Listen carefully to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s post-referendum message to the members of her United Conservative Party and you will understand that she is not sternly drawing a line in the sand for the party’s many separatists so much as instituting a gentle policy of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.”
Secessionists are still welcome in the bosom of the UCP – indeed, the premier desperately wants to keep them there – they need only to agree to keep their lips zipped about their separatism for the time being, especially if they hold party office or run as candidates.
“Now that the referendum is behind us, I hope you know that I do not hold any ill will toward any of our members because of how they voted or which side they campaigned on,” Ms. Smith told the membership in the pre-recorded message posted yesterday on social media. “What matters now is that as a party we accept the results of the referendum and support and implement the clear mandate given to us by Albertans to pursue a strong Alberta within a united Canada.”
Of course, the real message of the vote in the referendum on a referendum foisted on the province by Ms. Smith and her separatist-dominated party is that the overwhelming majority of Albertans want no part at all of separatism, secession, or sovereignty within a united Canada. They are proud Canadians and they intend to stay that way. Period. Full stop.
“A strong Alberta within a united Canada is the position of our party and our government,” Ms. Smith continued, keeping the candle of sovereignty-association flickering brightly enough for the separatist faithful to see and faintly enough for the rest of us to ignore.
“Although members of our party can have whatever views they wish, candidates running under our party banner need to be committed to, and support and abide by, this position from the day they take out their nomination papers, throughout their candidacy, and for the duration of their time serving as MLAs in our caucus,” she said.
“We expect every member of our provincial board and members of the constituency association board across the province to uphold the position of our party on this issue and focus their attention and efforts on one singular objective over the next 12 months,” she went on. (Emphasis added.) “And that objective is beating the NDP in every single riding in the province.”
Premier Smith then sketched out a dystopian fantasy of woke “socialist NDP” rule, pure comedy gold in which children would change their genders without their parents’ knowledge, the carbon tax would return, and Albertans would be forced to receive vaccinations while Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi’s “boss in Ottawa, Avi Lewis, will be granted a significant amount of control over Alberta’s future.”
So begins Ms. Smith’s version of the Reconstruction Era of the UCP, the party whose unity is in tatters and whose popularity with Albertans, like the premier’s own, is sinking in the wake of a referendum nobody but hard-core separatists wanted.
There’s no way this can be interpreted as laying down the law or reading the Riot Act to the party’s separatists, as many media stories yesterday tried to suggest. It is a temporary pause in secession talk while Ms. Smith tries to manoeuvre the party’s powerful separatist faction not to give her the bum’s rush as they did to her predecessor Jason Kenney.
That was the premier’s real message yesterday, not her performative challenge to “those few who … remain intent on dividing and turning our party into a vehicle for the independence movement. I would respectfully invite them to join a different party.”
Ms. Smith repeated some of the same points to reporters yesterday during a news conference about the referendum results. “I’m asking people to do some self-reflection, and if they are able to accept the results of the mandate that Alberta gave us through a free and democratic process, then we can have a reset. And those who cannot, they have opportunities through other political parties.”
Of course, she is counting on the fact the separatist crowd really don’t have any such opportunities. Only those intent on political suicide would join the Republican Party of Alberta, tarnished as it is with its connection to the leak of the personal information of 2.9 million Alberta voters last spring. What else is there? Wexit?
And while Ms. Smith’s personal reputation has certainly suffered as a result of the referendum debacle, she believes she can talk her way out of any blunder and, in truth, she often can. This will be a test of that talent.
As referendum vote count slowly proceeds, the UCP ‘mandate’ keeps slipping
Meanwhile last night, the noxious nine sub-referenda included to scapegoat immigrants for policy failures by the UCP and give the premier an excuse to engage in endless constitutional fights with Ottawa that have no chance of success – fomenting future regional discontent – were not doing well as the count by Elections Alberta slowly continued.
With 97 per cent of the ballots counted at 10 p.m., Albertans appeared to have voted “No” to all four of the UCP’s constitutional referenda, Ms. Smith’s earlier comments about her mandate notwithstanding.
Surely this suggests Albertans have had enough of the UCP’s constant unproductive bickering with Ottawa.
