New Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, A Premier Without A Seat

Smith will be sworn in on Tuesday as Alberta’s next Premier

It took six rounds of voting for Alberta’s United Conservative Party members (UCP) to name their new premier and former Wild Rose party leader, DanielleSmith. Throughout her campaign, Smith was a lightning rod of conservatism at a point so far right she would make Pierre Poilievre jealous.

In one of her most unbelievable policy announcements, Smith indicated if she were to become premier, she would impose a Sovereignty Act for the province of Alberta. The act would allow the Alberta government to ignore court rulings that find the province violating Canada’s Constitution by not enforcing Federal legislation. Naturally, this was the deep-end type of seditious comments you would find down south from Trump supporters and drew the criticism of many in her party.

Outgoing Premier Jason Kenney indicated her comments were a detriment to business investors and likened it to that of a Banana Republic. If there is any indication of Smith’s popularity, it’s the fact that it took six rounds of voting to name her the new premier should say a lot.

Albertans are deeply divided from the rest of the country on many issues, and the UCP is even more split amongst themselves. The next Alberta provincial election is set for seven months, and according to Smith, she has no intentions of calling an early election.

As of now, Smith is a Premier without a seat and hopes to call a by-election if a rural becomes available before the next election.

Image source Smith Twitter feed