Has there ever been a trickier time to be premier of Alberta? The province faces a major doctor shortage, particularly in rural areas. The cost of living has shot up. The population, supercharged by a rapid influx of immigrants, is expected to hit five million soon, and there isn’t enough housing to accommodate everyone. The province is hooked on the oil and gas industry while glaciers are melting and forests burn.
Early last spring, it looked like Albertans were going to re-elect the NDP’s Rachel Notley, who promised to fix the province’s crumbling health-care system. But when voters went to the polls at the end of May, they elected United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith—one of the most divisive politicians in the country.
Smith has always courted controversy. As a newspaper columnist and talk radio personality, she pushed emotional buttons and got attention for her provocative ideas. An admirer of Ayn Rand, Smith is a firebrand who delights in rebelling against cultural orthodoxies. In the run-up to the election, she won over Alberta patriots who felt alienated by the Trudeau government. She also attracted fringe groups who spouted radical ideology and misinformation, relying on them to win the tight race. Is she beholden to them now?
That’s one of the big questions Luc Rinaldi asks in “The Unsteady Reign of Danielle Smith,” his excellent, sweeping cover story in Maclean’s October issue. Rinaldi interviewed dozens of people who have been watching Smith closely for years: former classmates, backroom operators, political scientists. The result is a juicy, in-depth look at her formative years, her ideological influences and the social trends that catapulted her into office. The piece isn’t just for political junkies; it’s for any Canadian who cares about how elections work now, how the pandemic changed the tenor of public opinion and what we can expect the political landscape to look like in the future.
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
