Danielle Smith, party girl separatist

CALGARY - The first thing you notice are the Canadian flags.

On poles, tacked to garage doors, on makeshift displays, the maple leaf is much more evident than before. If you drive around Calgary’s Southeast, where four rock-ribbed Conservative federal ridings are found, there many more Canadian flags than Alberta flags.  It is noticeable.

It is also consequential. Albertans generally, and Calgarians specifically, have always had a fraught relationship with Canada. Alberta’s historic complaints about Confederation - an uneven equalization system, punitive regulation of the energy sector, inadequate representation at the federal level - are all valid.

Peter Lougheed, the Conservative giant against whom all subsequent Alberta Premiers are measured, fought that imbalance, and usually won. Lougheed forced Pierre Trudeau to compromise on the constitutional amending formula, on control of natural resources, on the notwithstanding clause.

But he was a Canadian, always. "I've said on many occasions that I'm a Canadian before an Albertan,” Lougheed said in 2012. “Don't take that comment lightly. That's a very important view to have and that's been our theme all along here.”

It’s not the theme anymore. Or not, at least, the prevailing theme during the chaotic reign of his erstwhile successor, Danielle Smith. Smith has pushed through a referendum on taking Alberta out of Canada. Her United Conservative Party caucus is overflowing with Canada-wreckers, and Smith has decided to give them what they want.

“Lougheed must be spinning in his grave,” says one Calgary oilman, who didn’t want to be named, fearing retribution by Smith’s UCP thugs. “We’ve got complaints about Canada. But we don’t want to separate.” He shakes his head. “Smith is weak.”

You hear that all over Calgary, in the Spring of 2026. Smith is indeed seen as a weak leader by many longtime Conservative voters, here. And, on the weekend, federal leader Pierre Poilievre returned to his birthplace to show some strength.

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