What does Danielle Smith want?

The American threat has led to some strange bedfellows between the premiers and the feds. Leaders as different as Wab Kinew, Doug Ford and Mark Carney all seem to be on the same page. But not the Albertan premier.

She’s been the odd woman out during the past few months. She maintained friendly contacts with the Trump administration, she argued against the use of export controls on Albertan energy and she’s has been openly hostile to the new prime minister.

And then, a little over a week after the election, Smith announced that Alberta might hold a referendum on independence. Sort of. Kinda.

She’s lowering the threshold for a citizen’s referendum, which could lead to an independence referendum as early as next year. And while she continues to maintain that she’s a Canadian nationalist, she sure sounds like she’s sympathetic to the separatist cause.

So again, what exactly does Danielle Smith want? And would an independent Alberta even be a viable state?

I decided to ask Jen Gerson, the co-founder of The Line. Gerson is one of the most astute observers of Albertan politics. And as you’ll hear in our conversation, she is not a fan of the premier’s flirtations with Albertan separatism.

Featured in this episode: Jen Gerson (The Line)

To learn more

“Danielle Smith is destroying my kitchen” by Jen Gerson in The Line

“Separatists release potential Alberta referendum question, expect Danielle Smith to join cause” by Jason Markusoff in CBC News

Let the Eastern B******s Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation by Mary Janigan

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Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

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