Premier downplays prospect of Edmonton advisory council of defeated candidates
CBC
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing down an earlier pledge to create a council of defeated Edmonton candidates to advise her.
Smith says her United Conservative Party caucus has cabinet ministers and other experienced legislature members in municipalities surrounding the provincial capital from whom she can draw policy advice.
"I have a lot of depth to choose from because with the mandate that we were given, we did get representatives from all over the province," Smith said Thursday in an interview on the Ryan Jespersen podcast.
She said she can also call on city councillors and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.
Smith made the comments after Jespersen asked about her promise last week to craft a council of defeated UCP candidates to advise her on policy in the capital.
The Opposition NDP swept all 20 seats in Edmonton in the May 29 election and Smith's comments were widely criticized as a slap in the face to the provincial representatives Edmontonians chose.
Smith's UCP garnered 49 seats to win a second consecutive majority government.
Smith noted there are multiple municipalities that abut Edmonton or are within a short drive from the city boundary that share many of the larger metropolitan concerns.
Those ridings, known colloquially as the "doughnut" around the capital, include returning cabinet ministers Nate Glubish (Strathcona-Sherwood Park), Dale Nally (Morinville-St. Albert), and second-term MLA and former municipal councillor Searle Turton (Spruce Grove-Stony Plain).
Smith is to announce her new cabinet Friday and hinted Glubish, Nally and Turton will be at the table, calling them "a few names you'll probably hear a lot more about."
The cabinet will look significantly different from the one Smith appointed when she won the UCP leadership and became premier in October.
Six of its 27 slots are vacant due to retirements or election losses, including core portfolios in health, finance, justice and social services.
The Opposition NDP captured 38 seats, including just over half the seats in Calgary and a few outside the two big cities. NDP Leader Rachel Notley has said she is staying on as leader.
The long-term future of one newly elected member — Jennifer Johnson of Lacombe-Ponoka, who ran under the UCP banner — remains unclear.
