Commentary
If anybody had approached me two years ago and said Danielle Smith would be elected as Alberta’s premier in 2023, I would have told them to get their head examined.
When Smith announced to a media panel I was part of at a United Conservative Party conference in April 2022 she would consider running for the leadership of the party if the position opened up, I was stunned that she was considering returning to the political arena. I wrote it off as one of the off-the-cuff types of statements Smith is prone to making. Often to her own detriment.
When Smith formally entered the UCP leadership in July 2022, it was assumed she was a long-shot candidate trying to regain some political profile. Few believed she could win the race. When every other contender for the leadership turned their guns against Smith, it became apparent she was the front-runner. By the time Smith won the leadership and became the premier of Alberta in the fall of 2022, few were surprised….