Danielle Smith should be basking in the appreciative glow emanating from the Tory faithful this weekend. But hey, this is Alberta, a province where premiers bask at their peril.

Indeed, it should be celebration time for thousands of provincial party members at the annual general meeting in Red Deer. The government has a comfortable majority, the economy’s reasonably vibrant and Alberta’s biggest nemesis — Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — clings by a fraying thread to his job.

As for Smith, she’s spent the summer traversing small-town Alberta, listening patiently as rural UCP members wax lyrical upon controversial issues, such as transgender rights, along with their more bizarre concerns, such as mysterious threats exposed by those telltale contrails — or chemtrails — courtesy of passing jets.

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