Alberta Premier Danielle Smith flexed her star power amongst Conservative Party faithful on Saturday, advocating for policies popular with conservatives while not directly addressing the separatist issue that has made headlines this week.
The Alberta provincial leader was warmly received by delegates of the federal party, reflecting both her standing within conservative circles and the convention’s home field advantage in Calgary.
“It is a true pleasure to welcome Conservatives from across the country to Calgary, into the heartland of conservatism in Canada,” Smith said in her remarks after taking the stage to a standing ovation.
Aside from a portion of the speech delivered in French — “I gotta give it a whirl, right?” the premier joked following the attempt — the subjects she addressed in her speech were largely familiar to any longtime follower of Alberta politics.
She praised delegates for delivering an 87.4 per cent mandate to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Friday night, arguing his leadership was essential to reversing a decade of problems she said were created by the governing Liberals.
She criticized the Liberal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau and former environment minister Steven Guilbeault — both names triggering loud boos from the crowd — and argued they had undermined Alberta’s economy and overreached into provincial jurisdiction.
She did not mention Prime Minister Mark Carney by name, but did reference comments tied to making pipelines “boring again.”
“You see, Conservatives supported building new pipelines long before the elbows-up crowd, and they will support them long after all the elbows come down,” Smith said.
“As I’ve said many times before, we need to build pipelines to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south.”
Despite the long antagonism between Alberta and Ottawa, Smith has recently characterized a memorandum of understanding signed with Ottawa, which includes a commitment to collaborate on a new bitumen pipeline, as evidence that the relationship can improve.
Separatists in her provincial United Conservative Party aren’t entirely in alignment on that point. And on the convention floor in Calgary, some Conservative Party delegates from Alberta said they wouldn’t be satisfied until shovels hit the ground.
“We’ve had lots of words and jib-jab and back and forth, and promises or expectations get set,” said Medicine Hat delegate Daniel Hein.
“Until we have some tangible relief and opportunity to build our business here as a province, I think that frustration will remain.”
Smith also called for tougher bail and sentencing laws, criticized Ottawa’s firearms policy and advocated for reduced immigration levels, among other policies.
Delegates praise speech
Amongst all speakers during the convention, it was clear Smith held an appeal amongst federal Conservative delegates perhaps only matched by the party’s leader. Multiple lines from her speech on Saturday drew standing ovations.
Vanya Reimer, a 21-year-old Conservative delegate from Manitoba, called Smith an “inspiration” to young conservatives across the country.
“Her speech was excellent. It had enough ‘oomph,’ but also was a leaders’ speech, something that balances being open to listening to people that don’t agree with you, but also getting the red meat type of thing,” Reimer said.
“In the greater conservative movement. I think she’s right up there with Pierre. They have their places, but they’re two people that energize youth.”
While she touched on many of the subjects that have long animated Alberta politics, her speech did not wade into developments tied to the separatist movement in Alberta, which leapt back into national headlines this week.
Smith has often said she supports a “strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” and has pushed back against calls to reject separatism, saying she doesn’t want to “demonize” any Albertan who has lost faith in Canada.
Poilievre did address the resurgent separatist movements in Quebec and Alberta in his speech on Friday. Of those developments, the Conservative leader said “we can simply attack people who feel this way, or we can ask them why,” and cast blame toward federal policies.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says separatist movements have come ‘roaring back to life’ under the Liberals — but said a Conservative government would look to unite and ‘afford you the hopeful future that you have earned.’
A Janet Brown Research Opinion survey taken last spring for CBC Calgary suggested that 49 per cent of respondents in Alberta who identified as Conservative Party voters say they’d vote “Yes” for Alberta to leave Canada, while 45 per cent would vote no.
That split is going to provide a challenge for Smith moving forward, as she attempts to convince those leaning toward the separatist side that there’s a deal to be made with Ottawa, political analyst Lori Williams said.
“Whether with Mark Carney or with Pierre Poilievre, that it’s not about ideology, but it’s about actually making Confederation work,” she said. “She’s going to be focusing on the ways in which she can put more pressure on the federal government, to make this Confederation deal fairer for Alberta.”
Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer and spokesperson for the group Stay Free Alberta, which is pushing for Alberta to separate from Canada, was in attendance at the convention at the BMO Centre.
On X, he wrote that he ran into many people “who LOVE” Alberta independence.
He also referenced Stay Free Alberta’s rally and petition signing held earlier this week, which drew more than 3,000 supporters to Calgary’s Big Four building, located just a few hundred metres from the federal party convention.
“2,700 people here,” Rath wrote. “Looks like the CPC is now the ‘fringe’ party in Alberta.”
