Alberta’s premier-designate wants ‘greater’ provincial autonomy, but is it her 1st priority?

Alberta’s new premier-designate campaigned on a promise to push for greater autonomy for Alberta — and while she said that’s still a goal, it’s not her first priority.

Late Thursday night, Danielle Smith won the UCP leadership race on the sixth ballot, a narrow race that resulted in her becoming Alberta’s premier-designate.

While her headline-hogging promises included a proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act and her critiques of COVID-19 mandates, these weren’t necessarily her only priority, Smith told The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson.

“I know that there was a lot of attention paid to a couple of the policies that I ran on. But I talked about all of these things in every campaign stop that we made as well,” Smith said.

“So, I think it’s really maybe just more a matter of emphasis. In this first month, we’re going to have to start tackling Alberta health reform.”

Smith had campaigned on a promise that, should she win the UCP leadership, she would introduce a bill in the Alberta legislature this fall that would give Alberta the power to ignore federal laws and court rulings deemed not in the province’s interest.

The bill was swiftly slammed by a number of prominent voices — including those within the UCP. Former premier and UCP leader Jason Kenney called Smith’s backing of the Alberta Sovereignty Act “nuts.”

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Kenney decried the idea as “a proposal for Alberta to basically ignore and violate the Constitution in a way unprecedented in Canadian history.”

“We would become a laughing stock, with the lieutenant-governor doing her job, which is to ensure that the rule of law and the constitution is respected,” Kenney said, appearing on his provincewide radio show on CHED and CHQR in August.

Should Smith keep her promise to introduce the bill before the end of fall, she’d have to do so within the next two months. But she told Stephenson it’s not her first legislative priority.

“Just from a timing point of view, I won’t be in the legislature until later in the year, so the first priority is going to be addressing the crisis that we have in health care,” Smith said.

“I hope that we can make some really quick changes to help getting more local decision-making, more local control, more support, more support for our front line. That would be our first priority.”

She added that once she’s in the legislature, her intention would also be to “change the Human Rights (Act), as well as to also bring in the Sovereignty Act.”

When it comes to changing the Human Rights Act, Smith has promised to “make sure that we’re not discriminating against people on medical choice and not having lockdowns again.” The policy is tied to her critical and sometimes inaccurate position on COVID-19 vaccines.

And while Smith now appears to have placed health-care reform ahead of her sovereignty promises for Alberta, that doesn’t mean she’s dropping her position on enhancing Albertan independence.

Speaking to Stephenson, Smith promised she won’t toe the federal line with respect to any future COVID-19 restrictions that come from the federal government.

“We are not going to be enforcing federal lockdown measures or federal restrictions,” she said.

Smith said the federal government infringes on provincial jurisdiction “all the time” and that she’ll ensure Albertans “push back against their invasion.” She pointed to Alberta’s ongoing battle with the federal government over its gun buyback program as evidence of this ongoing struggle.

“Provinces are now beginning to realize that we are not a subordinate level of government to Ottawa,” Smith said.

“Ottawa should be treating us with the same respect that they treat Quebec. That’s all we’re asking for.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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