# Some Eyes on Danielle Smith



## Edward Campbell (2 May 2011)

A few years ago I started a thread called All Eyes on Ignatieff.
Now, here is a leader who appeals to me!







She does so because of the speech she gave in Montreal – as reported upon in this article, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the _Globe and Mail_:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/wildrose-plea-to-quebec-get-off-your-dependence/article2006012/ 


> Wildrose plea to Quebec: Get off your dependence
> 
> NEIL REYNOLDS
> From Monday's Globe and Mail
> ...



It isn't just the “better our British _liberty_ than American _equality_” that appeals to me – although it does. Her speech (the full text of which is here) harked back to this where I said:



> It is fair to note that the international 'top dog' is always _fair game_ for criticism and, often, 'action' by lesser powers. In the mid 19th century America enjoyed _”twisting the (British) lion's tail”_ whenever and wherever it could, including giving (limited) support to the Fenians who tried to invade Canada. It must not be surprising, therefore to find that, 150 years later, America suffers the same fate.
> 
> But, I believe that the reflexive anti-Americanism that we see around the world today is more than just political penis envy. I think it is a struggle between Anglo-American _liberalism_ and the *illiberal* (not conservative) tendencies of e.g. France, Germany, Italy and Spain. (The world's truly conservative societies such as China, Japan and Singapore have different, deeper policy differences with America but, oddly enough, they are less anti-American than are most Europeans, Latin Americans and people in the _Islamic Crescent_ which stretches from North Africa through the Middle East and West Asia all the way to Indonesia.)
> 
> ...




I do not want another _prairie populist_ movement à la either _Dief the Chief_ or _Parson Manning_, but I do like what *Danielle Smith* had to say and I hope we hear more and more of this sort of good common sense on the _national_ stage.


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## Rifleman62 (3 May 2011)

I read this earlier today. Excellent speech. Telling Quebec how it is.

How does she appeal to you???


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## GAP (3 May 2011)

Rifleman62 said:
			
		

> I read this earlier today. Excellent speech. Telling Quebec how it is.
> 
> How does she appeal to you???



Harper's replacement....


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## wannabe SF member (3 May 2011)

Rifleman62 said:
			
		

> I read this earlier today. Excellent speech. Telling Quebec how it is.
> 
> How does she appeal to you???



She's appealing to me all right.  >


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## Dennis Ruhl (3 May 2011)

She is scheduled to give the conservatives in Alberta the boot in a couple years.  Ed Stelmach the hayseed farmer picked a fight with big oil by raising oil royalties to ridiculous levels which the government had to reverse.  Danielle Smith has all the oil money she needs and Stelmach has none.

She is absolutely elequent in speaking and thinks on her feet in interviews and is easy on the eye.  The only problem is after 10 years of Harper, the Albertan, as Prime Minister would the country tolerate Danielle Smith, the Albertan, in the same job?


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## Infanteer (3 May 2011)

Makes traditionally boring Alberta politics interesting.  I do like the speech.


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## Dissident (3 May 2011)

I am very impressed. She warrants more of my attention.


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## Edward Campbell (3 May 2011)

Rifleman62 said:
			
		

> I read this earlier today. Excellent speech. Telling Quebec how it is.
> 
> How does she appeal to you???




As I said: _"She does so because of the speech she gave in Montreal ..."_ We need some fresh faces and some equally fresh, clear and resonant ideas in our _national_ politics.


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## Northalbertan (3 May 2011)

She has absolutely got my vote in the next provincial election.   I like the Wild Rose policies, and she is a great public speaker.  

I don't think she will manage to boot the conservatives out of government here but she is going to take some seats away, especially in southern Alberta.  The next Alberta provincial election will be an interesting one.


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## ModlrMike (3 May 2011)

GAP said:
			
		

> Harper's replacement....



I don't think so for two primary reasons:

1. She's from Alberta, and the east will likely not vote for second Albertan at the helm just yet; and
2. Her policies might be a little too far to the right to be palatable to the new Ontario faction in the Conservative party.

However, if Mr Harper can adequately christen the ground for her, then perhaps.


