Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government is having another tantrum about federal environmental regulatory overreach, mostly imagined, by the former Trudeau Government.
Yesterday’s meltdown came in the form of an announcement about a bill to implement changes to former UCP premier Jason Kenney’s untested but probably unconstitutional Critical Infrastructure Defence Act that are obviously intended to make the legislation unconstitutional for sure.
Among Premier Danielle Smith’s big plans: making it explicitly illegal for federal officials to try to gather environmental data in Alberta without the Alberta Government having to prove to a court the feds are in fact operating outside their jurisdiction.
It doesn’t require a master’s degree in constitutional law to see what’s wrong with this scofflaw approach, whether or not the MAGA wannabes and 51st staters of the UCP are bold enough to actually try to toss a federal inspector in jail for doing her job.
They also want to set up a two-kilometre-deep cordon sanitaire along the U.S. border to protect the helpless Americans from us, I guess. (“Let this be a message to all potential traffickers, especially those who traffic deadly fentanyl, that Alberta’s southern border is secure,” Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis huffed comedically in yesterday’s press release, possibly momentarily forgetting that what little fentanyl crosses the border is generally moving north.)
Now, this may all seem odd since Justin Trudeau, having retired from the fray last Friday, is in no position to interfere in provincial jurisdiction even if he were in a mood to do so.
However, Premier Smith and many of her closest advisors certainly aren’t going to let a little thing like facts stand in the way, especially on the cusp of a visit to Wild Rose Country by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal successor and an Alberta homeboy just like his federal Conservative Opponent Pierre Poilievre.
Therein lies the problem from the UCP perspective. As is now well understood, Mr. Carney is enjoying something of a bump in the polls that’s unnerving Alberta Conservatives, who along with most of the rest of us have assumed for months that a majority federal government led by the dislikeable Mr. Poilievre, was a certainty.
Then along comes this modestly conservative sounding Liberal central banker, exuding a serious Canada’s Dad vibe, and all of a sudden the federal Conservative farm team in Alberta succumbs to daddy issues!
After all, if the Liberals end up with another term in power, and the prime minister is from Alberta – whether or not Mr. Carney announces today that he’ll seek a seat in Alberta, as several commentators have suggested he might – it will blow a major hole in the UCP’s never-ending grievance story about poor, neglected, misunderstood, ignored Alberta.
While the UCP has telegraphed this sovereignist nonsense before – for example, at a news conference last November – the timing of this announcement suggests the UCP brain trust hopes Mr. Carney will say something unreasonable in response when he meets Ms. Smith.
Everything we know about the man suggests this is unlikely, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Indeed, as his very first act, Mr. Carney demonstrated his willingness to take a more conservative tack on the environment than Mr. Trudeau, immediately casting the maligned consumer carbon tax into the trash heap of history.
However, in half-hearted defence of the Alberta Government, it did promise last fall to entrench this nonsense in law, and there is a session of the Alberta Legislature ongoing, so the highly performative and certainly unconstitutional Critical Infrastructure Defence Amendment Act, 2025, would have had to be introduced anyway. It will henceforth be known for a few weeks as Bill 45.
The legislation is enabled by the so-called Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, which has nothing to do with a united Canada and is also likely to be ruled unconstitutional if it is ever used in a way meaningful enough for someone to bother challenging it in court.
The news conference offered an opportunity for Ms. Smith, flanked by Mr. Ellis and Justice Minister Mickey Amery, to gaslight furiously about Ottawa and the Liberals. She complained, falsely, about “a federal liberal government which has tried to crush our economy for the last 10 years” and suggested U.S. President Donald Trump wants the Liberals to win, as he confusingly and possibly confusedly indicated Tuesday, because he wants to keep Canada weak.
Well, there’s nothing like a toadying collaborationist to keep the country strong, she seemed to suggest.
None of this is going to do Mr. Poilievre and his federal Conservatives, who so far have been unable to figure out how to pivot from their longstanding adoration of Mr. Trump and abuse of Mr. Trudeau, a lick of good.
