April fools and snollygosters
“Liars make the best promises.” ― Pierce Brown, Golden Son
This week in AB
Saved by the (li)bel
They say there’s never a dull moment in Alberta politics and this week did not disappoint.
Aside from the part where it’s utterly disappointing, of course.
“Street preacher” Artur Pawlowski, who has a long, long list of grievances, has friends who know people and he wanted to make sure his people know that.
So, when Dr. Dennis Modry — former Wildrose Independence Party VP-Policy, former CEO of Alberta Prosperity Project, and possibly future UCP candidate in (snicker) Edmonton-Riverview — hooked Pawlowski up with Premier Danielle Smith for a quick chat back in January, someone in the room recorded and posted the video on Pawlowski’s YouTube channel.
That video was picked up by opposition researchers for the NDP and released on March 29 during a press conference, as well as through the CBC.
Within, Premier Smith can be heard reiterating (albeit with her now-standard imprecision) that she has been asking “weekly” since she became premier if COVID-era prosecutions are winnable and if they’re really in the public interest.
As others have noted, it’s one thing to know the premier was taking calls from people charged under her own government’s legislation but quite another to hear her respond to thinly-veiled threats that the person charged could pull his support if she doesn’t fulfill “promises”.
Pawlowski was seeking the premier’s intervention in his then-upcoming case where he was charged with breaching a release order, mischief for inciting people to block public property at the Coutts border crossing last February, as well as willfully damaging or destroying essential infrastructure under the Alberta Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.
“Everyone has moved on from COVID”, the premier says on the video.
“Everyone” but the premier and her angry band of organizers from Take Back Alberta, that is.
Whether it really matters to UCP supporters that Smith is directing political pressure on our justice system and lying about it, or lying about trying to put political pressure on our justice system to keep a bunch of indignant toddlers marching in line behind her is debatable.
We know it would be the outrage du jour if the perpetrator wasn’t a conservative but, they are, so it’s totes different in this province.
One upside might be that Danielle Smith has personal experience in convincing Albertans to reject her aims,
However, that might be why Smith’s team has filed a defamation claim against the CBC.
The notice, dated April 2, 2023, will allow Smith to sidestep questions about her lack of judgement simply because the suit is pending.
As one Twitter-user noted, “…this seems designed to shut Danielle Smith up more than the CBC.”
At a press availability April 3, Smith demonstrated a newfound ability to stop defending her indefensible actions — likely a welcome change for voters seeking an excuse for the fact that they were going to vote for her anyway.
It’s a live (show)!
Both West of Centre and The Strategists did a live show last week and both were fantastic.
Each noted the reasonable expectation that Edmonton will secure all of its available seats for the NDP, rural will send every blue sign back to Edmonton regardless of whether it has a representative attached, and Calgary will become the site of an unethical social experiment where neighbour will turn on neighbour for supporting the most evil party that will kill (fill in the blank) in Alberta.
There are a number of conservatives who are fed up with Danielle Smith; she’s rubbing Alberta’s nose in excrement to “own the Libs” and they aren’t happy.
Unlike pollster Janet Brown’s “orphan voters”, these are conservatives whose vote is not up for grabs — they will not vote NDP — these voters will stay home if they cannot support their party.
Smith’s leadership thus far has been a sideshow.
Where once we had the most stable political climate, we now have the most unstable climate (also Janet Brown, but not in that episode).
This is bad for business, and investment, and Alberta generally.
I’ll stand by that statement as a non-partisan take.
The Strategists forwent dueling pianos for strategies, each putting together a “winning” strategy for one of the two leading parties.
It boiled down to the NDP having to figure out really fast how campaign organization outside of an NDP-friendly area works while the UCP simply has to put Calgary-friendly messaging out and otherwise STFU.
In other words, one has to work harder and get louder and the other has to be seen but not heard.
One potato, two potato, three potato, four…
The deadline for candidate nominations is fast approaching if we’re to have an election this May and Smith has almost reached her limit of four candidate appointments, according to the UCP bylaws.
Smith used one of her four passes for herself in Brooks-Medicine Hat, Brian Jean in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and Rajan Sawhney in Calgary-North West.
Sawhney decided she is not opposed to seeking re-election after all, and has accepted the nomination in Calgary-North West.
The riding was recently left candidate-less after Sonya Savage — who was demoted from Energy to Environment and Parks in Smith’s new cabinet — announced she would not run again.
The party has 81 of 87 candidates in place after they lost another two this week.
Lethbridge-West candidate Tory Tanner resigned after a video she created during her nomination process finally got picked up.
Tanner claimed teachers were showing students “pornographic materials” among other unsubstantiated but popular sub-urban legends within fringe conservative “parent groups”.
“It's clear that my choice of words have distracted not only from the issue I was trying to discuss, but are being used by my political opponents to hurt our chances of winning across the province,” Tanner said in her resignation.
“Imprecise language” for the win (loss?) again.
The party also lost Edmonton-South UCP candidate Tunde Obasan bowed out for personal reasons.
In an apparent effort to thwart an appointment from Smith — or a potential board takeover by TBA — Finance Minister Travis Toews’ constituency association in Grande Prairie-Wapiti has nominated Ron Wiebe to be their candidate. The nomination is pending approval.
Your Province, Your Problem
I have avoided this show since its inception — quite without thoughtful planning, I must add — and this past weekend I finally managed to catch it on time.
Every caller during the first half hour was blowing so much hot air up Smith’s butt, I figured they needed some alone time.
That the NDP hasn’t started a version of this to air on Sunday mornings is a real shame.
Final thoughts
C'est bon. Tres bon. Almost too many bon things to note, but here are my faves:
Gold: "Calgary will become the site of an unethical social experiment where neighbour will turn on neighbour for supporting the most evil party that will kill (fill in the blank) in Alberta."
Silver: In other words, one has to work harder and get louder and the other has to be seen but not heard.
Bronze: Your Province, Your Problem