What happens to the controversial ‘Alberta Recovery Model’ now that its architect and chief advocate is said to be out?

What will happen to the “Alberta Recovery Model” now that the chief advocate of the province’s much-criticized abstinence-only approach to addiction treatment in Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government is leaving his job? 

That’s the question policy wonks are sure to be asking today in the wake of the report that Marshall Smith, 53, the premier’s controversial chief of staff, is out – or will be soon, anyway. 

The story was broken yesterday evening by the Western Standard, an online publication founded by former Wildrose Party and UCP MLA Derek Fildebrandt, a controversial figure in his own right. Despite the seemingly well-funded website’s reputation for sensationalism and right-wing spin, it is in tune with the Smith Government’s policies and can be assumed to have had the connections to get the story’s key fact right. 

As for the publication’s suggestion Mr. Smith is retiring after a long career in politics, in the absence of a more trusted source of information, political observers will naturally wonder if there isn’t more to the story. 

In his role as chief of staff, Mr. Smith was at the heart of an uproar last summer about cabinet ministers and political staff accepting tickets to luxury skyboxes at NHL playoff games that became the subject of a series of stories in The Globe and Mail. 

Under Alberta’s political ethics legislation, which was watered down last year by the UCP, Mr. Smith as the premier’s chief of staff was the official responsible for determining what kind of gifts political staffers could accept. 

A story in The Tyee last year, based on a recent FOIP request, cited an internal B.C. Government report from 2011 that was sharply critical of Mr. Smith’s past role as the executive director of a therapeutic community in British Columbia.

There is no question that Mr. Smith has played a key role in the development of Alberta’s addiction treatment policy, though. In a story last spring, the Globe dubbed him the province’s “Drug Czar.” His rise to influence came with a backstory that was irresistible to journalists, in which he was once an addict himself, living on the streets of Vancouver. 

“Alberta calls its new approach the Alberta Model and Mr. Smith is its chief architect,” the Globe’s feature writer wrote admiringly. “He says there is nothing quite like it anywhere.”

That may or may not be the case, but it is unusual – probably because there are many addiction experts, if not quite a consensus, who say there is no evidence it will work.

Nevertheless, the province has plunged into the approach advocated by Mr. Smith – who was said to be widely admired by young staffers working for the UCP, so much so he was sometimes referred to as the government’s guru or spiritual leader. 

Arguably, spending millions to split mental health, addiction treatment and corrections health from Alberta Health Services and creating the 10,000-plus-employee Recovery Alberta agency was inspired by Mr. Smith’s ideas. 

Recent announcements by the UCP Government of the creation of the Lakeview Recovery Community west of Edmonton and of the Recovery Training Institute of Alberta included the names of several of Mr. Smith’s former B.C. business associates in the private-sector companies engaged by the government to run the facility. 

The Western Standard report had little to say about Mr. Smith’s future plans. There has been speculation he might be in line to fill a Drug Czar role in a future Pierre Poilievre-led government in Ottawa, federal Conservatives appearing to be fully in accord with the UCP’s abhorrence of harm reduction.

According to the Western Standard story, Mr. Smith will be replaced by former Wildrose House Leader Rob Anderson, now executive director of the Premier’s Office, as Premier Smith’s chief of staff. 

Mr. Anderson is one of the three authors of the separatist Free Alberta Strategy. If he is indeed now to become chief of staff, this suggests that with Recovery Alberta a fait accompli, the government’s emphasis may shift to other unpopular policy ideas promoted by the FAS, such as grabbing Canada Pension Plan funds, forming an Alberta provincial police force, and undermining federal gun legislation. 

The publication also quoted Mr. Smith saying that Patrick Malkin, owner of a Red Deer restaurant that got in hot water during the pandemic for failing to require patrons to show proof of vaccination, will become the deputy chief of staff responsible for managing the premier’s staff.