Former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith lashed out as a reporter after losing her bid to become the official PC candidate for the riding of Highwood which she won handily for the Wildrose in 2012.
Smith was the preferred candidate for the Progressive Conservatives heading into Saturday's nomination battle but lost to challenger Carrie Fischer, a town councillor from Okotoks.
Asked by a Global News reporter for comment on her future, Smith lashed out via text message.
Smith later apologized.
She told supporters she will step away from the spotlight for the time being and join her parents in Mexico to celebrate their anniversary.
I spent a considerable amount of time carefully reviewing the transcripts (Hansard) for March 10th’s ‘debate’ on Bill 10. It was quite the spectacle of crass politics – more like a love-in! Noteworthy is that interim Wildrose leader, Heather Forsyth expressed strong support for the bill (for example, saying, “I’m incredibly pleased, actually, to stand up and support the motion” and, “We’ll be supporting moving forward.”) However, despite justifiably expressing that she was “truly concerned” about the “unacceptable” process and the rush to push the bill (“an important piece of legislation”) through the legislature, she, nonetheless, decided to go along with the flow, not in small part I suspect by her disclosure during the debate that she has a gay family member. When she declared, “We will be supporting the Member for Edmonton-Centre’s amendment”, one can only presume that “we” meant that she was speaking on behalf of the Wildrose Party, even though at one point she grumbled about the pace with which this bill was being rushed through the legislature and that she had no opportunity to discuss it with your caucus?
One is left with the question: Was her position reflective of the Wildrose party’s position on this matter in the past, and, most importantly, was it reflective of the grassroots support for Wildrose? If not, then as interim leader, based upon her personal family situation, she set the course for the Wildrose and created confusion in the public mind about where Wildrose stands on this and other issues.
The real bottom line for Wildrose Party today is: Will the real Wildrose Party please stand up?
As far as the Wild Rose? I won’t be voting PC but I sure as hell don’t trust the wild rose party anymore. They watered down their policies so far that they were indistinguishable from the PCs. Then they proved they were just that, PCs when their leader (of all people) crossed the floor.
Ahh, but there IS a viable alternative to the PCs. The Wildrose party has regained its’ feet and can present a viable alternative the the PCs, and the ONLY conservative option is Alberta, sine the PC party is not in any way conservative anymore. People just have to give them a chance.
You make a good point worth repeating that the Wildrose party is not guilty of any betrayal, but only the people that crossed the floor. In fact the Wildrose party was just as betrayed as the people who voted for the traitors.
If indeed Preston Manning was the one who convinced Danielle and the others to turn traitorous to their party and the people whom elected them to join the PCs as Ezra has stated, then did Preston Manning learn that what he advised them to do was wrong? My guess is that his arrogance did not let him notice his part in all this.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not absolving Danielle and the others, just pointing out that Preston is as equally guilty and I questioning if he even noticed his hand in Danielle’s political demise.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1805642/liberal-mla-laurie-blakeman-proposes-merger-with-alberta-party/ The Alberta Party used to be right-wing. I know; I was an AP Director for years. It’s now trying to be all things to all people, which isn’t possible.
It wasn’t the Wildrose Party that betrayed you, it was 9 unscrupulous individuals from that party. Its new leader, Brian Jean, has signed a contract saying he won’t cross the floor with a penalty of $100,000 if he does. All parties should have such a contract to keep them loyal to voters.
Prentice did what he set out to do: gutted the only real opposition he had in Alberta. Smith was his willing and naive victim. No wonder she’s angry! I also note she had the class to apologize immediately.
But for Danielle Smith herself, this was presumably embarrassing, humiliating and disappointing. Given her past choices, I have to admit that I don’t personally feel too much sympathy for her. I wonder if she’ll decide to continue in politics (my suspicion is “yes” – unfortunately). Anyway, I hope this serves as a little warning to other politicians to consider at least paying lip service to the needs and desires of their constituents, instead of putting their own self-interest and ambition ahead of all other considerations.