Quebec has always had a love-hate relationship with Alberta. It was the land of right-wing, oil-rich cowboys who were willing to let the eastern part of the country “freeze in black.”
At the same time, it was a province that had a vision of federalism rather compatible with that of Quebec, more autonomist and less willing to accept that Ottawa should decide everything.
At the time, it was said that René Lévesque was close to only one of his fellow premiers, the legendary Peter Lougheed, who was undisputed premier of Alberta for 14 years.
Quebec has long had an office in Edmonton, which unfortunately closed in 1995. But a Quebec trade office was recently opened in Calgary.
But beyond these affinities, there is a good reason why Quebecers – like all Canadians, for that matter – should be interested in the election that will take place in Alberta on May 29. Because Alberta is very likely to become the laboratory to test the messages of the conservative right for the next federal election.
If many were shocked by the arguments of the federal Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, they would be just as shocked by that of the Prime Minister Danielle Smith, who expresses aloud her admiration for American politicians, such as the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
“He was able to create a little bastion of freedom and we want to create a little bastion of freedom in Alberta,” said Ms.me Smith. Governor DeSantis, an opponent of Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, has chosen to woo the hard right. A ban on abortion after just six weeks, the death penalty for child sexual abuse, and an unending war against Disney – one of Florida’s largest employers – allegedly contaminated by “woke” ideology.
But everything indicates that the Conservative election campaign will not focus on these themes and that Mme Instead, Smith intends to speak to the portfolio of Albertans. His first election promise was to reduce the overall tax burden by approximately $1 billion with, among other things, the creation of a new, lower tax bracket for the less well-off.
Mme Smith was a Conservative member of the Alberta legislature and left her party in 2014 to form the Wildrose Party, a division that played a significant role in the defeat of the Conservatives and the surprise victory of the New Democratic Party, led by Rachel Notley. , who will be his main opponent during this campaign.
The Wildrose returned home and merged with the Conservatives to form the United Conservative Party. But, despite an electoral victory, the mandate has not been easy for the conservatives. In particular, the pandemic and health measures will have caused deep divisions which will lead Prime Minister Jason Kenney to resign. Mme Smith will succeed him.
The campaign will therefore be between two leaders who have been Prime Minister. But with almost diametrically opposed ideologies, especially with regard to their vision of federalism.
The first bill tabled by Mr.me Smith was called the “Alberta Sovereignty in a United Canada Act.” The title makes Quebec smile and brings to mind the political theories of Yvon Deschamps. But it was rather a real declaration of war on the federal government.
This would, among other things, allow the Alberta legislature to circumvent federal laws that it deems harmful to the province.
When we know that Mme Smith opposes any idea of energy transition.
While the government says it hopes to successfully decarbonize its economy by 2050, very few concrete measures have been announced and the oil and gas industry remains the foundation of Alberta’s economy.
Premier Smith has long criticized the Canada Health Acteven if she says today that she supports public financing of the health system.
She also raised the possibility of leaving the Canada Pension Plan and creating the Alberta equivalent of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec. And she is also very critical of equalization, of which Alberta is one of the contributors.
But his message touches as much on his vision of federalism as on an uninhibited right which was not afraid, for example, to show its support for convoys of truckers, as Mr. Poilievre did in Ottawa.
For its part, the NDP of Mme Notley takes far less divisive and fairly traditional positions for his party, particularly when it comes to cooperating with the federal government.
In Alberta, the capital, Edmonton, is said to vote NDP; rural areas vote Conservative and the election is decided in Calgary. The two parties are neck and neck in the polls. The electoral campaign will be decisive. And it will be watched closely by political parties in Ottawa.