Danielle Smith

In 1998, Smith entered politics when she ran for the board of trustees of the Calgary Board of Education. She won, but less than a year later, the chairwoman complained that the board had become dysfunctional. In response, the provincial Minister of Learning, Lyle Oberg, dismissed the entire board after 11 months into their term.[15][10]

Years later, Smith said she had been far too strident during her tenure as a board trustee and said the experience taught her to be more tolerant of those with whom she disagreed.[16] Subsequently, Smith pursued work as an advocate for ranchers, farmers and other rural landowners with the Alberta Property Rights Initiative and the Canadian Property Rights Research Institute.[17]

Smith supported Ted Morton in the 2006 PC leadership election. Morton lost to Ed Stelmach, and Smith became increasingly disillusioned with what she said were Stelmach's "free-spending ways".[15] Smith cited the 2008 provincial budget as a turning point where she determined that Stelmach's government had 'lost its way'.[18]

After her time as a school board trustee Smith joined the Calgary Herald as a columnist with the editorial board. Her columns included coverage of city hall and health reform, but also ventured into provocative topics. In 2003, she wrote a column supporting the legalization of sex work and proposed the creation of a red-light district in Calgary.[19] That same year, she wrote smoking cigarettes can "reduce the risk of disease."[20]

She then went on to succeed Charles Adler as host of the national current affairs program Global Sunday, a Sunday-afternoon interview show on Global Television. She also hosted two talk radio programs focused on health policy and property rights.[15][17]

She met her second husband, David Moretta, who was an executive producer with Global Television at the time and would go on to be a former executive producer with Sun Media.[17]

In 2004, Smith was named one of Calgary's "Top 40 Under 40".[21]

In September 2006, she co-hosted the Calgary Congress, a national assembly of citizens and economic and constitutional specialists to consider basic federal reforms for Canada.[22]

Smith was hired by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in 2006, becoming a provincial director for Alberta.

In June 2019, Smith registered as a lobbyist for the Alberta Enterprise Group, an association where Smith was also the president.[23] At that time Smith lobbied the provincial government on behalf of industry for the RStar program.[24]

Smith in 2012

Smith quit the PC party in 2009 and joined the Wildrose Alliance.[16] The Tories sent MLA Rob Anderson, one of the more fiscally conservative members of their caucus, to talk Smith out of it. Years later, Smith recalled that Anderson told her that despite the Tories' reckless spending and unwillingness to listen to the backbench, they were the only credible centre-right party in the province. Smith refused to stay, saying that there was no hope of restoring Alberta to fiscal sanity under the Tories, and that the Wildrose was the only credible chance at electing a fiscally conservative government. As far as she was concerned, she told Anderson, "This (Tory) government is beyond redemption. It's out of control."[25]

Later that year, Smith was recruited by Wildrose officials to run for the leadership of the party.[15][26] During the course of the leadership campaign outgoing leader Paul Hinman won in a by-election in the riding of Calgary-Glenmore.[27] His win meant he was one of four in the Wildrose caucus; by the time Smith was elected leader on October 17, 2009, support for the party had quadrupled since the 2008 election.[28][29] After Smith was elected leader, support for the Wildrose Party continued to grow.[30] Smith convinced three PCs who served in government to cross the floor to join the Wildrose Party: Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth, and later Guy Boutiller.[16]

In early 2011, she was featured in an episode of CBC Television's Make the Politician Work.[31]

For most of the time before the 2012 provincial election, it appeared that Smith was poised to become the first woman to lead a party to victory in an Alberta election.[32] Numerous polls indicated that the Wildrose Party could defeat the governing Progressive Conservatives, who were also led by a woman, Premier Alison Redford. The PCs had governed the province since 1971, the second-longest unbroken run in government at the provincial level.[33][34][35]

The Wildrose Party won 17 seats[36] on 34.3% of the popular vote, and took over Official Opposition status from the Alberta Liberal Party. Smith was elected to the Legislature from Highwood, just south of Calgary, on the same day, defeating John Barlow, editor of the Okotoks Western Wheel.[15][37][38]

Political pundits suggested Wildrose lost their early polling lead over the Progressive Conservatives due to Smith's defence of two Wildrose candidates who had made controversial remarks. Allan Hunsperger, running in an Edmonton riding, had written a blog post claiming that gays would end up in a "lake of fire" if they did not renounce their lifestyle. Ron Leech had claimed he would have a leg up on the competition in his Calgary riding because he was white.[39] According to the National Post, Hunsperger and Leech's extreme views, as well as Smith's refusal to condemn them, cost her a chance of unseating Redford.[36] Ultimately, Wildrose was denied victory mainly because it was unable to get any foothold in the urban areas. It won only two seats in Calgary and was completely shut out in Edmonton.

