Will the Real Danielle Smith Please Stand Up?

Over 20 years ago, then-Finance Minister of Alberta Patricia Nelson embarked on a crusade to rip rights away from innocent injured Albertans so as to reduce auto insurance rates for the young and the reckless. A then-conservative columnist from the Calgary Herald by the name of Danielle Smith remarked, “If you believe Nelson, the reason Alberta needs insurance reform at all is because a bunch of summer students are being refused jobs by companies that don’t want to pay astronomical premiums to let them drive the company truck. If you believe Nelson’s critics, it’s because her own son was hit with an eye-bugging insurance increase in recent years.”

Then-conservative columnist Smith absolutely lambasted the Alberta government’s slimy scheme, calling it immoral, siding with audacious Alberta accident attorney Mark McCourt, and referring to a superior auto insurance reform plan, specifically a 12 point list of suggestions put forward by the Accident Victims/Insurance Policyholders Advocate. 

Smith, clearly conservative at the time, concluded her column as follows: “The province can use whatever terminology it wants to try and sell this scheme, but it still stinks. If insurance reform is going to work for regular Albertans, preserving the rights and interests of victims must be the starting point.”

Fun fact: the very next day after Danielle Smith's column appeared in the newspaper, Nelson’s scheme was torpedoed by her actually Conservative caucus, and she was forced to settle a year later for a minor injury cap on fast-healing sprains and strains before leaving public office for good.

Fast forward now to present day: Danielle Smith is Premier of Alberta (if only perhaps until next year)! And while she leads the United Conservative Party, some question whether she is in fact conservative, and whether she in fact should still lead the party. Setting aside for the moment the fact that earlier this year, Premier Smith allowed then-Finance Minister of Alberta Nate Horner to deliver an NDP budget, today's blog post focuses on the fact that last year, the Premier allowed Horner to pass legislation setting the table for a leftist no-fault auto insurance scheme to be implemented in Alberta next year. While we recognize that the Premier has since had the good sense to replace Horner with a new Finance Minister, the fact remains that she and new Finance Minister Jason Nixon have not yet slammed the brakes on Nate's inane no-fault scheme and wisely taken the off-ramp. 

The last province to bring in no-fault auto insurance was British Columbia five years, under NDP Premier David Eby (seen in this linked photo enjoying an NHL playoff game in a luxury box with Premier Smith and her generous benefactor, Sam Mraiche). What's wacky is that both Albertans Against No-Fault Insurance and the Insurance Bureau of Canada have gone on public record warning Danielle Smith what a train-wreck BC's no-fault scheme has been, and yet Smith still hasn't derailed her government's asinine no-fault plans. Perhaps rather than hanging out with the BC NDP leader (or with her bestie Mark Carney), Premier Smith should have a chat with new BC Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who has vowed if she becomes BC Premier to "repeal the NDP's harsh no-fault ICBC insurance system and restore meaningful legal rights for individuals with injuries to pursue full and fair compensation in court, including for income loss and non-economic damages."

Premier Smith should heed the sound legal advice of former Justice Minister of Alberta Jonathan Denis, a true blue(van) conservative, who has called Nate's No-Fault Law "one of the worst pieces of legislation I've ever seen. People lose their rights almost entirely, premiums go up, and the insurance companies control it all." Mr. Denis was one of hundreds of UCP members at the party's most recent AGM who overwhelmingly rejected the Smith government's no-fault scheme, euphemistically dubbed "Care-First" by the pinhead bureaucrats in the Finance department. If the real Danielle Smith is still truly conservative, she should stand up at a formal press conference with her new and improved Finance Minister and announce that Nate's No-Fault Law is being tossed in the trash forthwith. 

Were Kerry-Lynne Findlay Alberta's Conservative leader rather than BC's, undoubtedly she would say of this so-called "Care-First" scheme, "This is heartbreaking and completely unacceptable. I will repeal Nate's No-Fault Law and protect innocent injured Albertans' full legal rights to fair compensation from reckless drivers' insurance companies." That is what Premier Smith should say, and without further delay.  

Let's give the last words to then-conservative columnist Danielle Smith, words that apply perfectly to Nate Horner's horrific "Care-First" fiasco: “The province can use whatever terminology it wants to try and sell this scheme, but it still stinks. If insurance reform is going to work for regular Albertans, preserving the rights and interests of victims must be the starting point.”