{"id":71853,"date":"2025-08-15T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/71853\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:02:09","slug":"alberta-premier-met-with-anger-criticism-at-alberta-next-panel-in-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/71853\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta premier met with anger, criticism at Alberta Next Panel in Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference in Calgary on Friday, Oct. 13, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Todd KorolTodd Korol\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

A travelling panel collecting public feedback on Alberta\u2019s grievances with Ottawa struggled to keep an emotionally-charged crowd on topic at its third summer town hall on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> and members of her Alberta Next panel drew its biggest crowd yet \u2013 nearly 750 people \u2013 in Edmonton to brainstorm about possible future referendum questions.<\/p>\n

Division and outrage in the room quickly spilled over into anger, F-bombs, and challenges to Smith\u2019s United Conservative Party government that weren\u2019t on the agenda, from health care to accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n

Danielle Smith\u2019s Alberta Next survey asks whether province should withhold social services for immigrants<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked why the UCP had recently removed a requirement for ministers and senior staff to publicly release receipts for expense claims over $100, Smith said something went awry and made an unexpected policy announcement.<\/p>\n

The change was supposed to be an effort to keep the location of frequently used hotels for government trips redacted, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to see if we can maybe try to track down what happened and do a reversal,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

In her friendly opening remarks, Smith said \u201cwhen Edmonton speaks, we listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was met with a flutter of guffaws from one end of the room.<\/p>\n

As the lineups to two open mics in the room grew difficult to corral, off-topic questions and comments drew frequent interruptions from the crowd and the moderator, Bruce McAllister. <\/p>\n

He soon became the target of vocal disdain. In an effort at crowd control, he compared the behaviour of some in the crowd to that of a toddler in a grocery store throwing a tantrum.<\/p>\n

Many who spoke at the mic were critical of the proposals and the panel\u2019s mission. <\/p>\n

But most in attendance registered their support for the panel\u2019s six policy ideas in straw polls, including pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan and creating a provincial police force to replace the RCMP. <\/p>\n

Some cheered enthusiastically as pre-released videos were projected beside the stage. With a show of hands, the crowd came down in favour of ideas like withholding social services for some immigrants, and reforming federal cash transfers and equalization.<\/p>\n

Others in attendance pushed back and got heated over issues like health care.<\/p>\n

Danielle Smith, Alberta justice minister want separation referendum question approved<\/a><\/p>\n

Some called the government\u2019s videos propaganda, misinformation, or, in one case, \u201cdisgusting\u201d for appearing to blame newcomers for pressures on housing and social services. Several questioned why the UCP wasn\u2019t focused on addressing more basic public needs.<\/p>\n

At one point, one man asked: \u201cWhy do we think we should have to fight tooth and nail for our right to health care?\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was soon defending her government\u2019s decision to force many Albertans to pay for COVID-19 vaccinations<\/a> this fall.<\/p>\n

The premier noted that COVID shots are no longer being funded by the federal government, and was met with heckles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true,\u201d Smith said, punctuated with some light profanity in a response that was met with applause.<\/p>\n

In her closing remarks, she acknowledged the polarization in the room, but insisted Alberta can\u2019t expect to get a fair deal from the federal government \u201cjust by sitting down and having tea together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am all for diplomacy, but you have to be willing to meet people on a two-way street,\u201d she said, pointing to federal green electricity policies she has long labelled unachievable.<\/p>\n

Smith has said one of the reasons for the panel is to address concerns that are inspiring separatist sentiment in the province.<\/p>\n

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has said there are provincial grievances with Ottawa that need to be addressed, but has dismissed the panel as a way for Smith to curry favour with extreme elements of her UCP to keep them from splintering off.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also said the government is using it to conjure up unreliable data to support things it already wants to do.<\/p>\n

Earlier events were held last month in Red Deer<\/a> and Edmonton.<\/p>\n

All three drew protesters at the gates and inside, dismissals of the panel as a self-serving political exercise meant to stir up discontent and division.<\/p>\n

It is now set to host events in Fort McMurray and Lloydminster in two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference in Calgary on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-71853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}