10.18.2022 06:59 PM

And from her pro-Putin defenders? Silence.

24 Comments

  1. Warren,

    Were I a betting man, this would be a doozy: who gets the chop first? Smith or Truss?

  2. But then again, is it now fair to say that rural AB now pulls the UCP’s strings and if so, wouldn’t that go straight out the window if Smith got the heave-ho?

  3. PJH says:

    The Ladies are for turning…..First UK Conservative Liz Truss, and now UCP’s Danielle Smith. Hopefully both given “the heave” soon……as backbenchers and ordinary members of both parties alike have buyer’s remorse…..

  4. Sean says:

    Alberta deserves a full apology for Smith even contemplating her candidacy in the first place.

    Unfortunately Alberta will be stuck with this floundering clown pretending to be a Premier for another year… unless and until the caucus realizes and uses its’ legal power to do the right thing and remove her.

  5. ted says:

    Eat a shit sandwich. Good way to start the new job.

    • Sean says:

      Good way to end a new job… Scaramucci lasted only 10 days… Will Smith even make it that far?

    • Ted,

      But what does one drink with that, to ask the question in the Queen’s English? LOL.

      • Scot says:

        Jeez Ronald, I thought it wasn’t right to give women the boot. Was was that word hypoc….

        • Scot,

          You’ve got it all wrong. Those of us who are men can never truly be feminists as much as so many of us would like to be. So, we’re for equal opportunity, equal pay, equal positioning, equal mentorship, etc. But this issue is about competence, not female competence or male competence but competence tout court. Truss showed herself to be incompetent just like Johnson and so she went. May on the other hand was competent but a huge liar. So that’s why she went. Now as for Smith, I happen to think that even gross errors in judgment are sometimes forgiveable so we’ll see how she goes going forward. I’m not ready to totally write her off just yet. But ultimately, the voters will make that decision at the polls.

  6. When you read the letter of apology, it comes off, at least to me, as genuine and categorical. I hope I’ve got that right. One hell of a teaching moment for Smith.

    But for her to survive, this letter has to be the start of outreach and contrition, not the end of same. Otherwise, it’s almost assuredly Ms. Notley in spades on election night. I’m CPC and I like Notley, just for the record.

    • Arron Banks says:

      I don’t know. If this was the first case of Danielle showing a lack of good judgement then sure; she deserves the benefit of the doubt. But (if I recall correctly) she’s of Ukrainian descent herself (and, therefore, she should personally be better informed as to the dynamic) and Alberta has a huge Ukrainian diaspora (which would hurt her/the party immensely). I’ve said (apart from politics) her political comeback is inspirational. But I think (like others are saying here of Truss) given her already multiple faux pas after just over a week in office (and years away from politics to have known better) it’s probably time for her to go.

  7. WestGuy says:

    Gotta disagree. This will be gone in a week or two, long before the provincial elections. There will be no caucus revolt. It’s all about jobs and the economy and if she’s able to refocus on those they’ll do well.

    • Gord says:

      This exactly. The UCP’s stranglehold on rural Alberta, overrepresented in the legislature as it is, gives them a tremendous head start in any election.

      People have short memories and short attention spans. I have no faith that voters in Calgary will actually turn on the UCP in sufficient numbers to put the NDP over the top, especially if the economy keeps doing well and there’s a good-news budget in the spring.

      I’m still predicting a small UCP majority in May. I hope I’m wrong, but I have zero faith in most of my fellow Albertans.

      • Doug says:

        What would the NDP do for Calgary? I get that Edmonton’s economy relies heavily on government spending, but Calgary is as close as a major Canadian city gets to being predominantly a commercial center. Assuming that an NDP government would spend more on operations, mainly health and education, expand regulatory reach, acquiesce to public sector union demands, what would it have to offer Calgary?

        The election is the UCP’s to loose, which seems to be the present course. Notley may be more likeable, but that doesn’t mean that here party would be better for the province.

        Calgary does have somewhat of an inferiority complex based on its perceived standing. Many Calgarians view their home as being on the cusp of major city status and its domestic reputation for being “redneck” as an impediment. Politicians like Nenshi and Notley offer a convenient break from that reputation (i.e. if Calgarians vote for progressive politicians, maybe the rest of the country will change their perceptions). I would counter:
        -the perceptions of other Canadians are wrong, but more importantly, irrelevant
        -political strategists need to invent enemies. Alberta will always be the target as Canadians are largely ignorant of one another, is large enough to be labeled a threat, but small enough to not alter electoral math
        -Calgary succeeds by attracting talent and business from elsewhere and rewarding success. It has consistently lead the country in economic and population growth for much of the last 50 years

  8. Doug says:

    Smith is off to a horrible start, which bodes poorly for Alberta as an NDP government with tens of billions in resource revenue is a recipe for disaster. The five year oil slump was just starting to work its way towards reducing AB’s overfunding of health, education and most other government services. The numbers do not lie. AB vastly outspends BC and ON, with few tangibly better outcomes. The NDP will regress by handing out hiring reqs and higher salary grids to its base. An effective government would fight hard to manage spending increases to less than inflation, aggressively pay down debt and pursue economic development through streamlined regulation.

  9. Warren,

    Big news comes in twos: Truss is gone.

    And Poilièvre is ahead of HimselfTM in the Nanos beauty contest for preferred Prime Minister.

    Quite naturally, the Liberals with stick with you know who. After all, he remains a perfect representation of the rest of them. Every time I think of him, Joly immediately comes to mind. Interesting.

    • Oh and I see that Dyer got really, really, lucky. I’m kind of surprised.

    • Scot says:

      You know Ronald, it’s hard to take your criticism of the Liberals seriously when you belong to the Conservative (fascist) party of Canada. Glass house, stones etc.

      • Scot,

        Not even a nice try. Sounds like something this Prime Minister would say. You know, shoot for the target and hit the barn instead. If you really think that the CPC is fascist, then you need to take Poly Sci 101 all over again.

        A very small minority in the party is far right. They will be kept in check or booted as appropriate. We have your guy on the ropes so we’re not about to blow it now by coddling anti-democrats or Trumpists. Not a chance.

        • Scot says:

          Not on the ropes. To bad for you that inflation comes under control long before 2025.

          • Scot,

            That’s certainly the CW, I’ll give you that. Remember when the central banks said there would be no inflation? And when they said it will be transitory?

            You see, none of them have the actual balls to take rates past 15 percent to start cooling inflation as Volcker did when he went to almost 18 percent. In short, it’s sticky, rising and stubborn. So, we can kiss off disinflation or deflation for quite a few years at least.

            P.S. Powell won’t pivot this time. Inflation is far too high and pivoting is against his personal monetarist convictions. Powell wants a good review in the history books and pivoting while inflation is still galloping ahead will lead to the exact opposite.

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