But readers are advised not to get their knickers in a twist about Ms. Smith’s endless sovereignty posturing. To politely borrow a partial sentiment from the Bard of Avon, she’s “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
I suppose it’s not too surprising Smith is back to trying to do what she is best at, the Trumpian tactic of picking fights with others. She’s remarkably consistent in doing that except ironically the only one she’s generally avoided fighting with has been Trump himself.
I suspect it is her go to strategy any time she senses her popularity waning. Fighting against anyone named Trudeau in Alberta usually helps consevatives boost popularity. The only problem is Justin has now left the building and his reasonable sounding successor, actually from Alberta, is unlikely to take the bait.
So I doubt Dani’s latest antics will help her or the CPC much. I’m also not sure if Trump’s gaslighting sort of endorsement of Carney will help the Federal Conservatives much either. By now Canadians have learned to take anything the Orange Menace says with a huge grain of salt if not outright suspicion.
Trump does not have a great interest in politics outside the US, but I suspect it has gradually dawned on even him (or someone in his administration) that his over the top antics have inadvertently helped a party he would prefer not to deal with, and no, its not the CPC.
In any event, it’s hard to maintain political momentum when the best thing you had going for you was getting the public to dislike your opponent, who is now gone. I do feel the CPC and their various provincial and international supporters are headed towards full panic mode right now. No doubt the current polls are only making this even worse for them.
Dave, I have to wonder about Danielle Smith’s motives. I perceive two strong tendencies in her tactics:
1. Smith picks fights, but always with less powerful people who she believes can’t fight back.
2. Smith blatantly sucks up to power. Oil and gas executives in Alberta were the main beneficiaries, until Donald “King of America” Trump re-ascended the throne.
For whatever reason, Justin Trudeau never tried to smack Danielle Smith down. Trump had no such qualms. (Indeed, he has no qualms whatsoever.)
I sincerely hope that Mark Carney wins this election. If Smith expects him to act like Justin the Punching Bag, she’s likely to be very, very disappointed. Fingers crossed….
The Conservatives have been pouring vitriol onto the name of Justin Trudeau from the day he first became Liberal Leader in 2012, and they’ve finally hounded him into leaving office.
But now they’re like the dog that caught the car and doesn’t know what to do with it. They have no strategy or political philosophy beyond hating Trudeau, and are now scrambling to find one that pivots to a newfound Canadian nationalism while not alienating their Maple-MAGA base.
Public opinion researchers have been releasing data that whereas only a minuscule percentage of Liberal and NDP voters support the Orange Menace’s “51st state” garbage, support for this idea amongst Conservative voters may be as high as 30%. These pro- convoy, anti-vaxx, Maple-MAGAnauts are an important cohort of their base and a significant source of fundraising that they worry will decamp to Max Bernier and the PPC, leaving some of their more secure seats at risk.
Marlaina could not care less about Canada. Her heart bleeds for the poor fossil fuel CEOs.
These performative tantrums (perfect phrase DJC) are dishonest, embarrassing and juvenile. They show the rest of Canada that this government cannot be trusted to pull their weight and if it were up to Stormy Danielle, would gladly kneel before the Mango Mussolini.
I thoroughly enjoyed this article which was once again brilliantly written.
I heard a news clip this morning of Danielle Smith railing on and on about how Mark Carney wants to destroy our province because of his environmental leanings, and it left me wondering which Danielle Smith cares about more, Albertans or the O & G industry.
Mr Raynard, if you have to even ask the question, you’ve not been paying attention. She and her Government are fully captured by the fossil fuel industry, and see no other means of generating the energy we need to fuel our lives and lie economy as having any legitimacy whatsoever.
Enough! Smith and the UCP are stupid, stupid as Trump and the Republicans. Another spurious lawsuit, another tantrum, another day. Smith, just get out of sane people’s way and stop humiliating Canadians while playing to your base “base”. Do us all a favour and go back to flipping burgers and realize that you are out of your realm.
Even better, Smith can stay in Florida and get a job at Mar-a-Lago. They must need a dishwasher….
“toadying collaborationist” you’re on a roll today! Marvellous turn of phrase.
Is Danielle Smith a lineal descendant of of Don Quixote?