We’ll see how tough Smith’s talk is if many of those who advocated for separatism actually leave the UCP. My suspicion also is they will mostly lie low and be quiet for a while, but will not change their views or go.
Of course the danger for Smith is if she tries to force separatists to leave the UCP, they could force her out instead as they have enough members in the UCP. They may even try do this regardless. So the only strategy for Smith now is to talk tough, but carry no real stick.
Will this tough talk fool or appease the pro Canadian conservatives still in the UCP, who like the rest of us, have put up with this nonsense too long? I don’t know, but something like the Progresive Tories may seem more sensible now and at least they probably have a better chance of getting support from Alberta voters than the Republican party does.
We’ll see how far Smith’s acting talent, which has served her well so far, takes her in this situation. However, I’m not sure at this point whether either the separatist or pro Canadian factions in her party believes her anymore. The public at large also seems skeptical now, so I feel if her party members start to feel she is losing this support they will not hesitate to dump her too.
Danielle Smith can only lie so much. That will not bode well for her or for the UCP. One of the publicly known separatists in the UCP, Jason Stephan announced his resignation, and isn’t running again. He had the guts to say that he supported separation, but he knows his brand is not palatable. Of course there are other separatists in the UCP, and they aren’t helping Danielle Smith and the UCP. The media can no longer prop up the UCP, and lie about the NDP. It will not help. They will have to accept that the UCP are a lousy government, led by a lousy premier.
Unfortunately, as they’ve done before, I fear the UCP will claim a mandate regardless of the vote results. Can’t you just hear Ms Smith saying something about “a significant number of voters said…”
Talk about a Tyranny of the Minority.
What a pleasant surprise to see the vote count continuing, instead of stopping arbitrarily at 10:41 p.m. last night. The final four are still “No” or “Nyet”, to those who are watching from around the world.
The only way to stop this separatist garbage once and for all is to vote out Danielle Smith and the UCP in the next election. Apparently that will get harder today for the citizens of Alberta when we feel the Rath of Smith today with the release of the electrical boundaries transmogrification report. Who let the dogs out?
Electoral boundaries, that is, although it is certain to be shocking.
I rather enjoyed the main stream media framing this as reading the riot act to her separatist friends. I suspect many other Albertans are as sick and tired as I am her circus parlor tricks to weasel her way out of debacle after debacle. All one needs to look at is how long the wait times are at hospitals, refusal to build any new ones in Edmonton for at least 46 years, privatizing healthcare, the treatment of teachers, and those on AISH, the sad state of the highways – with millions of potholes, and the list goes on. The UCP has failed drastically in governing and have not got the message. Maybe the next election will help give their head a shake?
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
As DJC points out, Danielle Smith’s “concession” speech is very carefully worded so as not to offend the separatists while pretending to accept the results of Question 10. I think it reiterates her strategy before the last election. Don’t tell the public her actual intentions. Instead, mislead voters to think she will follow their wishes and, once elected, continue to follow the path of separation. At the same time, fan the flames of blaming Ottawa for all actual and invented grievances, regardless of who caused the real problems and which government could have created the imagined problems. Immigrants of non-preferred backgrounds are the cause of the province’s financial problems, anyway.
At the same time, ignore world situations that have an impact on Alberta and Canada and claim that our federal government has a vendetta against Alberta.
Diverting attention from finding actual solutions by continuing unjustified attacks on the federal government and creating further grievances will reinforce the illusion that sovereignty and then separation are inevitable and will improve things.
My question is whether this strategy will continue to be successful. I think that it likely will be, and it will chip away at the belief that remaining in Canada is the best solution. It is saddening that charlatans have the upper hand in Alberta and they are able to do so much damage to the province and the country.
Dear Ku Klux Klan Members:
Please do not wear your sheets while campaigning for the UCP. If you must wear them when you win office, please keep them to wear in your offices on days without public appointments.
Signed,
Dixie Dani
Thanks, David. This is a slant on Smith’s ‘no separatists allowed’ speech that I hadn’t considered.
