Is Danielle Smith the Most Powerful Politician in Canada? |
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Is Danielle Smith the Most Powerful Politician in Canada?
Or just the most dangerous?
In January, Alberta premier Danielle Smith issued an extraordinary threat. Unless Prime Minister Mark Carney gave Alberta more influence over judicial appointments, her government would withhold funding from the courts. In an open letter, Smith argued she wanted judges who reflected Alberta’s “distinct legal traditions”—though what those traditions are is unclear. Canada’s system is straightforward: provinces run the courts, Ottawa appoints the judges. This left many observers wondering, “Can she even do that?”
Danielle Smith wants greater independence for Alberta, using separation as leverage
Smith’s political power comes from channelling and magnifying frustrations of Albertans
The separatist strategy increases her power but could escape her control
Smith is no stranger to that line of questioning nor to the idea that Alberta should play by different rules. Since becoming premier in 2022, Smith has made it her mission to carve out greater independence for the province, and her demands are only getting bolder. Her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, passed in December 2022, allows the province to refuse to enforce certain federal laws it considers harmful to Alberta. Critics have widely condemned the measure—unprecedented in Canadian politics—as unconstitutional.
On February 19, Smith unveiled a slate of referendum questions for an October vote aimed at expanding provincial autonomy. She proposes unilaterally tightening immigration and access to services in Alberta—restricting benefits for temporary residents and requiring proof of citizenship to vote. These powers aren’t exclusively within the purview of the province, but immigration lawyer Randy Hahn told the Globe and Mail Smith’s position should be understood as a “negotiating tactic.” She also proposes sweeping constitutional changes that would shift power from Parliament to the provinces, including scrapping the Senate, opting out of federal programs with funding intact, and giving provincial laws priority over federal ones. To be sure, these changes require consent from other provinces to implement and could very well set up a showdown with the federal government.
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Such tactics also come with risks. In recent months, Smith’s confrontation with Ottawa has faced accusations she is stoking the fires of Alberta separatism—a loose but increasingly visible movement of activists, small political parties, and grassroots groups who argue the province would prosper as an independent state, free from domination by central Canada. Indeed, when she posted her letter about the judicial appointment process on X, she wrote her reforms would “support national unity within Alberta”—signalling that, should these reforms fail, it should be taken as a point for secession. For her part, Smith blames the separatist sentiment on the Liberals—and on the rest of the country for electing them. “The issue,” Smith told Steve Paikin on his podcast back in July, “is that we have a disrespectful Ottawa.”
Maybe so. But there’s no denying that, as long as Smith has separatists onside, she believes she can channel their grievance into leverage. There are a million ways this could go wrong. For now, though, with separatist anger at her back and Ottawa on the defensive, she is dictating the terms of the national conversation—making her the most powerful politician in the country.
Power is a slippery concept, easy to throw around but hard to define. The dictionary provides two simple definitions. First: the ability to do a thing. Second: the ability to influence people and events. We can look at provincial governments through both meanings.
In theory, that first type of power is held relatively equally........