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## Edward Campbell (3 May 2011)

ModlrMike said:
			
		

> I don't think so for two primary reasons:
> 
> 1. She's from Alberta, and the east will likely not vote for second Albertan at the helm just yet; and
> 2. Her policies might be a little too far to the right to be palatable to the new Ontario faction in the Conservative party.
> ...




I'm inclined to agree. The next Conservative leader may, likely will, come from Ontario. Ms. Smith wants to be Premier of Alberta.

Provincial premiers have a pretty poor record of becoming _national_ prime ministers. If my memory serves only Sir John A Macdonald and Sir Charles Tupper ever managed the feat and i 'm not sure Macdonald really counts since he was premier of Canada, the colony, before Confederation. But, she _might_ want to take history on after the guy (or gal) after Harper.


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## Edward Campbell (26 Nov 2014)

Ms Smith abandoned the Alberta PCs (in 2009) to join _Wildrose_ and make it a fiscally conservative alternative, but, now, according to this story, which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _Globe and Mail_, _Wildrose_ is abandoning her:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/deep-fissures-threaten-to-rip-alberta-wildrose-apart/article21784826/


> Deep fissures threaten to rip Alberta Wildrose apart
> 
> GARY MASON
> The Globe and Mail
> ...




The problems that beset the Alberta PCs (Ed Stelmach and, primarily, Alison Redford) are gone ... Jim Prentice looks to have the party on the _right_ track: socially moderate and fiscally responsible. 

Maybe the time is now right for Danielle Smith to abandon the _Wildrose Alliance_ and return to the PCs.


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## Edward Campbell (15 Dec 2014)

Fascinating story, if true: "Wildrose Party may join Progressive Conservatives, ex-member says."

Perhaps Danielle Smith is, now, satisfied that she has helped _cleanse_ the Alberta PCs and _conservatives_ of her ilk should come back to ensure continued _progressive conservative_ government - it, "progressive conservative," is not, _I think_, an oxymoron in Smith's mind.


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## Edward Campbell (19 Dec 2014)

So, she did it: shitcanned _Wildrose_ (for all intents and purposes) and reunited the Alberta PC Party. She will be, in my estimation, the equivalent to Peter MacKay in the CPC ~ not entirely welcome with much of the base but too powerful to ignore.

Plus, going all the way back to the first post in this thread: I think Ms Smith has a lot to offer Alberta and Canada.

_Edited to add:_ Jim Prentice and Danielle Smith speak out in this Canadian Press video which is linked from the _Globe and Mail_.


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## GAP (19 Dec 2014)

I think the election of  Jim Prentice as leader is the big factor here....the Alberta PC's were becoming mauldin and corrupt with poor leadership....


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## Brasidas (19 Dec 2014)

GAP said:
			
		

> ...becoming mauldin and corrupt with poor leadership....



Becoming?


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## Kat Stevens (19 Dec 2014)

We could dig up and prop in a seat the corpse of Ralph Klein and it would do a better job than the clown who followed him.


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## Edward Campbell (19 Dec 2014)

Kat Stevens said:
			
		

> We could dig up and prop in a seat the corpse of Ralph Klein and it would do a better job than the clown who followed him.




Agreed, and, as an interested outsider, _it appeared to me_ that Ms Smith's goal was to "cleanse the temple," so to speak. She chose to do that by energizing the _conservative_ base; when that didn't work out the way she intended ~ part of the base was too _socially conservative_ by a long shot ~ she decided, this month, that she had done enough from outside and that she could best continue her quest from within the Alberta PC Party. My guess is that she is right. Jim Prentice is, _I think_, a progressive conservative  ... and in the interior of BC, the prairies and much of suburban and rural Ontario one can say those two words, together, without provoking laughter. _I suspect_ Mr Prentice and Ms Smith have a lot in common. This is a political "win-win" for both of them.


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## ModlrMike (19 Dec 2014)

The wisdom of this move will be tested at the ballot box.


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## Cloud Cover (19 Dec 2014)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Jim Prentice is, _I think_, a progressive conservative  ... and in the interior of BC, the prairies and much of suburban and rural Ontario one can say those two words, together, without provoking laughter.



But Prentice is Premier of Alberta and not running for federal leader. You are right though, he would be quite acceptable to rural southern and mid western Ontario, including, I suspect, most of London area.