NO! Don Quixote was a delusional old man, but he at least had SOME dignity.
If only! Possessing some of his characteristics could be a significant improvement. Quixote was a deluded old eccentric. Somewhat idealistic and prone to fantasy and buffoonery but essentially harmless. Smith’s psyche is rather more dark.
More like Vidkun Quisling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling
It has been deemed by the Supreme Court Of Canada, so many years ago that pollution is a federal responsibility. Danielle Smith can’t do anything about that. She is trying to detract from the poor governance of the UCP.
Stormy Danielle persists in dumping her version of trumpfuckery on hapless Albertans. It is high time to relegate her rantings to a much needed trumpsterfire.
Albertans are not hapless. Quite the contrary. They are free to stop electing UCPs with majorities ranging from “overwhelming” all the way down to “commanding” any time they chose. The last 55 years have shown that’s a long wait for a train don’t come.
Stormy Danielle….now that is ace!!!! LOL
Look at those grumpy cats: Mickey (button your jacket when standing), Mikey, Dani (limp handshake meme II or strongarm her enemies, like her hero, Donald)? Build a wall around Alberta and make Canada pay/stay out of Canada, Canadians? Grumpy, very grumpy.
According to 338 Canada, there could be up to five Liberal MP’s from Alberta after the federal election. If you look at the 338 projection map, there could be Liberal MP’s elected in every province and territory – a truly national government. 338 is predicting a shutout for Conservatives in the 4 Maritime provinces. The CPC could end up as a rump party. That’s what’s causing the freakout from Danielle and the UCP. They’re looking towards 2027 and it ain’t pretty. Bet they’re regretting all those Alberta’s Calling ads that brought so many Liberal and NDP voting Canadians to Alberta!
“Alberta’s Calling” again, and this time they want you Laurentian Elitists to stay home!
Yeah, I thought exaclty the same thing when I learned people from Ontario really were moving to Alberta; Calgary in particular. The next elections–municipl this year, provincial in 2027–will be a rude awakening for Danielle Smith and the Utter Chaos Party.
Indeed, to capture the full force of your quote from Act V, sc 5 of Macbeth, ‘It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.’
Macbeth was speaking of life in general, but I agree it applies especially well to the life and pronouncements of the UPC government.
Kleptocracy and kakistocracy, how I long for the days of good old representative democracy.
One has to wonder if Trump gets his wish to annex Canada, will Smith and Moe be Canada’s version of the Vichy collaborators? Coincidentally, France had approximately the same population Canada now has when it was occupied by the Nazis. Surprisingly, only 1 to 3 percent of the French population actively resisted the occupation and it took years to get to that number. As well, it took years for the British to come to the aid of the Resistance. Would Britain aid Canada in the present day? Unlikely, but I am confident that Charles would fire off a strong letter to The Times.
France, like most of Europe and the European colonies and colonial settler states like Canada, was chock-a-block with Fascists in 1940. The British smuggled Franco out of the Canary Islands to kick off the Fascist assault on the democratically elected government of Spain in 1936. The British and Americans both deployed Imperial Japanese units to keep down the dirty Red locals in China and Vietnam after the Japanese surrender in 1945. The freedom-loving British used the Japanese and troops from their Indian satrapy to hold the line in Vietnam until the freedom-loving French good guys could get their act together and get a handle on the ungrateful Vietnamese rapscallions . The French economic and political elite were more than happy to have Nazis rule rather than a socialist French government. The “resistance” in most countries tended to consist of dirty Reds, and both SOE and OSS had to really hold their noses to supply, support and train groups in France, Italy and Yugoslavia (wat dat is?). OSS had to purge their pinkos in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of wickedness in Europe in 1945. And from 1945, fascists of all stripes have been just all right with the US and all vassals such as Canada.
Pierre Poilievre is telling everyone who will listen that he is a “tough guy”. Real tough guys NEVER have to mention they are tough guys. Hearing Poilievre squeal that he is a tough guy is akin to Fredo’s outburst saying, “I’m Smart”.
