Danielle Smith to reporter: P**s off

Greg, I can understand your distrust of Wildrose. I dropped my interest in the party in October 2013 when Danielle Smith was then reported as saying that she accepted that “climate change is a reality”. Thereby, Wildrose was increasingly becoming politically-correct, and, thus, indistinguishable from the PCs. However, I also feel that Wildrose was increasingly getting detached from direction from its grassroots and being driven from the top down.
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 delighted as I am at seeing a journalist getting told to “P**s off” it still doesn’t endear me to Danielle Smith.

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.

Very, deeply disappointed with this person. Preston Manning is an as…… le.

Just want to point out, particularly to those of you stating things to the effect of the Wild Rose Party being the only conservative option in Alberta, that the Social Credit Party has recently enjoyed a renewal of involvement and support. The WRP may have been the only real conservative option, but the Social Credit Party is the only real socially conservative option.

Peter, I agree that the Wildrose Party now stands out as the ONLY conservative option in Alberta which I believe is a good thing for the Wildrose going into an election. It makes it distinct from the other three parties, PC, Liberal and NDP, which are very much the same, thus giving the electorate a clear choice. Cornelius, I agree that “progressive & conservative” do not belong together, an oxymoron if there ever was one. “Progressive” means more government and more government control over our lives and “conservative” means the opposite.

How is it legal for a sitting member to cross the floor anyway? That just seems wrong. I wouldn’t like to chance my vote getting walked over to the liberals via the Alberta Party. Its time to get an authentic conservative party back into Alberta. Brian Jean needs to really work it.

Her comments are pretty predictable, I’m staying with the Wildrose Party & playing by ear. I have always thought that progressive & conservative do not belong in the same space, and it’s just another term for liberal.

@ Mark Borzel
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.

@ Valerie Clark
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.

The one thing that nobody (that I have read) has mentioned is questioning what Preston Manning learned from the people’s reaction to Danielle Smith’s betrayal.

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.

Alan Clark – If you think supporting the Alberta Party is a good idea, you’d better have a closer look at them. They were considering merging with the Liberal Party to form a “progressive” party:
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.

I agree that Preston Manning is the first turn-coat, and that Danielle Smith is the second…. I’m sure on advice from Preston. However, I would have thought that someone as intelligent as her would have had more political savvy than that. I didn’t think she could be so easily be lead down the garden path. However, she made her bed and now she must lie in it. I don’t have a problem with people changing their philosophical position after an attack of conscience. I don’t have to agree with their change of heart to respect their right to do it. However, the voters put their trust in her, and voted her in as leader of the Wild Rose Party and Leader of the Opposition. Crossing the floor was a stab in the back of those voters, an outright betrayal of the trust they put in her. If she had a change of heart and conscience, and she had any moral integrity, she would have resigned and run again in a by-election. I believe most people vote for the party, not the candidate. At least that’s what I’ve always done. Therefore, I believe it should be illegal for any sitting member to cross the floor….. ever… provincially or federally!! The only way to ensure the will of the voters is respected is to have a by-election. Danielle Smith got what she deserved and it’s very difficult to feel sorry for her.

As far as Smith’s verbal reactions go, are we really surprised? Sure, she’s venting her frustration (and finally cluing in to what the populace REALLY thinks of her actions), but we’ve heard worse from other politicians. Anybody remember Trudeau Sr’s “fuddle-duddle”? Or his single-finger salute? While Smith should have acted with more decorum, she’s no better/worse than what we’ve come to expect from public figures. She’s having to deal with Karma, and she’s finding out just what it’s like. Unfortunately for Alberta, it doesn’t leave a viable alternative to the provincial Conservatives (not that the bureaucracy/union(s) would let ANY party do what needs to be done to it…)

I don’t know why WRP candidates think they are going to fare any better. I’m not an insider. I just gave them money and support and my vote. Then they completely collapse, betraying me and my support. And now they have elected a new leader and think that we can just go on as if nothing had happened? Sorry WRP but when you prove yourselves to be this inept and betray hundreds of thousands in the process, you can’t just pretend nothing happened. I’m more likely to support the AP with my money and vote as to give them again to either party that has previously betrayed me.

Probably, this was a sensible move by the Conservatives – they know full well that there is a lot of anger directed toward their party and Danielle Smith in particular, and having her running for them would essentially put a bull’s eye on her face, giving the people of the riding an easy way to demonstrate their dissatisfaction. The Cons will have a better chance with a different name representing them.

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.

It seems that many of you don’t actually know what happened in the last provincial election,, When WRP did not take the election I looked into voting trends to find out what happened,, in total there were about 35 ridings where the vote was quite close with the PCs squeaking by with the victory,, in the case of Calgary-Elbow as an example (Kliens old riding) two elections ago the vote was split quite equally between the PCs and the Liberals with the PCs just squeaking thru with about 5000 votes going Liberal and 5200 votes going PCs ,, then in the last election the WRP took about 4500 votes , PCs took some 5000 votes and the Liberals only about 700 or so,, So what happened ?? it is quite simple actually,, the Liberal voters of the province voted PC simply to keep the WRP out,, The WRP stood for something that was even further right then the right wing PCs and that frightened the Liberals into voting the PCs back in as a block of votes.. This latest fiasco with Danielle moving to the PCs is one hundred percent contributable to Preston Manning ,, he wanted the right to unite so that the Liberals couldn’t come up the middle and take seats ,, and believe me when I say that it was going to happen in some of the ridings,, (Calgary-Elbow would likely have been one of them) However that being said I believe that Manning had it the wrong way,, the true PCs of the PC party should have joined the WRP thus effectively cleaning house of the red Conservatives that have infiltrated the PC party as a whole,, If anyone believes that we are stuck with the “same old same old” then Preston Manning is at fault for it…….

Danielle Smith is the example of an individual that belongs to the “Opportunist Party” , a political party that adheres to no particular set of values other than the value of themselves. The "Opportunist Party "is dedicated to the individual politician , not the common good ,and it is an amalgamation of people from the entire political spectrum. Changelings, chameleons that appear as one thing one day, something totally different the next. Smith must have considered herself so important and popular that she could carry all her followers to some promised land. Moses she wasn’t. She very severely miscalculated her constituency and hopefully we will never hear of her again.

I don’t blame her for being pissed. I would be too if I were a power hungry opportunist that is willing to cast aside friends and supporters in order to achieve that next rung on the ladder to success – and then the cold and calculating decision she made ended up backfiring. Sure she should be pissed, but guess what? it’s touch luck, suck it up. Go find a job in the private sector because political life is over. Your name rymes with muck.

finally what you really want to say…which is minor compared what she feels….

no sound on josh video

When she told her constituents to p***s off when she crossed the floor, she told this reporter the same…..is anybody really surprised? Maybe she can join Preston Manning in the radical environmentalist movement – it is very lucrative and a good fit for her.