Commentary
Nobody saw Danielle Smith coming. She had spent over seven years in the political wilderness after having led a disastrous mass floor-crossing from the Alberta Wildrose Party to the Progressive Conservative Party in 2014. The move contributed to the shattering of Alberta’s conservative movement and the unexpected Alberta NDP majority win in 2015. Smith lost her own party nomination and moved on to become a talk radio host. When Smith announced her intention to run for the United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership last spring, few people thought she had a realistic chance of winning the race.
By the time other contenders for the United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership realized just how strong Smith’s campaign was, it was too late. Smith controlled the narrative of the entire campaign with her proposed Sovereignty Act while other candidates were put into a reactive role. The campaign took a negative turn as Smith’s competitors united in attacking her. Former premier Jason Kenney broke with political convention and repeatedly spoke out against Smith’s campaign.  It took six ballots for Smith to win a narrow victory over former UCP finance minister Travis Toews. While Smith had taken the leadership of the party, her ability to maintain unity within such a fractious party was in question….