Bell: Danielle Smith fires back, insists she’s no separatist

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Your scribbler asks.

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Are you a separatist?

The candidate laughs.

“I respect Brian but he knows there’s no one in this race advocating for breaking up the country. I think he’s just fearmongering.

“I truly am an Alberta Firster. I’m a strong and proud Canadian but I’m also a strong and proud Albertan. Canada is letting us down and it’s up to us to fix our relationship with them.”

The candidate is Danielle Smith. Brian is Brian Jean. Both are running to be UCP leader and replace Jason Kenney as premier.

Jean thinks Smith is for some kind of separatism. Smith says if she becomes premier the Alberta government will not enforce federal laws it believes step on provincial rights or the interests of Albertans.

Smith is clearly not content with the status quo.

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“We’ve got to do something. We’ve written angry letters. We’ve tried to negotiate. We tried to speak nicely. We tried to say maybe we should open up the Constitution. We’ve tried court challenges,” says Smith.

“And it’s got us precisely nowhere. We intend to act and create a new relationship with the rest of the country.”

She does not believe Ottawa is going to treat Alberta fairly unless the province starts throwing around its weight.

“We need a backbone of steel. We need to finally push back and defend Alberta and we can’t blink,” she says.

“I think us hoping they’re going to treat us better, it’s pretty obvious that’s not going to happen. Everybody knows the best way to push back on a bully is to punch him in the nose, to give him a little bit of what he’s given you.”

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Smith says the time is long past where Ottawa can just lock down Alberta’s resources and trample rights and expect Albertans to sit back and take it.

She adds what we’re seeing now, with the Liberal government’s catalogue of stupidity topped off with the inflation crisis, is “Ottawa-created chaos and it’s tearing us down with them.”

“We’re going to create a safe haven for people so they can get away from the Ottawa-created chaos.”

The former Wildrose leader says when she talks to people they want to know if she’s strong enough. They never ask if she thinks she’s maybe being too strong.

One question in this UCP leadership race is obviously who can beat the NDP in next year’s provincial election where everyone, and not just UCP members, will get a vote.

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Smith believes there is a very strong sentiment for the Alberta government to stand up to Ottawa.

She kicked off her campaign saying she will go toe-to-toe with the feds. She thinks she can win the UCP leadership and the 2023 general election leading off with that issue.

There is an obvious question when the current premier was highly touted, won a landslide in the last election and proved to be not as advertised.

So the question.

Danielle, how do people know you won’t break their hearts? In case any of you readers haven’t been paying attention, politicians break hearts a hell of a lot.

“I know I’ve broken some hearts too,” she says, knowing the 2014 defection of Wildrose MLAs to the PCs, including herself as party leader, is still a sore point for some.

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“My heart’s been broken by politicians who act as if they’re finally going to follow through and then they never do. I’ve had my heart broken, which is why I’ve decided to take matters into my hands.”

Smith says she learned a lot about what Albertans want from six years on the radio.

What has she learned from her ups and downs?

“Never, never, never lose touch with what real people believe and think and are feeling,” says the leadership candidate.

“That was my big mistake last time. I allowed myself to be surrounded by advisers and people who were out of touch.”

Sounds like someone else we all know.

“I won’t let that happen again.”

Smith figures the problem with Ottawa politicians is they’re always thinking about winning votes in Quebec and the Greater Toronto Area.

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She adds it would be nice if the Ottawa press gallery was as fair to Alberta as to Quebec “but it’s not necessary.”

Smith ends the chinwag by pledging not to “trash my fellow conservatives” in this leadership campaign.

She also mentions the prime minister and the Alberta NDP leader.

“We’ve got to stay focused on making sure Trudeau is in our sights and Rachel Notley is in our sights. These are our opponents.”

I decided to throw in a quick extra question. Who are present political leaders she admires?

She mentions Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem, two U.S. governors, both who faced heat over the COVID response in their states.

“The two of them withstood a lot of pressure over the last two years but they didn’t bend.”

rbell@postmedia.com