Two conservative premiers have secured their positions in the past week. Pictured: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Photo Credit: Danielle Smith/X.
A couple of recent electoral developments in Canada give comfort that in this age of woke extremism, some sanity is still present. Two notable examples are last week’s election in Saskatchewan and this past weekend’s United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership vote on Danielle Smith in Alberta.
The Saskatchewan provincial election was a solid victory for Premier Scott Moe of the Saskatchewan party as he notched a fifth straight majority government for the Saskatchewan Party. Former leader Brad Wall won three of these majorities, and this was Moe’s second. The party has now been in power for 17 years, which is an eternity in politics. The final result was that Moe won 35 seats compared to the NDP’s 26. This was a significant reduction for the Saskatchewan Party from the previous election, and the NDP almost doubled their seat count from 14 in the last election to 26. There was a stark urban/rural divide, with most Saskatchewan Party seats in rural areas and virtually all NDP seats in the cities.
As far as policies promoted by the two parties went, Moe stuck to his guns on issues such as removing the carbon tax on home heating fuels, parental rights in the public school system and smaller government while the NDP made big spending promises for health care and supported social justice causes in education and elsewhere.
Next door in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith faced her own challenges within the UCP as a vote by party members on her leadership was scheduled. There were rumours she might even lose the leadership as there were a number of disgruntled groups who didn’t think she had accomplished enough in her less-than-two years in power. As conservatives have a nasty habit of attacking their own, this type of outcome could not be dismissed out of hand.
A record number of 6,000 delegates showed up for the meeting in Red Deer last weekend, and Smith ended up with a resounding 91.5 per cent support from those in attendance. Her message to the party about unity and keeping the “movement” together into the future was clearly well-received. A number of policy resolutions also received approval at the meeting, including the broadening of the Alberta Bill of Rights, overturning a number of “diversity” policies, strengthening free speech guarantees, restricting women’s spaces to biological women and reducing adherence to “net zero” objectives in the energy sector, among others. Resolutions do not necessarily become government policy, but are meant to provide direction from the membership.
The outcomes in Alberta and Saskatchewan will have positive impacts outside of the respective provinces. Smith and Moe have been national leaders in opposing federal Liberals’ attempts to ruin our resources sector, intrude on provincial jurisdiction and impose useless and damaging policies such as the carbon tax, regulatory overkill, plastics bans and other ideologically-motivated issues that have very expensive and negative impacts on average Canadians. Citizens in other provinces should be happy these two leaders will continue to act on their behalf even if their own provincial politicians are dropping the ball.
It’s no secret that this author has a bias when it comes to public policy, but it is difficult to characterize a fondness for balanced budgets, respectful spending of our tax dollars, opposition to large bloated governments, the primacy of parental rights regarding their children, prevention of minors making life-altering decisions at a challenging time of their lives, defending personal freedoms and free speech, among others, as a radical point of view. Far left activists have had some success presenting these views as extreme, but the large majority of citizens who hold middle of the road perspectives must give their heads a shake when such ridiculous opinions are expressed. The outcomes of the Saskatchewan election and the UCP leadership contest would support that contention.
As well, it’s great to see support of politicians whose policies actually put their constituents’ interests first, not some unrealistic and unattainable ideological objectives. Let’s hope this common-sense trend will be contagious.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