In appraising the election results at the Wildrose 2012 annual general meeting, Smith advocated freezing out candidates who cannot respectfully communicate their views in future elections. Smith asked members to adopt a forward-looking policy platform for the next election.[40]

Smith and Jim Prentice announcing that she and eight other Wildrose MLAs would be crossing the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives.

After Redford left politics in the spring of 2014 due to allegations of corruption, Smith's Wildrose party was initially the major beneficiary. However, this momentum stalled when former federal cabinet minister Jim Prentice became PC leader and premier. Under Prentice, the PCs swept four by-elections in October.[25] Smith was dealt a second blow at the Wildrose annual general meeting, when an anti-discrimination resolution that she strongly supported was voted down while she was out of the room.[41]

On December 17, 2014, Smith announced that she, deputy leader Rob Anderson, and seven other Wildrose MLAs were crossing the floor to join the PCs.[42] Smith had criticized two other Wildrose MLAs for defecting to the PCs a month earlier; she had publicly stated that "there'll be no more floor crossings."[43] It was later revealed, however, that Smith and Prentice had been in talks about a possible merger for several months.[44] Smith said that several conversations with Prentice revealed that they shared much common ground, particularly on fiscal issues. Ultimately, she concluded that it made little sense for her to continue in opposition. "If you’re going to be the official Opposition leader," she said, "you have to really want to take down the government and really take down the premier. I don't want to take down this premier. I want this premier to succeed."[45] Several weeks after Smith joined the Progressive Conservatives, in a Facebook post, she apologized for the anger caused by her move and for not consulting with Albertans before making the decision. At the same time, she stood by her decision to "unify conservatives" in the province, and indicated that she intended to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in Highwood for the next election.[46][47][48]

Smith was defeated in her bid for the PC nomination in Highwood by Okotoks Councillor Carrie Fischer on March 28, 2015. Smith's defeat was attributed to her floor-crossing which angered many in her riding.[49] Fischer then lost to Wildrose candidate Wayne Anderson in the general election.[50]

In the intervening period, Smith went on to host a talk radio program on CHQR in Calgary.[51] On January 11, 2021, she announced that she was leaving her talk show and Twitter, citing attacks from Twitter trolls, effective February 19, 2021.[52]

After she became premier, it was revealed that she made comments on April 29 during a Locals.com livestream about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Smith argued for a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine and advocated for Ukraine's neutrality. She also made subsequently deleted posts in March that questioned whether breakaway regions in Ukraine should be able to govern independently, and whether NATO played a role in the invasion, citing a conspiracy theory promoted by Tucker Carlson alleging 'secret U.S. funded biolabs' in Ukraine.[53] On October, 16, she issued a statement saying that she "stands with the Ukrainian people" and advocated for diplomacy to "spare millions of Ukrainian lives."[54] Smith also made posts on Locals.com critical of COVID-19 vaccines and questioned the legitimacy of reports that unmarked graves had been found in Canadian residential schools.[55]

In July 2021, Smith wrote an opinion article supporting Jason Kenney's referendum on equalization payments, held on October 18, 2021.[56]

In May 2022, Smith announced that she was launching a campaign to seek the leadership of the United Conservative Party of Alberta, after the resignation of sitting premier and UCP leader Jason Kenney.[57] Smith was perceived to be the frontrunner among party members in the race to replace Kenney according to internal polling released to the Calgary Sun.[58]

