All you need is rage

🎶 doo-ti-doo-ti-doo🎶

(With apologies to the Beatles)

Danielle Smith hasn’t had a great week.

Last Thursday, when asked about her promise to pardon individuals charged with violating COVID-19 restrictions, she upset her supporters by admitting that she would allow justice to take its course. And she upset the establishment wing of the party by adding that she regularly spoke to Crown prosecutors to "ask them on a regular basis, as new cases come out, is it in the public interest to pursue and is there a reasonable likelihood of conviction?"

The next day, the Crown prosecutors issued a statement to say, ‘um, nope. Didn’t happen. Shouldn’t happen’ (paraphrased!)

Smith’s office also issued a statement: “I had discussions with the attorney general and deputy attorney general and asked them to look into what options were available with respect to outstanding COVID-related cases”

By Saturday, Smith was sneering at her Thursday self: “Of course, I've never called a Crown prosecutor. You're not allowed to do that as a politician. Everyone knows that.”

And yesterday she took a swipe at her 2022 self: “Because we’ve been so influenced by the (United) States, I think that some people think that a premier has the same power as they do in the States of clemency or offering pardons.”

All of this creates at least three problems for the Premier and her party.

First, recall that polls show that many Albertans dislike or distrust Smith. She trails the party in popularity. The spectacle of the Premier changing her story day to day does nothing to inspire trust in her competence to govern.

Second, the statement and the clarification, and the clarification of the clarification, and then the reprise all kept the focus on the one thing the party establishment wants her to stop talking about: COVID. Smith’s path to the party leadership passed through convoy territory, and she and her supporters have views about COVID that aren’t shared by the mainstream suburban voters the party desperately needs to win back. So every time Smith talks about COVID, she reminds those swing voters about an issue that makes them distrust her.

Third, the Premier’s transparent effort to be simultaneously on both sides of the issue reminds all of us that the United Conservative Party remains fundamentally divided on how the government should have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are signs that there’s trouble behind the scenes. The Premier tells us that her caucus will vet the membership of the COVID panel she plans to appoint. Quite unusual, and perhaps a sign that there’s caucus unrest. A podcaster tweets that there’s unrest in the caucus, and talk of changing leaders, as the more moderate wing of the caucus tires of Smith’s performance.

Smith finds herself in the lonely position Jason Kenney occupied not so long ago. The Calgary/establishment wing of the party wants more consistency and good governance. The convoy/Take Back Alberta wing of the party wants to re-litigate COVID.

What to do? Call the reliable columnists (Bell and Braid) and tell them that you’re terrified about what the federal government has up its sleeve. Divert attention away from your mess. Remind your caucus of its common enemy. Try to stir up some rage, because it’s all you’ve got. And maybe, just maybe, it’s all you need.