Oct 7 (Reuters) – Alberta’s new premier has set the stage for a showdown with Canada’s federal government and a pushback against federal laws, likely to put the oil-rich province at odds with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Danielle Smith, 51, was elected by members to lead the ruling United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) on Thursday, just seven months before the next provincial election. Read more
“Today marks a new beginning in Alberta’s history,” Smith told UCP members after winning the leadership race. “No longer will Alberta seek permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free … our resources will not be landlocked or our energy shut out of existence by a virtue-signaling prime minister.” Read more
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Trudeau has yet to respond to comments from Smith, who is likely to be sworn in on Tuesday.
Alberta, which has the world’s third-largest crude oil reserves, has long had a strained relationship with the Trudeau government in Ottawa stemming from a perception that the federal government’s climate policies are hurting Canada’s oil and gas industry.
Some of Canada’s biggest oil and gas companies, including Canadian Natural Resources Ltd ( CNQ.TO ), Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy ( CVE.TO ), are headquartered in Calgary, the province’s business capital.
Smith campaigned on an “Alberta First” slogan designed to appeal to grassroots members of the party’s right wing and promised to introduce the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which would allow the province to refuse to enforce specific federal laws that do not likes Read more
Political commentators and legal experts said the act was unconstitutional and likely to be struck down in court, but could further sour relations between Ottawa and Alberta, while uncertainty about what the act would actually contain could scare off the business community.
“On the business side, you might get a little bit of a dip in investment confidence until they see exactly what’s going on,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
Williams said she expected Smith to be forced to change the legislation by the UCP caucus, which could damage her standing with grassroots members who voted for her.
“The problem with Smith is that she’s pent up her anger and raised expectations, and the question is, if those can’t be met, is that anger directed at her,” Williams said.
Smith has also been a vocal critic of public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and took aim at the federal government’s vaccine mandate policy in his victory speech
“We’re not going to be told what to put in our bodies to make them work,” she said.
Michael Taube, a columnist and speechwriter for former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Smith was a strong supporter of private enterprise, free markets, trade liberalization and economic freedom.
“Smith is promoting her own ideas rather than letting society determine which ideas she should reject,” Taube wrote in the National Post newspaper on Thursday, adding that she would be a boon to Canada and conservatism.
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Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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