Smith's central policy was to enact what she called the Alberta Sovereignty Act if she became premier. The proposal argued for more autonomy for Alberta in Confederation and called on the provincial legislature to make determinations on when to ignore federal legislation infringing upon Alberta's jurisdiction.[59] Six of Smith's opponents in the leadership race criticized the act.[60] Jason Kenney described it as a "full-frontal attack on the rule of law", as well as a step towards separation and a "banana republic".[61]

On October 6, Smith won the UCP leadership vote with 53.77% of the vote on the sixth ballot, becoming the premier-designate.[62] She was sworn in as the 19th premier and minister of Intergovernmental Relations on October 11.[63]

Smith's campaign ran a deficit of $26,792 after spending $1,389,829 on her successful campaign.[64]

After being sworn in as premier, Smith said that she would not impose any further measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.[65][66] She also said that people who are unvaccinated should be protected under the Alberta Human Rights Act; alluding to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, she said that they have been "the most discriminated against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime",[67][68] had "faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year", and that "we are not going to create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice". The remarks faced criticism for alleged trivialization of discrimination faced by minority groups, for which Smith did not apologize.[65][66][69]

On October 24, Smith pulled Alberta from the World Economic Forum Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare, saying that she would not "work with a group that talks about controlling governments." "I find it distasteful when billionaires brag about how much control they have over political leaders," she said.[70][71][72]

As Smith was not a member of the Legislative Assembly at the time she became premier, she ran in a by-election for the southern Alberta seat of Brooks-Medicine Hat on November 8, 2022.[73] The incumbent, fellow UCP MLA Michaela Frey, resigned soon after Smith was elected leader and premier, and had encouraged Smith to run.[74] Longstanding convention in Westminster systems calls for the incumbent in a safe seat to resign in order to allow a newly elected leader a chance to enter the legislature. Smith won the by-election, with 54.5% of the vote.[75]

In late-November 2022, Smith backpedaled on her plan to introduce a bill that would add unvaccinated individuals as a protected class under the Alberta Human Rights Act. However, Smith continued to promote an intent for herself and her ministers to contact businesses and organizations that were still "discriminating" via COVID-19 vaccine mandates and ask them to "reconsider their vaccination policy in the light of new evidence". She stated that "most employers have made the responsible decision to not discriminate against their workers", and for people to inform their MLAs "If there is still discrimination".[76][77][78] In December 2022 the legislature passed the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act.[79]

The Alberta ethics commissioner started investigating Smith in April, 2023 for her alleged interference with the administration of justice.[80] Smith had previously promised pardons for those guilty of COVID-19 violations and indicated she was in regular contact with Crown prosecutors.[81]

Smith has made claims about her ancestry that have been debunked by genealogists and Canadian immigration records.

Her paternal great-grandfather was Philipus Kolodnicki, whose name was anglicized to "Philip Smith" upon arriving in Canada.

In October 2022, she claimed Kolodnicki left Ukraine after the First World War, which ended in 1918, to escape communism. She said her political beliefs were "largely born out of a complete distrust of the socialism from which my great-grandfather fled."[95] In a 2012 profile in The Globe and Mail, Smith claimed Kolodnicki was a Ukrainian immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1915.[16][18]

Immigration records reviewed by The Toronto Star showed Kolodnicki arrived in Canada in 1913, before either the First World War or the 1917 October Revolution. Kolodnicki also listed his nation of origin as Austria and his race as Ruthenian, a term that at the time referred to the ancestors of modern Ukrainians, Belarusians and Rusyns.[95]

Beginning in 2012, Smith claimed she had Cherokee roots through her great-great-grandmother, Mary Frances Crowe. Smith also claimed Crowe was part of the Trail of Tears and forcibly relocated to Kansas in the 1830s.[96]

An investigation from APTN National News looked over U.S. census records and found Crowe was born in 1870 in Georgia, about 20 years after the U.S. government forced the Cherokee out of their homelands.[96]

Kathy Griffin, a Cherokee genealogist in Texas who worked with APTN, could not find proof that any of Smith's ancestors were members of the historical Cherokee tribes, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma, or the Cherokee Nation. Smith's ancestors also did not appear on the Dawes Roll, a U.S. registry cataloguing members of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole.[96]

A statement to the National Post following APTN's story said Smith had not done a “deep dive into her ancestry” and "heard about her heritage from her loved ones."[97]