Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether her list of priorities for the upcoming sitting, which include public sector hiring based on “merit<\/a>,” protections for data centre development and the future of bike lanes, will speak to the cities.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of the recent focus on the more performative politics has served the UCP minority base really well,\u201d said Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut the more we debate \u2026 which books should be in a library,\u201d he said, referring to a recent bill <\/a>to limit sexually explicit material in public libraries, \u201cthe more you lose the mainstream Calgarians who actually just want to get things done, want to know that life is safe and affordable.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith herself has talked about the need to refocus on voters in Edmonton and Calgary, telling CBC News<\/a> last week that her government needed to \u201cidentify the issues\u201d that were important to residents of the two urban centres, which together make up just over half of the provincial population.<\/p>\n Urban voters are focused on issues like education, health care and affordability, which is why her government has (temporarily) paused the gas tax<\/a> at the pumps and rolled out \u201ccomplexity teams<\/a>\u201d in classrooms, Smith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues that were of the referendum, I think it\u2019s pretty clear those are … of greater interest to those who are in political parties and punditry circles and in rural Alberta than they were in Calgary or Edmonton.”\u00a0<\/p>\n WATCH | Mapping out where Albertans voted to remain (or not) in Canada: Mapping out where Albertans voted to remain (or not) in Canada<\/p>\n Alberta voters overwhelmingly chose “remain in Canada” in the Oct. 19 referendum. CBC’s Helen Pike maps the ridings that favoured Option 2 to explore separation, and the results may surprise you.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a change of script from 2022 when Smith, then a newly-minted party leader, made waves by suggesting she didn\u2019t need much urban support. Instead, she had mapped out a \u201crural-based\u201d path to electoral victory, telling a columnist<\/a> that she\u2019d done the math and would only need a relative handful of city seats if she won everywhere else.<\/p>\n Smith delivered, winning a majority the following year. She took a dozen seats in Calgary and a few on the outskirts of Edmonton, but painted most of the map blue everywhere else. <\/p>\n But Calgary has since rejected most of Smith\u2019s referendum questions and, Young points out, flipped the reliably right-leaning riding of Calgary-Shaw to the NDP in a recent byelection<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like Calgary is in a different place than it was a couple of years ago,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n It may not help that Smith, a frequent critic of federal overreach, has waded into municipal issues in recent months, essentially overturning the decisions<\/a> of city councils on issues like infill housing and zoning, and now appears to have her sights set on bike lanes, Young added.\u00a0<\/p>\n It \u201cdoesn\u2019t really signal wanting to have a relationship of respect with these urban governments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really interesting to watch and see whether there\u2019s a softening of the hostility with Edmonton and Calgary city governments.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayor Jeromy Farkas says he’s not surprised most Calgarians rejected the referendum questions, and he will be looking to see how the provincial government prioritizes investment in his city over the next year. (Brendan Coulter\/CBC)<\/p>\n But as Farkas points out, a year away from a provincial election, there\u2019s still time for Smith to turn it around. He\u2019s waiting to see what\u2019s in the provincial budget: \u201cI don\u2019t watch what the politicians are saying; I watch what the politicians are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see much more substantive investment here locally in Calgary around affordability, public safety and essential infrastructure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea of Alberta as the land of cowboys and open prairie can clash with its urban reality as, contrary to stereotypes, Alberta is actually one of the country\u2019s most urbanized provinces.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Statistics Canada<\/a>, it had the third smallest proportion of rural residents as of 2021 at roughly 15 per cent. That makes it more urbanized than the national average, and close on the heels of uber-urban provinces like Ontario and British Columbia.<\/p>\n But rural issues play a big role in provincial politics here, Young notes. That\u2019s in part a result of the electoral map, which allows for a smaller number of residents in some rural ridings, in order to ensure remote areas have adequate representation.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793268371_179_default.jpg\")
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