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DANIELLE SMITH'S POLITICAL CIRCUS IS A STRATEGY, NOT AN ACCIDENT
Are you as sick of reading about Alberta Premier Danielle Smith as I am writing about her? In the last update I wrote about her proclivity for lying, previously not considered a good look for a province's elected leader but today almost commonplace. In this update Smith is up to more energy-related hijinks. Frankly, reporting about the UCP political and policy circus is exhausting. Nevertheless, it's time to acknowledge that Smith is not only the most consequential Canadian politician when it comes to energy and climate, but she's a pretty good ringmaster, too.
This week I wrote a Note about the slow vs. fast energy transition narrative battle going on in global energy politics. Smith has emerged as a major voice for the slow transition camp. She's vocal, quite happy to do battle in the media with federal Liberal cabinet ministers, and telegenic, having spent most of her career on TV, the radio, or writing for newspapers.
Danielle Smith is now a star.
This is a serious problem for those, like me, in the fast transition camp. My reporting over the past decade about the energy transition has convinced me that the clean energy technologies like wind, solar, electric transportation, and heat pumps have passed their inflection points and are now rocketing up the hockey stick part of the adoption S-curve. The global energy system is being transformed in real time.
But the average Canadian, especially the average Albertan, doesn't have time for complex explanations about adoption curves. They prefer what Smith is selling. Simple, easy-to-understand bromides. This is where the Premier's aw shucks style and big smile go a long way.
Smith can sell. She reminds me of the "salad shooter" guy who used to hawk kitchen appliances at the Prince Albert fair 30 years ago. He wore a vegetable slicer on his head while keeping up a steady stream of entertaining patter. Jo Ann and I never bought one, but we were always amazed at how many people did. They liked his schtick even if they weren't impressed by his wares.
A majority of citizens isn't required to buy Smith's schtick in order for her to create havoc in Canadian energy politics. She doesn't have to beat Justin Trudeau or NDP leader Rachel Notley, she just has to keep them at bay with her political circus. The feds always compromise. Notley is not effective on energy issues.
In the end, Smith wins.
And winning, for Danielle Smith, is to preserve the energy status quo as long as possible. Alberta oil and gas companies, as well as the big electrical utilities, know change is coming. But they want change delayed so they can manage it at the lowest cost at their convenience.
Unfortunately, they probably don't have the luxury of time. Change waits for no man.
Or woman.
Markham
THOUGHTFUL JOURNALISM ABOUT ENERGY'S FUTURE
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