Danielle Smith Becomes Alberta’s Premier-Designate After UCP Members Elect Her as Party Leader

Danielle Smith celebrates after being chosen as the new leader of the United Conservative Party and next Alberta premier in Calgary, Alta., on Oct. 6, 2022. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

United Conservative Party (UCP) members have chosen Danielle Smith as their new leader, making her the next premier of Alberta.

The former leader of the Wildrose Party, who had stepped away from politics for several years, won the contest on the sixth ballot against UCP MLA and former finance minister Travis Toews.

Smith had a reconciliatory tone toward her fellow candidates in her victory speech, thanking them for their service and noting their achievements, while taking aim at the federal Liberals and the Alberta NDP.

“We will not have our voices silenced and censored. We will not be told what we must put in our bodies in order to work,” she said in reference to various federal policies and legislation she had spoken out against throughout her campaign.

“Tonight marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Alberta story. It is time for Alberta to take its place as a senior partner in building a strong and unified Canada.”

Smith, who has to now prepare her party for the upcoming 2023 provincial election against its main rival the NDP, asked all UCP supporters regardless of who their favourite leadership candidate was to unite under the party umbrella “for the good of our great province.”

She added that to “earn the trust of Albertans,” the UCP needs to do more than just stand up to the “NDP-Liberal” coalition at the federal level and just be focused on“economic growth and balanced budgets and debt reduction and lower taxes.”

“We also need to show Albertans that we can be trusted to compassionately care for our vulnerable and our seniors, especially in this time of crippling inflation,” she said.

Smith ended her speech with an address to all Canadians, saying Albertans “love Canada” and want to share the province’s prosperity with the rest of the country, but want to be able to set “our own course.”

“Let’s work together to build a strong, prosperous, and unified Canada that we know that we can be,” she said.

“A Canada that provinces work together and empower one another to reach our unique individual goals and aspirations. A Canada that celebrates our great diversity of opinion and thought, rather than one that demonizes and sanctions one another for expression and speech deemed unacceptable by woke politicians in Ottawa.”

Candidates

On the first ballot, Smith received 41.3 percent of the vote, ahead of the runner-up Toews who received 29.4 percent, but short of the 50 percent plus one votes required to win.

(L–R) UCP leadership candidates Todd Loewen, Danielle Smith, Rajan Sawhney, Rebecca Schulz, Leela Aheer, Travis Toews, and Brian Jean participate in a debate in Medicine Hat, Alta., on July 27, 2022. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

UCP MLA and former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean received 11 percent of the vote on the first ballot, followed by Independent MLA Todd Loewen with 7.7 percent, UCP MLA and former minister of children’s services Rebecca Schulz with 6.9 percent, UCP MLA and former minister of transportation Rajan Sawhney with 2.1 percent, and UCP MLA and former minister of culture, multiculturalism, and status of women Leela Aheer with 1.6 percent.

On the sixth ballot, after the other candidates dropped off, Smith had 53.8 percent of the vote and Toews had 46.2 percent.

UCP president Cynthia Moore said around 85,000 party members voted in the contest.

Leadership Election

The leadership election was called after Premier Jason Kenney announced he is stepping down following a leadership review in May. Even though he received 51.4 percent of the votes, just enough for a majority, he said the support wasn’t strong enough for him to stay on as leader.

Throughout the campaign, Smith exchanged barbs with Kenney, who was critical of her proposed sovereignty act.

In her victory speech, Smith said she thanks “my friend” Kenney, mentioning his years of service in politics and as an advocate for taxpayers.

“[Kenney] was one of the most effective and influential conservative cabinet ministers in Canadian history, then [led] the charge on unifying the conservative movement, running and beating Rachel Notley’s NDP, and then governing as premier through one of the most tumultuous times in Alberta history,” she said.

“Although we may have had our differences these last couple of years on a couple of matters of policy, I want him to know that I admire and respect him.”

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks in response to the results of the United Conservative Party leadership review in Calgary on May 18, 2022. Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press

Kenney congratulated Smith on her win on Twitter, and said there “will be an orderly transition.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also congratulated Smith, saying on Twitter: “Let’s work together to build a better future for Albertans—by delivering concrete results, making life more affordable, creating good jobs, and more.”

Smith, a former columnist with the Calgary Herald, was the leader of the Wildrose Party from 2009 to 2014, before crossing the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives in a bid to unite the two conservative parties. The decision proved unpopular, and she lost the PC nomination for the 2015 election.

Following her departure from politics, Smith worked as a radio host and on other media projects for several years, before re-entering politics after Kenney’s decision to step down.

Throughout the leadership campaign, Smith attracted the most attention for her proposed Sovereignty Act. According to a post on her website, the act “would affirm the authority of the Provincial Legislature to refuse provincial enforcement of specific Federal laws or policies that violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta under Sections 92–95 of the Constitution or that breaches the Charter Rights of Albertans.”

Smith has said the act would bring Alberta similar powers to those that Quebec enjoys, citing as an example how the Quebec National Assembly passed a motion to declare Ottawa’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in February inapplicable in the province.