Danielle Smith, Canada-wrecker

Full disclosure: I despise separatists.

My family were all born in Quebec. That was home. But in the Seventies, we had to leave Quebec because the separatists drove us out - we spoke English.

There have been two referenda in Quebec on separation. They cost Canada and Quebec jobs, investment and political stability. More than 700 companies left Quebec. Canadian stocks and companies lost value. And the experts say that the national economy was hit with billions in losses, year after year.

So, families like mine left. Peter Lougheed governed Alberta back then. He believed in Canada.  But Lougheed always fought for a better deal for Alberta - within Canada.

Here’s another disclosure: Danielle Smith and I went to the same high school in Calgary. She was there a few years after me. Later on, when I was involved in politics and she wasn’t, Smith had me on her Calgary 770 CHQR radio talk show a few times.

She wasn’t very smart. She always gave the impression that she was robotically reading the questions someone else had prepared for her.

This week, Danielle Smith again read the question that someone else had prepared for her. It’s a question that will be damaging to many, many people in the months to come.

Here’s the question: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

Just 37 words, but they are going to start causing lots of pain and unhappiness.  Here’s why.

The Alberta separatists are livid. They didn’t want referendum to hold a referendum. They wanted a direct and binding vote on leaving Canada now, not later. They’ve promised to drive Smith out of the Premier’s Office for betraying them.

The pro-Canada people aren’t happy. They’ve denounced Smith for causing untold economic damage to the province and the nation, for no good reason. They’re furious about the political uncertainty Smith has unleashed.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was born in NWT and raised in Alberta, isn’t pleased. He had just signed a historic pipeline deal with Smith, and then she turned around and stabbed him in the back.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre isn’t happy, either. Poilievre was born in Calgary and represents an Alberta riding. He has unambiguously promised to campaign against Smith’s referendum on leaving Canada.

First Nations are raging. They point out, correctly, that Danielle Smith has a constitutional obligation to meaningfully consult with them. She hasn’t done that, and they’ve promised to again take her to court.

Is anyone happy about Smith making it easier for some morons to destroy the best country in the world? For sure.

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