PP said he is tough to deal with. Can’t argue with that. But what do we get from out ‘lean, mean whinging machine’? “Boots not Suits”. Another three word nothing slogan (from a guy now worth millions on an MPs salary, who used to wear suits until very recently).
Paul: I must say, when I saw that today, I thought: “Boots AND Suits! You can have it ALL!” Same thing can be said about making love and war. DJC
Here’s a hypothetical:
say Carney announced, in Edmonton, that the federal government is going to backstop the construction of 2, and maybe 3, large pipelines in national security interest?
I can just imagine the consternation in the UCP and CPC. They wouldn’t know whether to shit or go blind!
Today’s CBC story with Smith threatening a national unity crisis (in 6 months) is a bit alarming to me. She’s been demanding a federal election, which we are likely to get. Will she be calling an Alberta election on separation? 6 months would get us into municipal elections so there could be a provincial referendum. I’m hoping you and your readers can shed some light. I guess the charm offensive is only for US consumption.
I am obecting to a seperation election… using Tax Payers money not her own. No one is trading anything, anywhere at anytime with Dump Trump – Make America Great Again???
Our oil is off limits to Trump and His Fake Parliament under DOGE… with Elon – who supported Trump with 250,000 million to support Tesla for America??? Not happening!
Not only that… instead attending work in the Oval Office… Hes works from Home in Florida… and golfs in his free time on his golf course. If that isnt a slap in the face to America… I dont know what is?
Referendum?? BRING IT.
In 1995, Quebec voters voted to STAY in Canada…and they fucking HATED the ROC.
Funny McRocker, I’ve been thinking the exact same thing.
I remember the whole Quebec Referendum. Someone needs to tell Dixie Dani how that went, exactly.
Quebec threatened. We wrote love letters telling them how much we’d miss them. They yelled louder. We said, “You can be as French as you want but the French will never let you cask Champagne” and then they voted.
It was overwhelmingly, “NO”.
I say, call Dixie Dani’s bluff. The sooner–the better so we can all get back to liking Alberta, again.
What Dani and her muppet government can’t get? Well that vacant space could fill a wet load C train! Yah! There’d likely be room for unplanned bodily functions! For the UCP then. A song.. of sorts. Eh?
https://youtu.be/4lgYw5DOZx8?t=1 Are you Canadian? Reject Pierre and Dani. Give them free radio time to moan from the high centre field bleechers!
What about the Green Line in Calgary… digging holes for years.. and now they cant afford to finish it? No help from UCP? Good grief.. I am tired of the committees.. the questions… the parliament.. threats or suggestions… with exactly not 1 answer for Albertans? Its costing too much now… with UCP in Power… Move on over… You seats are up for Bid! LOL Honestly… Price of Gas is way too high for Most Albertans… We need a Oil refinery in Winnipeg or Regina so we can process it ourselves, instead of sending it South and paying more for it later… Please!
She’s at it again, the same old nonsense.
Today’s latest, verbatim for readers who may not have read it elsewhere: ‘I provided a specific list of demands the next Prime Minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented unity crisis’, Meaning, submit unconditionally to my demands or I’ll have another hissy fit and ramp up rage farming to goad my chronically malcontent followers into more demands to separate from Canada.
If anyone choses to whine, again, that Canada is ‘broken’ and that a so called yet undefined ‘fair deal’ is being denied then please remember you are free to leave. Go South, please. Feel free strut around wearing G.I. Joe cosplay outfits, maga hats, while brandishing assault rifles and don’t tread on me flags. Maybe do a favor for the majority of us who are proud of our country and proud to be Canadian and stay there. If we’re broken you surely won’t be needing a Canadian passport. Rip it up. Look at the advantages. The likelihood of incarceration will increase by over four hundred percent and becoming seriously unwell can lead to bankruptcy and homelessness are just two. The latter probably even more so now that the president is cutting Medicaid and medical research. What can go wrong?
Well, maybe armed blockading of a border crossing, Sweetgrass for example, and shutting down traffic adjacent to the U.S. capital building in Washington are likely to be dealt with more quickly and severely than happened here in 2022.