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## Edward Campbell (20 Dec 2014)

ModlrMike said:
			
		

> The wisdom of this move will be tested at the ballot box.




You're quite right, and I'm too far removed to have any useful sense of Alberta politics, but ...

_It seems to me_ that Alberta has a very long tradition of _conservatism_ both fiscal and social, the latter especially in some rural areas. But it also seems to me that the big cities and larger towns are socially moderate, even progressive, and want, above all, sound fiscal management. That's why, even under Stelmach and Redford, the PCs maintained a decent share of the vote. There is a "hard right," a "religious right," too and it did not cross the floor. Premier Prentice's caucus is, probably, a tad more fiscally conservative than it was last week, but I doubt Ms Smith and her colleagues are going to shift the _social_ status of the caucus in any direction at all.

It is the size of the "hard right' vote that remains to be seen. 400,000+ voted for _Wildrose_ in the last election. Recent polling suggests the PCs have 35%, _Wildrose_ less than 30% and the Liberals and NDP about 15% each. In the last election it was 44%/34%/10%/10% and the seats divided 61/17/5/4. It seems to me that _Wildrose_ is badly positioned to get anything like, say, 25% of the vote and, if they're lucky, they and the Liberals and the NDP will split 15 to 25 seats between them, leaving Premier Prentice with an easy majority of 60 to 75 seats (out of 87) because, since Redford resigned and Prentice took over the PCs have gone steadily, albeit slowly, up in the polls while _Wildrose_ has fallen rapidly from around 50% in March/April 2014 to <30% now.

My  :2c:  from the outside looking in.


Edit: typo


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## Infanteer (20 Dec 2014)

Alberta is a good exemplar for a caretaker government.  Gas is cheap, taxes are low and everyone has a job.  As long as the government doesn't do anything obscene like try to build penthouse suites, voters are liable to not think too much on election day and keep the caretaker in its seat.


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## Infanteer (1 Apr 2015)

This thread can probably be retitled "No Eyes on Danielle Smith"

Seems the electorate will only take so much slippery moves.  She's done in Alberta politics.

http://www.macleans.ca/politics/the-last-of-danielle/

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/touch/story.html?id=10930428


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## GAP (1 Apr 2015)

she will run federally


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## Infanteer (1 Apr 2015)

She better find a riding outside of Alberta....


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## TCBF (1 Apr 2015)

Infanteer said:
			
		

> She better find a riding outside of Alberta....



- I suggest Argentina.


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## Alberta Bound (2 Apr 2015)

Possibly her father in law can help with career options. 

For the curious, look up Dennis Surrendi and his book on his life experiences including being a Canadian drafted into the U.S. Army.


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## a_majoor (2 Apr 2015)

Kind of sad actually. As an individual she seems to have many of the qualities we claim to want in a politician, and when things fell apart in the Wildrose she made the "least worst choice", but that did not pay off.

I suspect she may be of value in politics as one of the "powers behind the throne", and will have a career in a think tank or maybe academia.


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## Blackadder1916 (2 Apr 2015)

Thucydides said:
			
		

> I suspect she may be of value in politics as one of the "powers behind the throne", and will have a career in a think tank or maybe academia.



To be one of the "powers behind the throne", one would assume that such an individual would have some power - financial resources, political connections, a constituency that would follow their lead, favours that are owed them, knowledge of where the bodies are buried - Ms. Smith may have had "access" to some of those while leader of the Wildrose, but she left most of that behind when she crossed the floor.  Her political capital now is barely pocket change.  To the hardcore of the Wildrose (the social conservatives) she is a traitor, not that she, as primarily a fiscal conservative, was their darling before.  While the governing Progressive Conservatives may have accepted her and her fellow travellers when they crossed, they didn't need them, thus no favours were forthcoming as seen in not getting the PC nomination.  Will she have to resort to flipping burgers to earn a living, definitely not.  However, I would find it unlikely that she will accept any role that would provide an opportunity for others to point her out as the poster girl of possibly the dumbest political mistake in Alberta recent history.


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## TCBF (3 Apr 2015)

- Just another housewife now.


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