Alberta Voters Choose a Leader Who Compared Them To Followers of Hitler For Getting Vaccinated

Yesterday, Alberta voters rewarded the United Conservative Party with a second majority government this time under Danielle Smith. This despite the fact that Smith once likened the 75% of Albertans who received the COVID vaccine to Nazis. 

The UCP was first elected four years ago under the leadership of Jason Kenney when they ousted the NDP led by Rachel Notley. However, Kenney would be heavily criticized for his handling of the COVID pandemic among his own ranks and would resign from office last October. Kenney was succeeded by Danielle Smith. 

Smith is no stranger to Alberta politics. In 2009, she became the leader of the upstart Wildrose Party, a conservative party which believed the Tories weren't conservative enough. In 2012, Smith would become leader of the official opposition. But then in a stunning move she and most of the Wildrose caucus would cross the floor to join the Tories in 2014 after Jim Prentice became Premier. The following the year, the Tories' 44-year grip on power was smashed to smithereens by Notley's NDP and Smith was out of the political arena.

Smith had spent most of the past 7 years in local talk radio peddling conspiracy theories when she re-entered politics last year. Shortly after becoming Premier, Smith called the unvaccinated, "The most discriminated against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime" and briefly considered amending Alberta's human rights code to include the unvaccinated as a protected group. 

The comment likening Albertans who received the COVID vaccine to followers of Hitler took place in November 2021 but resurfaced at the outset of the election campaign earlier this month. Smith did apologize for the comments, but it was hardly the first time she had invoked Nazi imagery with regard to COVID vaccines. Indeed, in a column Smith wrote for the Calgary Herald in March 2021, she likened the development of the COVID vaccines to medical experiments conducted on Jews by Nazi doctors. 

Notwithstanding Smith's kooky and unhinged views, she and her party won 52.6% of the vote last night capturing 49 out of 87 seats in the Alberta legislature. Perhaps the apology was enough for most Albertans. Or perhaps most Albertans don't mind when their leader likens them to followers of the Fuhrer. 

If Albertans are prepared to elect Smith as their Premier, then it is entirely possible Canadians at large will choose Pierre Poilievre as the next Prime Minister. In which case, Trumpism will have spread to my home and native land.