{"id":412211,"date":"2025-11-29T05:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412211\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T05:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:39:11","slug":"smith-booed-by-delegates-at-ucp-convention-after-signing-energy-deal-with-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412211\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith booed by delegates at UCP convention after signing energy deal with Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith described the energy deal with Ottawa as a ‘clear win’ to her home crowd of UCP supporters.JASON FRANSON\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> told delegates at her party\u2019s convention Friday that she hoped the energy accord she signed with Ottawa made them more confident that Canada is working properly.<\/p>\n

A chorus of boos greeted the comment about the deal, which Ms. Smith signed alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> with fanfare on Thursday. It\u2019s being touted by both leaders as a reset of the relationship between the governments and the start of Canada\u2019s transformation into an energy superpower, with Alberta at the forefront. <\/p>\n

It was Ms. Smith\u2019s first day selling the new agreement with Ottawa after threatening a \u201cnational unity crisis\u201d earlier in the year if Mr. Carney did not meet her demands to repeal or adjust nine federal laws she said were inhibiting the energy sector<\/a>. Many of those laws \u2013 including a potential exemption from the West Coast tanker ban \u2013 were tweaked or nixed for Alberta in the agreement.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney with Ms. Smith after signing the energy accord in Calgary on Thursday.Todd Korol\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The announcement has rankled B.C. Premier David Eby, who said he was left out of negotiations on a deal that could result in a proposed pipeline to his province\u2019s north coast. Coastal First Nations have objected to any potential pipeline<\/a> crossing Northern B.C.<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith described the deal as a \u201cclear win\u201d to her home crowd of UCP supporters, but it was seldom mentioned in her first appearance at the party\u2019s annual general meeting in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

It was first mentioned 35 minutes into her sit-down session taking questions from the audience, when one member expressed concerns about the industrial carbon price that\u2019s included in the agreement. Ms. Smith defended the plan.<\/p>\n

Robyn Urback: If nothing else, Danielle Smith is a disruptor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI talked about the nine bad laws, and we got seven out of the nine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The UCP convention has become a flagship event for party faithful: More than 4,000 people purchased tickets ahead of the meeting that will see half the party\u2019s provincial board elected, including the president\u2019s seat. Friday\u2019s event began with a sermon that included a moment of silence for U.S. political commentator Charlie Kirk<\/a>, who was assassinated in September.<\/p>\n

Party membership will vote this weekend on a raft of non-binding policy proposals such as reintroducing coal-fired electricity and ending public funding for third-trimester abortions.<\/p>\n

The debate around Alberta independence is not to be formally discussed.<\/a> However, prominent separatist supporter Jeff Rath received a standing ovation from the packed crowd when he asked how many of them support independence. <\/p>\n

Ms. Smith, who countered by saying she supports a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, was roundly booed by delegates still standing from the ovation. <\/p>\n

Analysis: Welcome to Canada\u2019s energy-first future<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI know there are a lot of reasons why people are skeptical, but I can tell you none of that would have been possible under the Trudeau Liberals. We still have lots of fights that we\u2019re going to be able to have with Ottawa,\u201d said Ms. Smith.<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith\u2019s Q&A session with her party president otherwise focused on the outcome of her Alberta Next panel series, which was announced in June to take residents\u2019 feedback on how the province can change its relationship with Ottawa. <\/p>\n

The 10-stop cross-province tour drew parallels with the Fair Deal panel struck in 2019 by former premier Jason Kenney. Both intended to find ways Alberta<\/a> could take ownership over its affairs from Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so much the West wants in, as the West wants Ottawa out of its hair,\u201d Ms. Smith had said when she first announced the panel. <\/p>\n

Among other suggestions on the table were implementing a provincial police force, exiting the Canada Pension Plan for an Alberta-run plan, and withdrawing from the joint tax collection agreement with the Canada Revenue Agency in favour of filing income taxes with the province.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Ottawa risks billions in investments for a pipeline to nowhere<\/a><\/p>\n

On Friday, Ms. Smith said the panel saw agreement among Albertans on taking more control over immigration, suggesting her government could take action on its policy for newcomers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a very strong consensus about going down the Quebec pathway and taking more control over our own immigration system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though she didn\u2019t say how her government may act on that sentiment, the panel had floated options during the summer tour, including withholding provincial social programs to non-citizens and non-permanent residents who don\u2019t have an \u201cAlberta-approved\u201d immigration status.<\/p>\n

Other policy options, such as moving forward with an Alberta Pension Plan, were warmly received in town halls but received mixed results in the online survey, Ms. Smith said. Her government led a consultation process on the idea two years ago but has not revisited it since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very hard to see whether or not there\u2019s a clear journey one way or the other on that,\u201d she told the crowd on Friday of the pension plan proposal.<\/p>\n

The panel has been criticized for tilting the deck in favour of the province\u2019s preferred options by asking leading questions. One question, for example, asked: \u201cDo you agree that the current federal transfer and equalization system is unfair to Alberta?\u201d <\/p>\n

Straw polls for the government\u2019s proposals received unanimous endorsement at almost every event, despite occasional pushback at the mic from individual attendees. Results from the online survey have not been published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith described the energy deal with Ottawa as a ‘clear…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":412212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-412211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}