What?
What did the premier just say?
I had to ask Premier Danielle Smith the question.
After all, Naheed Nenshi, the former mayor of Calgary and now an NDP leadership hopeful, is seen by more than a few in this province as the messiah who will lead the Alberta NDP back to the political promised land.
And when Nenshi kicked off his campaign to be the new Alberta NDP numero uno he said the only things the Smith government knew how to do while they were being “incompetent” and “dangerous” and “immoral” was pick fights and waste money.
Here was Smith in a fight with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not the first one.
It is a fight Smith says she does not seek but the premier points to Trudeau as the one who is punching Alberta in the nose and she will punch back and keep punching back until the prime minister treats Alberta fairly.
Now, Smith is laying down the law and any money deals the Trudeau government wants to make with cities and other local governments will need a thumbs-up from her UCP government.
Smith says there are agreements where Trudeau is clearly pushing his agenda and that agenda is at odds with the Alberta government’s plans for the province.
In other words, Smith believes Trudeau should mind his own business.
Back to Nenshi.
How does Smith answer Nenshi’s charge she is picking fights?
“Well, somebody who is Trudeau’s choice for Alberta might say that,” says Smith, who does not mention Nenshi by name.
“I’m not here to be Trudeau’s choice for Alberta.”
Smith says her job is to see the province’s interests come first.
“I’m going to keep on working to make sure I’m putting Albertans first.”
Some in the UCP universe are already calling Nenshi “Trudeau’s choice for Alberta.”
Seems like that might be how Nenshi will be cast by Smith’s supporters.
The smart money bets if Nenshi manages to win the Alberta NDP leadership you will hear the line linking him to Trudeau and the Liberals thrown around a lot.
After all, the UCP think the former mayor has more baggage than a party crew heading to an all-inclusive getaway in Margaritaville and enough connections to Liberals to make the tag stick.
In fairness, Nenshi was asked if he wanted to respond to the idea he’s Trudeau’s man but it is said he was “not fussed” by what Smith is saying.
Meanwhile, it is a different story in the legislature.
NDP leader Rachel Notley accuses Smith of “declaring war against federal dollars being spent here.”
“Why does she think she needs to protect Albertans from their own tax dollars?”
Smith is in the mood to draw more connections to Ottawa.
“I feel that question could have been asked by their federal leader Jagmeet Singh,” fires back the premier.
Smith says she is fighting for fairness.
Notley quotes from your humble scribbler’s interview with Smith, the part where the premier talked about Trudeau punching and her punching back.
Notley says Smith and the UCP “have nothing to show for these ongoing little political tantrums.”
“Why is she making Albertans pay the price for her failed partisan political petulant temper tantrums?” asks the NDP leader.
Smith is not backing down.
She accuses the NDP of having a “defeatist attitude” and laying down and accepting instructions from federal NDP leader Singh while the premier vows to push back against the federal “Liberal-NDP coalition.”
Earlier in the day Smith once again says all she wants is the same treatment as Quebec.
When a federal program is rolled out, Quebec “like clockwork” says they’re not going to abide by Ottawa’s rules and they just want the money.
“And they always get it,” says Smith.
“We’re just doing what Quebec is doing.”
She says Albertans are not interested in “virtue signalling from Ottawa” and any dollars to go down that road.
“Albertans don’t want federal funding to show the world how virtuous we are or to polish Canada’s halo internationally,” says Smith.
“We know the federal government, on certain issues, holds a diametrically opposed view to what it is we want to do.”
Smith has ‘”grave concerns” about any Trudeau deals “injecting ideology” like net-zero housing where it’s led to not hooking up new homes to natural gas or banning gas stoves and gas fireplaces.
Or Trudeau demanding cities rezone their neighbourhoods if they want the carrot of Ottawa dollars.
Or anything to do with so-called safe supply of drugs where, in Smith’s words, nurses in B.C. are expected to give crack pipes to patients in hospitals.
The premier says she simply wants the Trudeau government to hand over Alberta the money the province is entitled to get, much of that coin having come from Alberta taxpayers.
Last but not least, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says Smith leads “a provincial government with control issues.”
Yes, spring is here and the temperature is going up.
rbell@postmedia.com
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