I see there’s more polling that indicates Alberta is still unsatisfied with the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) and the province’s new premier, Danielle Smith. .We shouldn’t be surprised a new poll from Abacus Data, conducted from Dec. 6 to 10, has 38% of voters supporting the Alberta NDP with just 32% backing the UCP. Fully 25% of those questioned were undecided. As for personalities, the survey said 52% wanted NDP leader Rachel Notley to be premier and 48% said Smith should stay in the job. .I had an increasing disrespect for polling over the last decade, largely because the numbers are so often dead wrong. Do you honestly believe Albertans are enthusiastic about Notley after she basically asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to crush the Alberta Sovereignty Act? .Do Albertans want a premier who works for Alberta or for Ottawa? .Do they want a leader who fights for them or for Trudeau? .Despite attempts by the NDP to pretend Notley did not ask Trudeau to revoke the Sovereignty Act, she said that very thing when asked how Trudeau should respond to the legislation. “I think if they revoke the act, that would be the right thing to do,” she said when asked what Trudeau and the federal government should do. .No, she was not referring to the Alberta government — obviously. That would make absolutely no sense. Why would they revoke the act after just passing it? The NDP always assumes we're a languorous electorate, but nobody is that dense. .If you’re old enough to remember Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, you will probably recall Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed. Yeah, there are lot of buildings named after him, but the legacy he left the province was one that refused to knuckle under to federal bullying. The elder Trudeau was trying to ram through the National Energy Program at the time which would, among other things, have pegged Alberta oil at a “made in Canada” price. That meant the province could not sell its oil to Canada at the world price. Trudeau, good socialist that he always was, wanted to create an artificial price that could never have sustained either the exploration or production of new petroleum supplies. .Lougheed said no, demanded that provincial rights — in the pre-Constitutional British-North America Act — be respected in law. They waged a private battle of negotiations and a public war of words and symbols that even reached the Grey Cup when both prime minister and premier attended the same game, but rooting for different teams. .The National Energy Program was an invasive and predatory federal policy that had to be revoked. Lougheed stuck to his guns and called Trudeau’s bluff. .Notley is such a bad politician and is playing such a poor hand that she wants the federal government to intervene and usurp provincial rights. As Notley has said, the Alberta Sovereignty Act is about saving Canada, not breaking it up. If Notley lays prostrate before Trudeau, she will be effectively brewing separatism in the province. .Is there another strategy at work here? Of course. These polls, and the usual attendant commentary is designed to make Smith appear “dangerous” and Notley “safe.” The mainstream media pundits are working overtime to convince you that Smith and the Alberta Sovereignty Act are destabilizing influences and what this province needs is more of the status quo as Notley continues to put Alberta on the green energy suicide march while turning Canada’s freest economy into another tax and spend enclave. You will hear calls — perhaps even from the ranks of the UCP — that Smith needs to be less conservative, less provincial-centric, more accommodating to Ottawa and Trudeau; that she is too extreme, too conservative, too rigid. She must dismiss this idle chatter and stand tall in knowledge that she is right..Yes, there’s still a hangover from the years of Premier Jason Kenney. He was a blistering disappointment for many, who thought he would protect essential liberties during the pandemic instead of becoming just another oppressive provincial overlord. .But the province is waking up to a new kind of UCP and new kind of premier who has the guts to fight for her province and not the approval of the World Economic Forum or the Trudeau government.She’s capable, competent and committed to making Alberta strong again while Notley is focused on pandering to the feds and spending your money.
I see there’s more polling that indicates Alberta is still unsatisfied with the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) and the province’s new premier, Danielle Smith. .We shouldn’t be surprised a new poll from Abacus Data, conducted from Dec. 6 to 10, has 38% of voters supporting the Alberta NDP with just 32% backing the UCP. Fully 25% of those questioned were undecided. As for personalities, the survey said 52% wanted NDP leader Rachel Notley to be premier and 48% said Smith should stay in the job. .I had an increasing disrespect for polling over the last decade, largely because the numbers are so often dead wrong. Do you honestly believe Albertans are enthusiastic about Notley after she basically asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to crush the Alberta Sovereignty Act? .Do Albertans want a premier who works for Alberta or for Ottawa? .Do they want a leader who fights for them or for Trudeau? .Despite attempts by the NDP to pretend Notley did not ask Trudeau to revoke the Sovereignty Act, she said that very thing when asked how Trudeau should respond to the legislation. “I think if they revoke the act, that would be the right thing to do,” she said when asked what Trudeau and the federal government should do. .No, she was not referring to the Alberta government — obviously. That would make absolutely no sense. Why would they revoke the act after just passing it? The NDP always assumes we're a languorous electorate, but nobody is that dense. .If you’re old enough to remember Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, you will probably recall Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed. Yeah, there are lot of buildings named after him, but the legacy he left the province was one that refused to knuckle under to federal bullying. The elder Trudeau was trying to ram through the National Energy Program at the time which would, among other things, have pegged Alberta oil at a “made in Canada” price. That meant the province could not sell its oil to Canada at the world price. Trudeau, good socialist that he always was, wanted to create an artificial price that could never have sustained either the exploration or production of new petroleum supplies. .Lougheed said no, demanded that provincial rights — in the pre-Constitutional British-North America Act — be respected in law. They waged a private battle of negotiations and a public war of words and symbols that even reached the Grey Cup when both prime minister and premier attended the same game, but rooting for different teams. .The National Energy Program was an invasive and predatory federal policy that had to be revoked. Lougheed stuck to his guns and called Trudeau’s bluff. .Notley is such a bad politician and is playing such a poor hand that she wants the federal government to intervene and usurp provincial rights. As Notley has said, the Alberta Sovereignty Act is about saving Canada, not breaking it up. If Notley lays prostrate before Trudeau, she will be effectively brewing separatism in the province. .Is there another strategy at work here? Of course. These polls, and the usual attendant commentary is designed to make Smith appear “dangerous” and Notley “safe.” The mainstream media pundits are working overtime to convince you that Smith and the Alberta Sovereignty Act are destabilizing influences and what this province needs is more of the status quo as Notley continues to put Alberta on the green energy suicide march while turning Canada’s freest economy into another tax and spend enclave. You will hear calls — perhaps even from the ranks of the UCP — that Smith needs to be less conservative, less provincial-centric, more accommodating to Ottawa and Trudeau; that she is too extreme, too conservative, too rigid. She must dismiss this idle chatter and stand tall in knowledge that she is right..Yes, there’s still a hangover from the years of Premier Jason Kenney. He was a blistering disappointment for many, who thought he would protect essential liberties during the pandemic instead of becoming just another oppressive provincial overlord. .But the province is waking up to a new kind of UCP and new kind of premier who has the guts to fight for her province and not the approval of the World Economic Forum or the Trudeau government.She’s capable, competent and committed to making Alberta strong again while Notley is focused on pandering to the feds and spending your money.
