Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doesn’t need to apologize for her comments that people who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine were “the most discriminated-against group" that she witnessed in her lifetime. .She has clarified her remarks and that is enough. She doesn’t need to add insult to injury by pandering to the NDP and others who just can’t abide a premier who actually acknowledges the pain and injury the unvaccinated have endured over the past two years. .Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley claims Smith caused grievous damage to Alberta’s international reputation with her declaration, and that people around the world are laughing derisively at the province. Well, if anyone is taking notice outside of Canada, you can be certain it will be forgotten within a few days. The only Canadian with international news status is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and that’s always for the wrong reasons: Whether he’s preening in front of the camera in traditional Indian fashion or holding forth in a London piano bar, Trudeau knows how to make headlines and associate his bizarre behavior with Canada. .And as far as embarrassment goes, U.S. President Joe Biden has been doing that on a daily basis, falling down several times as he attempted to board Air Force One, shaking hands with people who weren’t there, welcoming a deceased congresswoman, saying he had cancer and calling the Holocaust an “honour.” And on and on and on.Of course you know what this is all about. And the columns are already out there. The liberal pundits are focused on making Smith’s first week as premier a disastrous one. She has to appear indecisive and capricious; extreme and distracted. And of course, this is all happening as Trudeau is indecisive, capricious, extreme and distracted as anyone is under siege everyday as the Emergencies Act Inquiry meets, to further seal his fate.Smith succeeded in doing what the Conservative establishment wanted least. She replaced lockdown king Jason Kenney and saved the United Conservative Party from becoming just another Red Tory fiefdom.And she doesn’t need to keep dissecting the Alberta Sovereignty Act beyond recognition. As I've said repeatedly, Alberta already has the power to repeal a Constitutional decision it views to be contrary to its interest: It’s called the notwithstanding clause. So why is Smith suggesting she won’t use it? If the Supreme Court rules the Sovereignty Act ultra vires, she will be forced to use it.I was guesting on a Toronto radio show yesterday and was asked how Ontario Premier Doug Ford got away with it. And of course he did. I explained Ford won the recent provincial election because the grassroots conservative forces were weak and divided while the other major parties — the NDP and the Liberals — were offering policies that were worse than Ford. So what kind of choice did Ontario have?But then it occurred to me. Why didn’t the caucus and party members demand a change in leadership? They could have done that. Ford was another lockdown king. Ford revoked the licenses of the truckers who participated in the Freedom Convoy. Ford heartily endorsed the Emergencies Act.The so-called Ford Nation was bankrupt and in tatters by the time he was running for re-election, but he won easily and with very little criticism from the conservative mainstream columnists who are in bed with his aides.But in four years, Ford had gone from a principled conservative to a backroom conservative.Danielle Smith, on the other hand, is saying no — to a lot of people. And they are getting angry.So she had better get used to the attacks and not waste any time apologizing.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doesn’t need to apologize for her comments that people who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine were “the most discriminated-against group" that she witnessed in her lifetime. .She has clarified her remarks and that is enough. She doesn’t need to add insult to injury by pandering to the NDP and others who just can’t abide a premier who actually acknowledges the pain and injury the unvaccinated have endured over the past two years. .Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley claims Smith caused grievous damage to Alberta’s international reputation with her declaration, and that people around the world are laughing derisively at the province. Well, if anyone is taking notice outside of Canada, you can be certain it will be forgotten within a few days. The only Canadian with international news status is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and that’s always for the wrong reasons: Whether he’s preening in front of the camera in traditional Indian fashion or holding forth in a London piano bar, Trudeau knows how to make headlines and associate his bizarre behavior with Canada. .And as far as embarrassment goes, U.S. President Joe Biden has been doing that on a daily basis, falling down several times as he attempted to board Air Force One, shaking hands with people who weren’t there, welcoming a deceased congresswoman, saying he had cancer and calling the Holocaust an “honour.” And on and on and on.Of course you know what this is all about. And the columns are already out there. The liberal pundits are focused on making Smith’s first week as premier a disastrous one. She has to appear indecisive and capricious; extreme and distracted. And of course, this is all happening as Trudeau is indecisive, capricious, extreme and distracted as anyone is under siege everyday as the Emergencies Act Inquiry meets, to further seal his fate.Smith succeeded in doing what the Conservative establishment wanted least. She replaced lockdown king Jason Kenney and saved the United Conservative Party from becoming just another Red Tory fiefdom.And she doesn’t need to keep dissecting the Alberta Sovereignty Act beyond recognition. As I've said repeatedly, Alberta already has the power to repeal a Constitutional decision it views to be contrary to its interest: It’s called the notwithstanding clause. So why is Smith suggesting she won’t use it? If the Supreme Court rules the Sovereignty Act ultra vires, she will be forced to use it.I was guesting on a Toronto radio show yesterday and was asked how Ontario Premier Doug Ford got away with it. And of course he did. I explained Ford won the recent provincial election because the grassroots conservative forces were weak and divided while the other major parties — the NDP and the Liberals — were offering policies that were worse than Ford. So what kind of choice did Ontario have?But then it occurred to me. Why didn’t the caucus and party members demand a change in leadership? They could have done that. Ford was another lockdown king. Ford revoked the licenses of the truckers who participated in the Freedom Convoy. Ford heartily endorsed the Emergencies Act.The so-called Ford Nation was bankrupt and in tatters by the time he was running for re-election, but he won easily and with very little criticism from the conservative mainstream columnists who are in bed with his aides.But in four years, Ford had gone from a principled conservative to a backroom conservative.Danielle Smith, on the other hand, is saying no — to a lot of people. And they are getting angry.So she had better get used to the attacks and not waste any time apologizing.