Expat: It would be unfair to say that media is always lazy, although they sometimes are. But they are constrained for time. Been there done that, you search for the lead, find it and tend to reinforce when you write your first hit take. The lead was unquestionably do as I say, or find your own party. The subtext is important too. DJC
None of her protestations about the UCP being a federalist party will have any meaning or credibility until and unless she kicks Mitch Sylvestre out of his position as the President of the UCP Constituency Association in Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St Paul.
As for the Republican Party, they are not the only separatist party registered with Elections Alberta. There is the Wildrose Independence Party, and the Alberta Independence Party — both of whom remind me of this scene from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” …. https://youtu.be/bQsbgoJU_Vk?si=-xjFn4nJRZSZYgCS
https://www.elections.ab.ca/political-participants/parties/
Didn’t socialism at one time have something to do with who owned the means of production? Mandela effect, perhaps.
There was also a time when commentators made observations on the article at hand. Try to keep up, Murph.
They started the news conference with a question from Rebel Media about left wing interference in the referendum. Smith said that CSIS had not informed her of any interference and that the ‘Soros’ backed interference was not information that she had before the question was asked. She said that if anyone has information about interference to contact the proper authorities.
She effectively shutdown any possible questions about MAGA interference by the suggestion that the far left were the ones interfering. She did good by her MAGA bosses by dismissing their interference and pretending that she is against outside interests messing with our elections.
I’m not saying that there was collusion between Rebel Media and the government to release anti left propaganda, but it sure seems like a convenient way to establish a narrative that prevented Smith from having to answer uncomfortable questions about interference from Trump and his minions.
Our scribe has studied US history as well as the Bible. Yesterday it was the “house divided” quote (Lincoln and a few 1st century apostles) and today it’s the “Reconstruction Era.” My concern is the “Lost Cause” that ensued and still lingers.
Well, I watched the video where she bluntly said toe her line or find a different party. Whether or not she can (or will) enforce her “directive” will play out by the end of November.
Smith can’t replicate Notley’s “kudatah” response, the Greeks are already within the walls; she will need enough party executive to support her “proscribing” the clown party seppies.
There are only three predictions I feel confident making. First is the clown party is on the brink of a schism. Which way the fallout blows is a crap shoot. Second is that she won’t punt mla’s from caucus – she only has a 3 seat majority (47 of 87). Third is that the clown party is living in “interesting times” – in the Chinese proverb sense. Karma makes for great schuedenfreude.
One consideration for Danielle Smith and her UCP brain trust is that the separatists are now organized – thanks to her independence referendum and their constant campaigning over the past year. They know each other. They’ve been to rallies together. They’ve stood on the side of the highway in minus temperatures collecting signatures on their petition. They have contact lists and – allegedly – voters lists. This is not a small group of malcontents. This is an ideological community. What will be determined over the next month leading up to the AGM is whether they feel more a part of the UCP or more a part of the separatist movement. Do they want power through political victory or is the idea of an independent Alberta their driving ambition? To quote Frank Herbert – “all governments suffer a recurring problem: power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.”
Just like Ralph Klein’s “ Shoot Shovel and Shut Up” that he told beef producers to do with the BSE crisis while he helped the Packing Plants screw the beef producers out of $450 million by creating a massive flooding of the markets with cattle pushing the prices to record lows.
We still can’t believe how stupid they were when they fell for his lies and they are still letting these Reformers do it to them.
Who else would be dumb enough to allow the oil industry to dump their abandoned oil wells on their land rendering their land virtually worthless and ignore the taxes owing to their farm communities, yet still sport them in the next elections, and the polls prove they still are, that’s how stupid they are, why?
When a group of 5 beef producers I talked in a country bar said they agreed with me that Klein had screwed them. One said. “ We can’t believe how stupid some of our friends and relatives are. They don’t care what Klein does to us they still support him. We’ve got fence posts that are smarter than them.” Well nothing changed after all these years now Smith is treating them like morons and they don’t care. Her two-tired healthcare system will likely cost some of them their lives, but I doubt they will care.
I told that story to retired Goalie Glen Hall knowing that he was a beef producer near Stony Plain and he told me that he had been lucky he had sold all his cattle a while before the BSE Crisis happened and never lost a dime. I was glad to hear that.
