Premier rules with an iron fist

Editor:

There were many women in the past that ruled with an Iron fist including Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May of Great Britain and now Danielle Smith, our new Premier of Alberta. She became the 19^th Premier since Oct 11, 2022. In the recent by- election on Nov 8^th for Brooks and Medicine Hat, she won 54.5 % of the votes. Jason Kenny won the same number of votes, but he stepped down as Premier of Alberta. When Kenny was Premier, he was the spokesperson who dealt with AHS issues; now Smith is doing the same thing, so nothing has changed. Ideally, the Chief Medical Health Officer should take over the reins when it comes to dealing with COVID or other medical-related problems Albertans are having with current respiratory cases in the province.

Her background indicated she is a Canadian politician and journalist. Her first name is Marlaina -she was named after the song “Marlena” by the Four Seasons.  Her great grandfather was a Ukrainian Immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1913.

Recently she introduced Bill 1 called the “Alberta Sovereignty Act.” Majority of Albertans and the opposition leader, Rachel Notley, opposed it because Smith intended to change Alberta laws behind closed doors and not follow the rules and regulations of the Federal Government. She kept telling Albertans that as long as she is in power Prime Minister Justin Trudeau better watch himself especially when Quebec gets all the breaks. 

The indigenous people are not enthusiastic about losing their constitution. I would like to share a similar situation that happened in the two cities of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine that has been under conflict for many years controlled by Russian Separatists, and they proclaimed the regions as Independent People’s Republic in 2014 yet the civil servants received pay from the Ukrainian government. This could happen in Alberta now that Danielle Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Act Bill was passed without the vote of all MLAs; we could lose our Constitution. I think Smith should call an election in early 2023 to see if Albertans want her to rule.

Paul Jones

Coaldale

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