How about you Danielle? Recent trips south may have feathered the nest in readiness for a softer landing than others could expect.
“Daddy issues.” LOL!!!
Honestly, I’ve wondered about this for some time. Danielle Smith et al—and even more so, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance and others of their ilk—apparently have a serious problem with authority figures.
Mary Trump, niece of Donald and clinical psychologist (so she oughta know), describes an extremely dysfunctional family in her book, “Too Much and Never Enough.” A 10-second web search turned up this article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53328654
So that goes a ways (a very long ways, I’d say) to explaining why Donald Trump hates anyone who tells him what to do.
I have to wonder if Smith et al had similar experiences. But…all of them? Naaah. I dunno, I’m just askin’.
She is mad that carney wasn’t elected in and wants this election called asap. However she got back in the same way and never called a provincial election. One should lead by example.
Christina— courtesy of AFF&Lisa : Facts Matter
Hey, Conservatives….
First, we don’t vote for a PM, we vote for MPs.
Second, when a PM quits, their party picks a new leader and they stay PM until an election. Harper left, Scheer took over the Conservatives……
Same thing happened with Turner& Campbell, Chretien & Martin….《love…your social studies teachers.》
Josh ” this is democracy?
40 million people in Canada, only 150,000 voted for the PM, that’s only..that’s only..03 percent. How is that possible.
Josh– as per above from social studies teachers .Your first ‘bright ‘ question should be
” how many eligible voters are there in Canada? Note last time I checked I believe it was somewhere around 27(?) m.
Don’t forget, 3 yr olds can’t vote, though it seems in recent years some seem to have been elected into office….imho
As to whom should be registered for Adult classes as new or refresher courses, my first guess would be reporter from WStandard asking >>Prime Minister<>a comprehensive answer<<…..
As for Marlaina's photo, I'm rather surprised that someone hasn't put that into a stocks set.
You can almost hear tomatoes flying.
We’ve been caught smuggling more pounds of eggs into the USA this year than fentanyl.
Just Sayin’
(BTW lovin yer blog and comment section. It’s all so…uh…Canadian)
Yeah, and that made Trump so mad he started calling European countries to sell–or was it donate?–eggs to America.
See Charlie Angus’s substack:
https://charlieangus.substack.com/p/the-price-of-eggs
There’s a meme here somewhere….
Thank you for this post. Cheered me up! Good laughs.
They don’t look serious, they look unhappy. They need to learn to stand up straight when holding press conferences. They look like they’re going to crumple.
The “masters degree” line ………….like that!
Some of us 20 somethings already knew that back in the 1970s. “there is nothing the province can do about this. We’re the federal government”
Look, I’ve got no mass love for Carney. I’m anti-authoritarian to my very bones. So I have a few criteria for who I vote for and one, oddly enough, is “if I have to commit an activist action, who is more likely to send cops to beat the crap outta everybody?” and another is, “if I’m trying to fight for something, who is the most reasonable person to sit down at the table, with…and hammer out an agreement?”
Yeah, not everyone’s criteria, I know but hey, depends what your motivations, are.
Dani seems to have lost that plot, entirely. Both her and Pierre have terminal cases of affluenza where they think that the Big Boys are gonna let them play and line their pockets in some fashion or other instead of kick them to the curb when their useful idiot cards wear out.
That said, listening to Pierre and Dani’s supporters is causing my IQ to drop. The amount of drivel would fill the entire 5 lakes with enough for some massive birdlife-providing swamplands. Neither one of those two has the foggiest notion how a parliamentary system works so it’s no wonder they attract followers who don’t know any better than they, do.
Pierre is an empty suit. Just like Harper and Harris before him. They all wanted to be AmericanLite so badly, they sold us out for it.
America is on the verge of crashing. Best we can do is stop pretending we’ve got control of the lion and start running the other direction towards civilization.
Apropos of Trump’s (alleged) favouring of Poilievre over Carney, I’m surprised no one has seen this for what it is: pure mischief-making, namely poisoning Carney to the public by making you think Carney is the the more easily dealt with by Trump. Americans may buy this nonsense, but hopefully not many Canadians.