Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.
Alberta’s next general election is still up to seven months away, but the arrival of Danielle Smith as United Conservative Party Leader and now Premier has marked something of an unofficial, early start to the campaign.
Ms. Smith won the UCP leadership this month to take over from Jason Kenney, who was forced out by his own party in large part because of anger over COVID-19 public-health measures, such as business shutdowns and vaccine mandates.
Ms. Smith’s leadership bid tapped into that rage and she has carried that with her into the premier’s office, promising to protect the unvaccinated, who she believes have suffered the worst government discrimination in her lifetime, and vowing to never again impose any kind of public-health measures in response to the pandemic. She has also expressed her own skepticism about vaccines and has been accused before taking office of spreading misinformation about COVID-19, including by pushing unproven and debunked treatments.
But while she has previously said she has no plans to pivot or temper her views once in power, those issues were conspicuously absent during her first major speech as party leader this past weekend to the UCP’s annual general meeting on the Enoch Cree Nation west of Edmonton. Ms. Smith did not mention vaccines or the pandemic once when she spoke to UCP members, and instead used her speech to address issues that undoubtedly have a broader appeal: affordability, health care and the economy.
While her previous complaints about health care are also wrapped up in the pandemic – she has repeatedly, and without evidence, blamed the health authority’s vaccine mandates for current staffing shortages – the problems also go much deeper. Surgery wait times were long, and growing, before the pandemic and Albertans have had challenges finding family doctors or accessing basic care for some time. Ms. Smith reiterated her plans to quickly review the provincial health authority, Alberta Health Services, and bolster front-line staff by cutting management.
She promised “decisive action” coming soon on affordability. She said the government will cut electricity prices, consider removing the provincial gasoline tax, and lower taxes, though she did not offer specifics on any of those points.
The broad strokes of Ms. Smith’s speech were eerily similar to those of her main rival, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, whose party was having its own convention three hours south in Calgary.
Ms. Notley made the same promise to cut the gasoline tax. She said the NDP’s main priority would be to repair the health system, particularly primary care. Ms. Notley also promised to focus on the economy, bringing in former Alberta Treasury Branches chief economist Todd Hirsch as an adviser.
Ms. Notley said her focus for the next seven months will be to pitch Albertans on her party’s plans, rather than attacking the UCP and Ms. Smith. She didn’t mention Ms. Smith by name in her weekend speech, unlike the Premier, who mentioned the NDP Leader five times.
The conventions were held after Ms. Smith’s announcement, on Friday, of her new cabinet, which despite her constant criticism of Mr. Kenney included many of his key ministers. Ms. Smith’s cabinet is the largest in recent memory, which she later defended as necessary to diversify the province’s economy.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.