New ‘Sovereigntist’ Alberta Premier to Assert Independence from Federal Trudeau Govt

The ruling United Conservative Party in the Canadian province of Alberta has selected a new leader known for her sovereigntist stance toward the Canadian federal government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Danielle Smith was elected the new leader of the United Conservatives and will become Alberta’s new Premier and head of the provincial government after succeeding former Premier Jason Kenney, who stepped down earlier this year after three years in office.

Following her victory, Smith made it clear that she supports an Alberta free from interference from the federal government led by Prime Minister Trudeau, saying: “No longer will Alberta ask permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free. We will not have our voices silenced or censored. We will not be told what we must put in our bodies in order that we may work or travel,” the CBC reports.

“We will not have our resources landlocked or our energy phased out of existence by virtue-signalling prime ministers. Albertans, not Ottawa, will chart our own destiny on our terms, and will work with our fellow Canadians to build the most free and prosperous country on earth,” Smith added.

Smith is noted for her support of the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which could allow the Alberta government to ignore laws passed in Ottawa if it determined those laws were contrary to the interests of the province and its residents.

Alberta’s lieutenant-governor Salma Lakhani, a Uganda-born Muslim appointed to her post on Trudeau’s advice, has threatened to block the act, however, using veto powers derived from the monarchy which are seldom exercised in Canadian politics.

“We will try and cross that bridge when we get to it, and we will get the appropriate advice that we need as to whether we can sign, whether it’s against our Constitution,” Lakhani said earlier this year in August.

“I’m what I would call a constitutional fire extinguisher. We don’t have to use it a lot, but sometimes we do,” she said, claiming that “[w]e want to do the right thing for our people and for our Constitution.”

Alberta has seen its separatist and sovereigntist movements bolstered since Trudeau came to power in 2015, with a 2019 poll showing around one in three Albertans supported leaving the Dominion of Canada altogether.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.