The last person to lecture Premier Danielle Smith on the merits of Canadian democracy should be Prime Minister Mark Carney.<\/p>\n
But when did hypocrisy ever bother a Liberal prime minister? So, when Carney starts admonishing Smith about running roughshod over Albertans\u2019 democratic rights, it\u2019s hardly surprising he didn\u2019t even blush.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s his take on the 2023 provincial election in which Smith\u2019s UCP rode to a majority government. Carney points out that the question about Alberta leaving Canada didn\u2019t arise in that campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this the democratic will of Albertans? Did they vote for this in the last provincial election?\u201d he asked this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, they didn\u2019t. It wasn\u2019t on the ballot, wasn\u2019t in the mandates or the platforms of any of the governing party and the official Opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not forget this is the same fellow who became prime minister without a federal election. The Liberal party figured out Justin Trudeau had become a liability, so Carney was parachuted in to replace him as leader of the country.<\/p>\n
Sure, a few months later, after he\u2019d had time to unveil his Captain Canada persona by pretending to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney did allow us to vote.<\/p>\n
But unlike Smith, he didn\u2019t nab a majority. Instead, it required a series of backroom deals with weak-kneed Tories who subsequently jumped ship and allowed the Grits to get the required number of MPs.<\/p>\n
Oh, well, Carney\u2019s only passing through. As soon as his prime minister gig is finished, he\u2019ll likely be off to Europe to grab a top job with the EU or IMF. He certainly won\u2019t retire to Edmonton, despite a professed love for the city where he grew up.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Smith\u2019s future is much more uncertain. She\u2019s fighting for her political life, as the separation whirlwind rages around her.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s annoyed virtually everyone, it seems \u2014 separatists, federalists, the Opposition, Indigenous leaders, constitutional lawyers, other premiers, Calgary\u2019s mayor and the chamber of commerce.<\/p>\n
Maybe that\u2019s why Carney\u2019s now piling on, sensing Smith is on the ropes and there are political points to be won across the rest of Canada.<\/p>\n
It was always going to happen. Smith has tried walking the tightrope of using the threat of separatism as leverage over a federal government that spent more than a decade insulting this province.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
It was a risky strategy because, sooner or later, she had to declare where she stood, as the word salad of seeking a sovereign Alberta in a united Canada only bought a limited amount of time.<\/p>\n
So, finally, she\u2019s declared for Canada in no uncertain terms. Given the makeup of her party, such enthusiastic nationalism spells trouble ahead.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, other Albertans are still convinced Smith is a separatist at heart. And, of course, the courts are preventing a quick release from this quagmire.<\/p>\n
We face a referendum on holding a referendum, and even that might get shot down by Ottawa.<\/p>\n
But all those folk attacking the premier should ponder this. Were it not for Smith, would we be close to getting a new oil pipeline to the West Coast? And would that emissions cap have been lifted and those onerous electricity regulations axed?<\/p>\n
Most of all, would Alberta\u2019s agenda be so dominant across the Canadian political landscape?<\/p>\n
Smith may not last as premier to see the promised land of a strong Alberta as part of the Canadian Confederation. But she has done her best to bring it about.<\/p>\n
One day, she\u2019ll be lauded for this. But that day is a long way off.<\/p>\n
Chris Nelson is a weekly columnist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last person to lecture Premier Danielle Smith on the merits of Canadian democracy should be Prime Minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[8872,261,3178,127,1753,111,141],"class_list":["post-64618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-albertans","tag-brent-calver","tag-danielle-smith","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-liberal-party","tag-mark-carney","tag-prime-minister"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}