Last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith replied snippily to a reporter’s question at a news conference that it was quite proper for her husband to take part in discussions about the province’s passenger rail system.
“My husband’s an adviser to me, and that’s allowed because he’s married to me, so I can ask for his advice on anything I choose,” Ms. Smith responded.
David Moretta, the premier continued, “happens to have 25 years in media, much of it covering issues of rail. And so I asked for his advice as we had a multitude of different projects coming forward to seek guidance on the path forward.”
End of story, Premier Smith seemed to imply. This riposte is quite typical of Ms. Smith, it must be noted – delivered confidently, but not without more than a small serving of defensive self-righteousness.
Yesterday, the CBC reprised the premier’s explanation in a story about how documents obtained in a Freedom of Information request show Mr. Moretta took part in three meetings about passenger rail projects in 2023 – participation that has raised eyebrows among government officials , lobbyists, rail company officers, and academics, the CBC’s Janet French reported.
Last night, though, another former premier’s husband added his thoughts to the debate.
Ms. Smith, said former premier Rachel Notley’s husband Lou Arab in a social media post, “is full of it.”
Now, those of us who have worked with Mr. Arab know that he speaks clearly and says exactly what he thinks. During his wife’s years as premier and Opposition Leader, though, he kept his own counsel. Now, it would appear, he feels he is free speak his mind again, sharply if necessary.
“When Rachel was premier, despite my having two decades of professional experience in labour relations, I was not allowed within 10 light years of setting labour policy,” Mr. Arab said in a Facebook post. (For those in the UCP base, a light year is a measure of distance, not time, roughly equivalent to 9.46 trillion kilometres or 5.88 trillion miles. So quite far.)
“I was not actually allowed to lobby any minister on ANY subject whatsoever,” Mr. Arab continued. “And that wasn’t just good ethics, that was the law. Enforced by the ethics commissioner.”
“Nobody sought out a legal opinion because we didn’t need to,” Mr. Arab said in response to a question after he’d published his post. He noted that Marguerite Trussler, Alberta’s ethics commissioner from 2014 to 2024, “told me point blank that as Rachel’s spouse, I couldn’t lobby any minister, not any government official. I could socialize with them, but I couldn’t lobby or talk about government policy with them.”
“CUPE adjusted my responsibilities in response to this reality so I wouldn’t be put into any conflict,” he added.
Readers will recall the constant claims on social media by UCP bots and trolls suggesting that as a Canadian Union of Public Employees communications official, Mr. Arab somehow had the ability to influence government in his employer’s interests. A classic case of projection by the UCP and its supporters, one now suspects.
Just how deep does core corruption run in the Unendingly Corrupt Party?
Much much deeper than knee deep me thinks……..
Very very deep…right down to the freedumb cult and the sleazy cult leader, David Parker
I’m sorry. Media experience makes him an expert on rail transportation? There’s more to unpack in Smith’s comment than potential conflict of interest. I’ve ridden on trains. Surely I should be consulted, too.
It seems we’ve entered the pretty and smart era of political spouses. Can we take it that any and all confidential files are fair game in the boudoir?
We should all be asking ourselves if this is yet another distraction for something even worse that the sketchy UCP are scheming up. There’s always something. For example, why were media told that they couldn’t bring their own video and audio equipment to record Smith’s so-called “town halls”? Is this democracy? What does David Moretta, media expert, political consultant and political spouse think of this?
Smith and the UCP have reminded us time and again, they decide what constitutes a conflict of interest. I am waiting for Smith to state rhetorically, “how many divisions does the ethics commissioner have?”.
Marlaina takes her cues from the Mango Mussolini who blatantly uses the presidency to enrich himself. She likewise sees her position as a license to get rich quick. It would be naive to think that some of those millions of dollars going to privatizing health care and building forced treatment prisons aren’t ending up in well-placed pockets. Why shouldn’t the same thing happen too with the hundreds of millions that they are looking to spend on their pet rail projects? Corruption from start to finish.
It seems you’re channelling Bob Newhart when explaining to the UCP base the definition of a light year, when Bob famously said “I really don’t like country music, but I don’t want to denigrate those who do. And for those who like country music ‘denigrate’ means ‘put down’.
Gord: I remember being at a public meeting years ago when a public figure from another English-speaking country was asked to explain the dichotomy between two similar groups in his homeland. “The what?” said the speaker. A voice from the back, with a thick Scottish accent, called out: “He means the difference, you stupid bastard!” DJC
My wife’s married to me so I take her to work occasionally when we have safety meetings and business updates…….JFC what a clown show Alberta has become……
A love of choo-choo trains and sleeping with the Premier does not make one a qualified consultant.
“qualified consultant” is an oxymoron. especially in the alberta public policy sphere, where former elected politicians migrate to larger policy consutancy shops, or even hang a shingle, on the belief they possess usable knowledge outside knowing where the best free lunch is.
