United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Danielle Smith’s victory in the election for premier in Canada’s main oil-producing province Alberta on Monday is likely to herald further friction with liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, particularly over climate change.
Smith’s win signals a further rightward shift in the traditionally conservative province, and comes despite a series of controversies and gaffes from Smith, 52, since she first became premier in October last year.
CBC News projected that the UCP wouls hold on to power in Alberta, but Smith would be going back to the legislature with a diminished caucus.
Photo: Reuters
The victory also caps a stunning personal comeback for Smith, who spent more than six years in the political wilderness after failing to secure a nomination to run as a UCP candidate in the 2015 election.
It is expected to lead to more tension between Alberta and the federal Liberal Party of Canada government, which aims to cut climate-warming carbon emissions 40 to 45 percent by 2030. That would require significant emissions reductions in Alberta, Canada’s highest-polluting province and home to country’s oil and gas industry.
In her victory speech, Smith was quick to take aim at Trudeau and what she described as the federal government’s “harmful policies.”
“I invite the prime minister to instead halt the introduction of these harmful policies and come to the table in good faith to work collaboratively with Alberta on an energy and emission strategy that will both grow the Alberta and Canadian economies,” Smith told her supporters in Alberta’s corporate capital, Calgary.
“As premier I cannot under any circumstances allow these contemplated federal policies to be inflicted upon Albertans. I simply can’t. And I won’t,” she added.
The UCP’s controversial proposals to replace the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police with an Alberta force and withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan are other policies that are expected to test ties between the province and the federal government.
In her seven months as premier, Smith has issued a number of apologies, including one for calling unvaccinated people “the most discriminated-against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime,” and comparing vaccinated Albertans to Nazis in Hitler’s Germany. She was also rebuked by Alberta’s ethics commissioner for breaching conflict of interest laws this month.
Her UCP leadership campaign promised she would stand up to the federal government and proposed a controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act, which was watered down before becoming law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
Some business leaders have criticized her effort to bring more autonomy to Alberta, saying it could hurt investment in the province just as the energy industry needs financing to transition to a greener future.
Smith fiercely opposes a number of Liberal climate policies including a net zero electricity grid by 2035. Oil industry participants are broadly supportive of the UCP, but also say they would like to see more collaboration with other levels of government.
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