The separatists are planning a surprise for her in November they claim they have 7,000 already signed up to kick her out like they did with Kenney. I bet they will, don’t you?
Alan: I am of two minds about the likelihood of that. I wouldn’t be shocked if they caved and went along with her. DJC
David you maybe right. It likely all depends on what she promises them and she will likely try.
Just the other day Devin Dreeshin refused to say which side he supported. I would say he should be booted out for cowardice, as well as probably being a separatist. I think any UCP MLA who refused to state support for federalism should be booted out, and every member of cabinet who did not actively campaign for Canada should be out of cabinet at least.
I don’t think Albertans are ready to forget and forgive this mess of Smith’s making.
I listened to “Real Talk” this morning and the guest was Peter Guthrie. His comment was he knows of about 10 to 12 UCP MLA’s and ministers that are clearly separatists. It will be interesting to see if Smith follows through and kicks them out or if she will ignore that and keep her lies going?
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
I just re-read my comment. I hope that it was clear in my comment that I am attributing the negative attitude towards immigrants to Danielle Smith. I totally disagree with Danielle Smith’s attempts to scapegoat immigrants.
Christina: It was clear to me. DJC
If one looks at the results on the immigration questions from rural Alberta I think it is pretty clear that, while Smith has stirred the pot, rural Albertans needed little encouragement to pile on to immigrants. Odd, since without immigrants, rural Albertans would probably not have functioning hospitals or anyone to staff our seniors’ facilities, never mind staff/own the local restaurants and liquor stores. At my polling station votes were 4/5 to one in favor on the immigration questions.
The notion of applying the don’t ask, don’t tell has left the gate months ago. If certain comments are to be believed, Queen Danielle courted the Seppie vote while she was seeking the leadership of the UCP. And her constant dog whistling over many months let the dogs out whipped up the seppies in the UCP. But now she wants them all to be quiet or go find another party. The problem is that Smith has thrown so much red meat to the seppie crowd, there is no way she can claim them down. And with the AGM one month away, I’m not sure how she’s going to close that Pandora’s Box of lunacy. If anything, it should be wild times on the way to the AGM, as demands for Smith’s head grows. And with rumours of UCP MLAs who have had enough are beating a path to the reinvented PCs. Why wouldn’t they, now that the referendum vote has loosed the dogs of war?
Mo popcorn.
Just curious, why does the premier look so different in her pre-recorded messages than in real life? Is it magic lighting that completely changes the colour of her hair and skin? Has AI given her extra fingers again?
Whatever, Danielle.
Smith’s goal is to remain elected. She will do/say/twist anything to make sure that happens. Case in point: where was this definitive pro-Canadian stance prior to the results of the referendum? Her reaction is very much based on whatever the result would have been. She knows now she cannot get elected as a separatist or separatist sympathizer. Had the result been reversed, her stance would be reversed also. She is unbelievable; as in not to be believed. As for what happens to her in November, I don’t know. She is a gambler and plays offence and can slither her way out of tight spots. But you can already see how she is spinning the message for the next provincial election. I imagine Albertans will fall for it again.
Harper also attempted a Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell strategy to keep far-right anti-abortionists (they would have had a longer description today) from vocally blunting the repeated CPC minority’s odds of winning a majority. Just put a sock in it until we get a majority and then I’ll take care of your issues, he told his religious-right backbenchers. But when he did win a majority in 2011, he announced that his government would not entertain the abortion issue, infuriating his backbenchers so much that one of them left the party to sit as an Independent. Did I mention that Harper’s first majority, 2011-15, was also the CPC’s last?
It’s eleven years since, so could this be the beginning of yet another two-decade drought for conservatism, depending on the tenacity with which it hangs onto demagogic tropes of MAGA’s heydays back when tRump was ascendant?
The one thing not said is that Albertans have the shortest memories of any group of people on the planet. The next election is a long ways off, the UCP knows this. The sweet nectar of the public teat is too much to resist. If only they put-up-and-shut up they have a pretty good chance of being reelected by the same rubes that have kept them in power since Stairway To Heaven was in the Top 10