicians in various Conservative parties in the past pushing corporate policies that line the pockets of their pockets.
It just needs to be called out for what is.
You don’t need to be a genius to follow the connections and the cash, “Libertarians seek”.
The degenerate crowd and rural crowd is their low hung fruit, because they follow like sheeple without critical thinking skills. Libertarians and their masters hate educated urban folks because they hate the sunlight and they hate exposure and it makes obstacles for their plans.
This week in history, the Russian Bears made yet another sortie to Alaska.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-fighter-jets-intercept-two-russian-bombers-near-alaska-1.6114589
Also, Danielle Smith categorically apologized for her comments about Ukraine.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-apology-ukraine-remarks-1.6621165
Omg. What an idiot. Is anyone paying attention here? So sorry for sane bc emigrants to this land of so much hate
Ummm. Maybe you are just a century out of touch….not ahead by a century that so many Canadians aspire to. What is it with the politicians (not the people ) in this province?