Bowling with Danielle

When my kids were little, I used to love taking them to the bowling alley, because it was totally legit to ask for the bumpers on our lane. With the bumpers up, I felt like I was a half-way competent bowler.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Premier Danielle Smith is currently about as competent at governing as I am at bowling. Those who know me in real life understand just how damning a statement that is.

Fortunately for Smith, the bumpers are up to keep her from landing her ball in the gutter.

On one side of the lane, she has the apolitical Public Service. It’s their job to help her find ways to deliver on her agenda without breaking the law or otherwise courting disaster. So when a Premier arrives in office planning to get rid of all the ‘high and mighties’ in the public service who served under the NDP, it’s the job of her Deputy Minister to patiently explain the apolitical role of the public service, and lay out the non-trivial challenges involved in recruiting new senior leaders on short notice.

And so, what we end up with is a suite of Deputy Ministers with few departures and not many new faces. While the Premier accepted this continuity (including keeping the DM at Health, a portfolio she has singled out for criticism), she did get one win (and hey, what Agriculture minister wouldn’t want a professional bull fighter as their DM?)

On the other side of the lane, the UCP caucus serves as a bumper. Smith did not have many endorsements from the UCP caucus, and her win in the leadership was hardly overwhelming. After her first caucus meeting, Smith’s Sovereignty Act was a much-diminished proposal. The continuity in her Cabinet will make it difficult for Smith to pursue radical policy change prior to the 2023 election.

Although Smith continues to make bold statements about the agenda she is going to pursue, her first moves suggest that she is very much constrained by the institutions of parliamentary government — the need to maintain confidence of the legislature (and thus her caucus), and the apolitical public service.

She will no doubt start to chafe under these restrictions and demand that the bumpers be removed. And that is when Alberta politics will get even more interesting (again).