Are you now talking about Damien Kurek in Battle River Crowfoot? LOL…
According to Snopes*, an “April 1939 newspaper article published in The American Guardian (Oklahoma City), listed ‘Ten Nazi propaganda tricks” as described by “the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union”.
That list’s no. 9 item matches our UCP’s behaviour pretty well:
“9. Accuse your enemy of having committed all your own crimes.”
These kinds of projections are not new and, I suspect, not accidental.
*https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/karl-marx-enemy-quote/
Alberta doesn’t have an Ottawa problem, Alberta has UPC / Danielle Smith problem.
Spread that around.
Danielle Smith needs to go.
There is just too much corruption
Yes we do have a Danielle Smith problem.
We need to solve it quickly.
Well what goes around comes around, I guess. I’d still value Mr Arab’s insight on trains over the spouse of Gov. Smith.
absolutely
Constantly moving the goalposts, i.e., changing the rules of the ‘game’, means that: (a.) you are always right and are never wrong; (b.) you can never be held accountable for any political improprieties, such as influence peddling, regulatory capture, ect.; (c.) a policy of a calculated and deliberate obscurantism as opposed to complete transparency is the accepted norm. The tactic has already been publicly endorsed by the gaslighter as a political necessity, “I want to stay within the rules, but sometimes if the rules haven’t kept up with where we find ourselves today, we may have to adjust them.”
But he owns a dining car restaurant with a signature dish – Build Your Own Benny! That must count for something. What I’m wondering is did Mr. Smith attend any meetings re: rail in other jurisdictions? Quebec? Japan?
No conflicts of interest here, right? Sure, sure! I have a bridge I can sell you. Danielle Smith has a hard time being ethical and honest.
I bet he’s being paid as a consultant, don’t you? What did she pocket as an oil industry lobbyist? Klein made a point of putting defeated MLAs on the government payroll as quickly as possible on his panels, looking after their friends has always been a top priority with these Reformers.
Looking after their pal Pierre Poilievre is a no- brainer and showing no respect for the intelligence of the citizens of Ottawa, for daring to kick him out is just plain stupid, but when have they shown any intelligence?
Alan Spiller: You are correct.
Perhaps Mr. Moretta’s experience with trains includes their rail car restaurant in High River, which I have no idea if they ever sold.
The yokel-grifter-kooks are not just a “base”. They voted in Carpetbagger Jay and then the Harper Valley PTA in successive provincial elections, and gave Skippy 32 of 37 seats federally. My work unit is public sector and unionized. Although too small a sample from which to generalize, the group is nearly all right-wing, with a significant element of evangelicals. The plutocrats regained the control they had in Canada pre-war, and the population is becoming more ignorant and superstitious by the day.
Murphy….Skippy’s so called standing up for union workers is all smoke and mirrors. I got curious as to why he kept showing up at one particular shop during his I’m not campaigning 2yr tour, and really focused on them during the actual election.
‘Merit’ ….
Press Progress– March 26
Anti-union lobby groups are endorsing Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives…..
“On the advocacy page of One Persuasions website ,the firm boasts of working for PP during the Conservative leadership race as well as with Premier Danielle Smith and Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, to ‘connect, mobilize and win…….”
As a former card carrying union member myself, and whose father spent most of his life in a union job, you get those spidey senses going when the suits start yammering about how they support you.
Union breaking is in the Reform playbook.
Just ask any gig worker about their retirement plans, or shall I say lack there of .
I don’t think the real problem here is what Smith’s husband says to her at the end of the day in the privacy of their home. Of course we don’t know what that is. Gaslighting Dani is at it again with misdirection here.
The problem is her husbands public activity and behavior during the day. Obviously he seems to have a strong interest in certain current big government initiatives. However we’re not sure who else’s interests he is connected with here. His spouses? Other peoples?
We are talking about what could be billions of future infrastructure spending here, something even bigger than the UCPs cozy private clinic spending.
So yes, people want real answers not misdirection.
Dave: Fancy trains. Danielle Smith’s husband loves those.
I’ve heard of bring your child to work day and lots of people do and its great. Kids learn about going to work and what the parental unit does. I’ve never heard of bring your spousal unit to work day or anything even close to it. Albertans did not vote for this person nor is he a consultant or employee of the government. Whatever b.s. Smith is shovel, no one is going to believe it. We all know what the law is.
There have been some spousal units who “ruled” along side their spousal units, even if they were not elected, but those countries were a tad off when it came to being democratic entity.
Usually there are things like security clearances as to who attends meetings. I f Alberat has any, then how did this spousal unit get into the meeting. Not being an employee or elected official, etc. what is to stop him from running with the information from this meeting and sharing it with who knows.