Wildrose Party

They'd be killed, subjected to the Nazi control, or they'd win freedom.

In 2015, the Wild Rose Party, those Wild Rosers knew three things in that election coming up.

Either the feckless provincial Conservative Party at that time would regain power or retain power, or vote would be split and the ndp would win or they would win but what did those two groups have in common the allies that stormed the beaches of normandy and those wild rosers at that time they had one thing in common do you know what it is what's that the courage to win they had the courage to win regardless of what the outcome was because they believed in it and who um subordinated their desire because they were leading in the polls you'll remember prior to that to be fair the

highest the ndp had ever polled at that time in alberta was 15 percent yeah right exactly splitting was not even a consideration

She got the result that she says she wanted.

However, the United Conservative Party is a marriage between Wildrose and what was the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.

And half of those members, based on polling, were in support of independence.

The others in support of of staying with Canada, and neither side of the UCP seemed to be happy with Danielle Smith.

Thanks for that, Michelle.

Jason Kenney, before I hand this over, I'll just mention for folks who aren't aware of the Wild Rose Party, this was a party that existed from 2007 until 2020 and was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta.

Lots to answer there, Jason Kenney.

Sure.

The latter two began introducing a series of policies, in my view, which were injurious to the industry that was paying the bills.

Now, on the second question about the merger that created the United Conservative Party, very reasonable question.

The caller mentioned the Wild Rose Party, which was one of the two legacy parties that I brought into a merger together to create the UCP.

The Wild Rose Party in its constitution was declaredly a federalist party, supported a strong Alberta in a united Canada.

It's based on a desire to hold power, and that's very different than a traditional political party which holds some form of ideological coherence.

The United Conservative Party was formed in fraud and in deception, and it was an attempt to capture the entirety of the right of the s- political spectrum in the province by fusing the progressive Conservative party with the Wild Rose Party.

And Jason Kenney, he and his campaign team, he denies knowing anything about it, but his campaign team, um, developed a strategy where they would run a kamikaze candidate against the main contender.

So they kind of cooked the results.

...

the UCP, uh, which was created back in 2017 when the Wild Rose Party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party.

And Kenney believed that the low support for his continued leadership was driven by Albertans who oppose the public health restrictions he put in place for COVID, like, you know, masking and vaccine passports, things like that.

Yeah.

So I, I, I think that is astute of you to note that the story of Alberta separatism, at least its present iteration, and Danielle Smith are quite inseparable.

And I think the role that she played in the media vis-a-vis Alberta separatism, going back to her days as a Calgary Herald columnist, sort of, uh, took a hiatus during her time as leader of the Wildrose Party because the Harper Conservatives were in power, and there is a, a very partisan political element to the ebbing and flowing of separatist sentiment in Alberta.

And then returning to it as a radio host.

And, and, and, and the main role that she's played there is legitimizing it, making people who advocate for separatism feel important and valued and like serious political thinkers, and articulating their concerns and at least finding common ground, if not with their desired outcome, but the grievances that are motivating it to present it to the broader public as something that's at least worth considering.

It's, uh, the very same vibes, uh, that we see there.

And, a- a- and I think what she got from this was this penchant for spectacle, for articulating positions that are outside of the mainstream in a way that sounds like common sense to, you know, your average person.

And she really honed this ability after the Wildrose years on talk radio, right? Like, she would have separatists on, uh, quite regularly, and she'd be like, "Look, I don't agree with them on everything, but, you know, we do have a lot of common ground.

And here's where I agree with them, in that our oil and gas industry is just so hard done by, and Alberta is just funding, uh, these social programs in Quebec, even though Quebec wants to block the Energy East pipeline," right? And I think that's why I, I think first and foremost, we have to understand Danielle Smith, before understanding her as a politician, as a spokesperson for other people's interests, and how the media really created her and, and gave her this ability to reach a large audience, uh, not just in print, but also on television, and really develop her masterful skills at communication.