They both showed that they had been to that rodeo before. Both challenger Rachel Notley of the new democrats (NDP) and incumbent premier (briefly) Danielle Smith of the united conservatives (UCP) looked softer and younger than their years. They were painfully polite and nobody had a scratch to show from the performance. It was a disappointment. It was no love-in but both walked away unbowed and unbruised.
What surprised this easterner was that the Alberta ethics commissioner had all but crucified Smith earlier in the day. Danielle Smith had a walk-around story ready for her political opponent and the journalists. Just where those horseshoes came from nobody seemed to know.
No matter where that debate was intended to lead its viewers, Danielle Smith was just as much a screwball at the end as she was at the beginning. Nobody can be that loyal to a Donald Trump or to a Danielle Smith so they can ignore the fact that they have absolutely no use for the truth.
I, for one, do not believe that all Albertans need a mental health check but if Notley and her NDP are not returned to power at the end of the month, I would be inclined to wonder. We knew when Jason Kenney threw his saddle and white hat into his pickup and headed west from Ottawa to unite the right in Alberta, that interesting times where coming.
It was hardly a surprise that by dint of subterfuge and chicanery that Kenney got as far as he did. I hardly think he considered what a world-wide pandemic would do to all his plans. He’s toast.
But then we got Danielle Smith back. This woman is no conservative. She barely makes it to the far right of the right. She is a libertarian with a dose of megalomania in the mix. It was not so far back that we can forget how close she came to taking what was left of the Wildrose into the wilderness to drink Kool-Aid together.
But I sure hope there is another debate before election day. And please, don’t be nice!
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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