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Conservative habit a hard one to break

GILLIAN STEWARD GILLIAN STEWARD IS A CALGARYBASED WRITER AND FREELANCE CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST FOR THE STAR. TWITTER: @GILLIANSTEWARD

Despite Danielle Smith, their highly controversial leader, Albertans’ conservative reflex kicked in once again on Monday and delivered a majority United Conservative Party government.

Only once in the last 50 years have Albertans not elected a conservative government. That was in 2015 when Rachel Notley’s NDP won decisively.

After losing seats in the 2019 election, this time around the NDP added to its seat count — it will be the largest opposition (38 out of 87 seats) in Alberta’s history. But in an electoral system where the winner takes all running second is still a loss.

There’s no question many conservatives were dubious about Smith’s performance as a neophyte premier after she won her party’s leadership eight months ago. But they trusted Rachel Notley and the NDP even less.

Old habits run deep in Alberta especially when it comes to voting conservative. But this time it’s likely the provincial government will move further to the right than it ever has; certainly more to the right than Peter Lougheed, Ralph Klein, or even Jason Kenney.

Much of that push is coming from areas beyond Edmonton and Calgary where the conservative streak runs so deep it is as close to a religion as it can get. That’s where most of the resistance to then-premier Jason Kenney’s pandemic regulations arose. Overwhelming support from that quarter combined with 12 of Calgary’s 26 seats was enough to give Smith and the UCP a comfortable majority (49 out of 87 seats).

But despite the UCP win, Notley’s NDP has cut deep inroads into Alberta’s political landscape, especially in Calgary. In the 2015 election it won with 40 per cent of the vote because the conservatives split their votes between the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives.

By 2019 the two factions had been melded into one party — The United Conservative Party — making it much more difficult for the NDP to succeed. But this time around the NDP ran a well-funded, well-organized and lively campaign. Notley even had former conservative politicians publicly supporting her. Calgary’s former mayor, Naheed Nenshi, usually not one to give away his political preferences, joined Notley during her final days on the Calgary campaign trail.

“I truly believe Smith is an existential threat to our province. There’s never been anyone like her in power in Alberta before. We simply have no idea what she will do as premier, and that scares me more than a few years of a potentially not-great NDP government,” he said.

So what does all this mean for Alberta and the rest of Canada?

Smith has made it clear that she wants Alberta to have more independence from the federal government. So expect lots of open hostility toward Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals, especially when it comes to energy and climate change policy.

The UCP already has the Sovereignty Act in its weapons stash should it feel the feds are intruding on their turf in any and all matters. It also wants to give the boot to the RCMP and replace it with a provincial police force. Smith also wants to pull out of the Canada Pension Plan and start an Alberta plan although she has promised a referendum first.

More for-profit health care is also on the agenda. And one wonders what will happen if there is a second serious pandemic since Smith has made it clear she fully supports anti-vaxxers and those who opposed public health restrictions.

When it comes to social issues Albertans can expect a much more conservative slant given some of the UCP candidates that were elected; such as the woman who compared transgender schoolchildren to feces. Or the elected candidates who are supported by Take Back Alberta, a movement that still clings to the idea that women should stay at home and have babies rather than careers.

So hang on Canada. If these conservatives can keep themselves from throwing each other under the bus, we’re in for a bumpy ride.

OPINION

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2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostar.pressreader.com/article/281732683867037

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