Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blessed the Liberals’ recent Senate appointments, touted her government’s economic recovery from NDP debt, and warned Alberta Health Services to improve or face consequences in a sweeping address on healthcare and leadership.
These are some of the critical points from the premier’s keynote address at the 2024 Canada Strong and Free Network in Red Deer on Saturday.
Below are some salient takeaways from the address and subsequent fireside chat with the conference’s chair, Michael Binnion.
Liberals appointed radical extremists instead of honouring Alberta’s Senate election
Smith wasted no time bashing the Liberals in her keynote address, taking aim at the Liberals for ignoring the results of Alberta’s Senate election.
Smith was introduced by Erika Barootes, who finished in second place in Alberta’s 2021 Senate election. Pam Davidson narrowly beat Barootes, but both would be sitting in the Senate if Ottawa honoured the results.
“Both of them should be sitting representing us in Ottawa, as opposed to a radical, extreme, LGBT activist, as well as a radical extreme fundraiser for the Liberals for a long time,” said Smith.
The UCP has lifted the province out of the hole the NDP dug
Smith highlighted that under her leadership, the province has seen six credit upgrades in the last 18 months, resulting in lower interest rates, “which allows us to finance the outstanding NDP debt at a lower rate,” she said.
Alberta’s premier highlighted that Alberta had created over 100,000 jobs in the past year, leading the country with 90% of private-sector job creation. While the province is set to lead the nation in job growth until at least 2028, she warned that bad leadership can still stymie a province as prosperous as Alberta.
“We know this because, under the disastrous job-killing policies of the NDP, we watched our great province move backwards. During this time, we saw six credit downgrades, 13 quarters of consecutive outmigration, billions of dollars in lost investment, $80 billion in brand new debt, and a job crisis that devastated families,” she said.
Why Conservatives don’t succeed, and why a cornered Trudeau is dangerous
Smith said that Conservatives don’t succeed because they are incrementalists.
For example, when a left-wing government takes control and moves the goalposts by five feet, a Conservative government will take control and only move the goalposts back one or two feet. She said that Conservative governments should focus on moving the goalposts further back to normalcy and then begin incremental changes.
“The left takes advantage of these situations all the time,” said Smith. “Gerald Butts, let’s not forget what his advice was to Kathleen Wynne, and he’s even said this publicly. He knew she was going down in flames. So he said, let’s just go for broke these last ten months because then it will make it more difficult for the new guys coming in to reverse course.”
She warned that this could repeat itself in the coming months.
“Which is why this period of time right now is very, very dangerous with Trudeau on his last legs. This could be the time where they actually bring through the worst of their legislation,” said Smith.
Smith said she won’t make the same mistake as past governments. She plans to be bold and hopes that by being competent and getting things done, she can win the next election.
The Liberals’ immigration levels are unsustainable
While Smith has been more pro-immigration than many other premiers, the focus has been on interprovincial migration, and she has recently joined their opposition against the Liberals’ reckless policies.
For example, Alberta has continuously set interprovincial migration levels over the past few years, in part thanks to the Alberta is Calling campaign. Notably, applicants must already be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, so international migrants are not eligible.
However, Smith has become critical of the Liberals’ immigration policies, urging a return to numbers seen under Stephen Harper, which was around 1%.
Also, Smith said that the province, joined by Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, is against the feds relocating asylum seekers.
“Let’s get back to a normal level of population growth through immigration. I suspect with the new government in Ottawa next year, led by Pierre Poilievre, we will see a return to those sensible policies,” she said.
Alberta will be introducing compassionate intervention
Albertans suffering from addiction or mental health problems that pose a danger to themselves or others will be ordered into care for three to four months, where they will be treated and can recover.
“This was a very divisive idea when we first proposed it, but today we are seeing some surprising governments that are also supporting it and following our lead in British Columbia,” said Smith. “The sort of birthplace of safe supply and crack pipes being issued in vending machines has now decided that they’re going to introduce compassionate intervention legislation.”
Enough is enough, AHS; deliver now or hit the road
Smith said that her decision to fire the “AHS superboard” followed a 15-year monopoly where they continuously delivered worse and worse outcomes despite the NDP shovelling money at them.
The premier regrets that AHS became essentially the only door Albertans could walk through to get treatment. To simplify the process, the provincial government has decentralized the services so that AHS can focus on their 106 facilities and ensure that they run them well. If they fail to do so, Smith said she’ll re-evaluate in a year and decide whether managerial changes are required.
Binnion said that he recently had to go to the United States to get a surgery done on his hip because it would take years to even see a doctor in Alberta. His wife had to do the same for a separate major surgery.
Smith said that she is considering implementing a surgical wait time guarantee, where if a service cannot be delivered within the recommended period, the province will reimburse you for services sought abroad.
For Binnion’s case, if he spent $35,000 but it could have been done in Alberta for $25,000, he would be reimbursed the latter amount.
She added that she’s more focused on fixing the current system, as the payback system may not serve lower and middle-class families who need Alberta’s healthcare system to work.
Alberta’s Bill of Rights will be introduced, emphasis on medical choice
While the premier couldn’t share too many details before implementing the legislation, she said that Alberta’s Bill of Rights would make it illegal for governments to discriminate against individuals for refusing medical treatments, such as vaccines.
Legislation that will be introduced in the fall will also prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors and ban puberty blockers for those 15 years old and younger.
An opt-in for topics on gender ideology and sexual identity will also be available to parents.
Also, Smith promised to ensure that biological females can compete in sports leagues against one another without having to face “stronger” biological males who are transgender.