Don Martin: Why Danielle Smith is my political newsmaker of the year
Her mouth runs habitually rogue, her policies are often renegade and her connection to Ottawa is all resistance all the time.
For those reasons and a few more, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is my newsmaker politician of the year.
This is not to say Smith’s basking in a glowing political honeymoon following her United Conservative Party election win in May, which had appeared set for an easy win by former NDP premier Rachel Notley a year earlier.
Her action plan since has wonky elements and not all of it is swooning the electorate, which fits with the political theory that the first half of a four-year mandate is for trial and error while the last half is for damage control.
Her advocacy for Alberta to leave the Canada Pension Plan, taking half of its assets with it, freaked out Ottawa and her fellow premiers and could be doomed by negative public opinion at home.
She has ripped up the province’s health care organization chart and fired the system’s top bureaucrats, a plan to stabilize acute care which could decide her future re-electibility.
UCP Leader Danielle Smith makes her victory speech in Calgary on Monday May 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
And then there’s Smith’s specialty – declaring multiple-front war on Ottawa with particular wrath reserved for federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, whom she accuses of “treachery.”
To fight federal clean electricity regulations, which aim to make the sector net-zero by 2035, she has unleashed the Alberta Sovereignty Act.
It would order provincial and municipal authorities not to follow the federal regulations. But those regulations haven’t been finalized yet and probably won’t be forthcoming if the Trudeau government loses the 2025 federal election.
In almost every sense, notwithstanding that the Act itself is likely unconstitutional, the move is mostly symbolic.
But it’s the comeback that makes her seven months as elected premier such a spectacle.
After spending much of the pre-election period apologizing for her controversial history of hot-headed words and actions, Smith has set out to bridge the divide between severely normal Albertans and the rebel alliance of anti-COVID mandate types who fly under the Take Back Alberta banner.
It’s no easy task. She owes her UCP leadership to the rebels and her mandate to the masses.
To walk that tightrope, Smith has mostly gagged her earlier foot-in-mouth tendencies, given up on the silly stuff like creating a provincial police force and protecting the unvaccinated under human rights legislation. And she made plenty of hay from a Supreme Court ruling that the feds overstepped their jurisdiction in environmental legislation.
Her strange mix of pragmatism and shock politics fits with the long, strange trip that’s marked her career. It started with her days as a controversial school trustee without kids to outspoken Calgary Herald columnist to no-holds-barred radio talk show host and into the political mainstream as pro-choice leader of the PC breakaway Wildrose Party.
Then came her disastrous defection to join the Progressive Conservatives in 2014, a botched effort to reunite the right which ended with the PCs rejecting her as a candidate for the next election.
At that point, Danielle Smith was finished, a toxic personality without a political future.
But fate had different ideas as Jason Kenney’s UCP leadership imploded in 2022 and Take Back Alberta members crowned Smith as his (hard) right replacement.
Now with four years to make or break her reputation in a province with a sizzling-hot economy, Smith’s showing intense zeal for remaking Alberta into her own image, be that good or bad, and making sure she’s imposible to ignore.
After all, it took considerable gall for her to attend Dubai’s COP28 global climate change conference this month to defend oil and gas production, a move akin to hauling a truckload of chainsaws into a national park’s old-growth forest.
Through it all, this rebel-minded premier has achieved middle-of-the-pack popularity in a recent Angus Reid poll on voter approval of Canada’s leaders.
If getting Ottawa’s attention was her mission, consider it accomplished. And fighting the feds is always a winning strategy in Alberta.
Danielle Smith’s no repeat of Ralph Klein’s famous 1993 Miracle on the Prairie victory, but her resurrection 30 years later is impressive enough to make her the year’s most interesting political personality.
That’s the bottom line.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57.
Kidnapped by her father and kept in a crawl space: Court documents reveal Montreal horror story
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
Noticed a new payment? Some Canadians get first carbon rebate
Many Canadians found a message from the Canada Revenue Agency this week as they received their first direct deposit for the Canada Carbon Rebate.
There's a new workers' rights treaty in Canada, but will it actually protect you?
Although a global workers' treaty has been in force in Canada since January, an employment lawyer believes it won't do anything more to protect employees from violence and harassment.
The Saskatchewan RCMP says it's safe to use your points at the McDonald's drive-thru
The Saskatchewan RCMP wants you to know it’s not targeting drive-thrus to ticket people for using their fast food reward apps.
Protecting your car from the growing risk of keyless vehicle thefts
Auto technology has evolved and many newer cars use wireless key fobs and push-button starters instead of traditional metal keys. But that technology also makes things easier for thieves.
Slovak authorities charge 'lone wolf' with assassination attempt on the prime minister
The Slovak interior minister said Thursday that a 'lone wolf' has been charged in the shooting that seriously wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico.
B.C. man shot sex worker in the back during drug-fuelled birthday, court hears
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
Shifting winds mean smokier skies in some parts of Canada, snow in other areas
Air quality warnings are still in place for some areas of Western Canada, according to the latest forecasts.
Local Spotlight
B.C. musician's song catches attention of Canucks
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
'We're on standby': Team ready to help entangled right whale in Gulf of St. Lawrence
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Thieves caught on camera stealing pet chicken from North Vancouver backyard
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Adopted daughter in the Netherlands reunited with sister in Montreal and mother in Colombia, 40 years later
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
'Reimagining Mother's Day': Toronto woman creates Motherless Day event after losing mom
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
Chris Hadfield inspires youth musical in Sudbury
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
Wilfrid Laurier football player drafted despite only playing 27 games in his entire life
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.