Rift Forming Between Danielle Smith Government and Grassroots Ahead of Party AGM

By party estimates, it’s going to be the biggest political convention in Canadian history.

This weekend, nearly 6000 people will arrive in Red Deer Alberta to discuss the future of the governing United Conservative Party and its leader, Premier Danielle Smith, at the party’s Annual General Meeting.

Some are calling for the Premier’s removal. Others, while generally supportive of Smith’s government, are criticizing the UCP’s performance on issues ranging from LGBTQ2SA+ policy, immigration and Alberta sovereignty.

While few hold the belief Smith will be removed from office during the AGM, the event is showing cracks in the government’s popular support among both grassroots supporters and organized groups that are trying to pull the government further to the right.

Here’s a look at some of the challenges Smith is facing from the party base.

Once influential in the Smith government, the far-right group Take Back Alberta’s activity has waned in recent months following high-profile feuds between its leadership and the Premier.

Two of its lead organizers, including founder David Parker, have gone as far as to accuse the Premier’s office of backroom dealing to make the organization go away.

Perhaps the fiercest opposition is coming from former TBA “Captain” Marco Van Huigenbos and Parker, which includes bribery allegations against the Premier’s office. 

The allegations come during a massive investigation into Take Back Alberta’s donors by the election oversight body Elections Alberta.

The two former allies turned rivals in the grassroots conservative movement aligned once again, if briefly, in claiming the Premier’s office offered them deals in order to put an end to the legally embattled right-wing group which is under investigation for refusing to disclose its funding sources.

Van Huigenbos, the former Chief Financial Officer of the organization, and Parker have clashed significantly in recent years over the EA investigation. 

Both took aim at the Premier Monday night during a panel discussion in Red Deer. The event was livestreamed by former TBA organizer Benita Pedersen.

Betrayal of the grassroots membership by the Smith government was the theme of the panel, sponsored in part by TBA. 

Parker, fresh off a tour with right wing commentator Tucker Carlson, told the crowd that the Premier’s office pushed the investigation and that he was offered a job to “shelve” TBA.

“The Premier’s office approached me, and I have all of the evidence for this and the receipts are available, approached me in the summer of 2023 and offered to make sure I got a job at a college for 120,000 dollars a year if I would shelve Take Back Alberta,” Parker said.

“This was in the leadup to the annual general meeting when Danielle was running a different slate for the board, they had a different president that she endorsed other than the one that won.”

Van Huigenbos, seated next to Parker, backed up the claim.

 “Through contracts or through other lucrative means they’ve attempted to bribe me to work against David,” Van Huigenbos told the crowd. “This is coming from the Premier and her team.”

“They have attempted to bribe and coerce and pressure the very individuals that were involved in the organization that helped them in their climb or ascension to the Premier’s office and to the position of power. There’s no two ways about it.”

The Premier’s office did not respond to PressProgress’ request for comment.

As former CFO, Van Hugenbois has been in frequent contact with EA frequently in their probe into TBA’s funding, which still hasn’t been disclosed.

“I’ve heard it first hand from the individuals that triggered the Elections Alberta Investigation into Take Back Alberta and into David Parker. I’ve met with these investigators in Calgary and they said this is the biggest investigation Elections Alberta has ever run,” Van Huigenbos said.

Van Hugenbois acknowledged the comments on the panel, and stands by them, but said he isn’t ready to elaborate on the details.

“There was a lot of effort put into dividing the groundswell that’s happened in the province in the last couple years,” Van Hugenbois told PressProgress. “I corroborated David’s comments, but I didn’t mention any names and I don’t want to right now. There’s a lot of people asking a lot of questions.” 

Van Huigenbos was recently found guilty, along with two others, on one count of mischief over $5000 over his role in the Coutts border blockade in 2022. He awaits sentencing in January. 

Other sources of friction against Smith’s UCP have emerged recently.

TBA’s leading members continue to be politically active in the run-up to the AGM in various ways.

A new group, “the 1905 Committee,” named after the year Alberta was founded, emerged recently and registered as a third-party political advertiser. Leading contributors include former TBA captains Van Huigenbos and disqualified UCP candidate Tim Hoven.

The right-wing group is highly critical of Smith and has urged its members, which includes a mailing list of thousands, to attend the AGM to “hold the government accountable.”

Immigration is highlighted as a key priority for the group. It seeks to amend immigration policy to attract immigrants “aligned with Western values, while limiting overall immigration.” It also pushes for a flat tax, and “leadership accountability.”

Van Huigenbos sees the group as a sort of continuation of Take Back Alberta.

“The concept came out of the successes but also the failures of Take Back Alberta. There’s no connection, but they’ve taken the failures of Take Back Alberta to heart,” Van Hugenbois said. 

“The goal of the 1905 has been to educate members on the failures of leadership in government.”

A bill that would advance Alberta’s sovereignty also hangs in the balance at the AGM. 

The first bill of the fall legislative session included proposed updates to the Alberta Bill of Rights, which was originally intended to limit government power over vaccine requirements.

This effort to appease the conservative base failed, according to the original proponents. The Bill of Rights is expected to be a flashpoint at the AGM, with a special debate on it set aside for the membership.

Advocates of the updates to the Bill of Rights, calling themselves the Black Hatters, saw the Smith government’s version as a rug pull.

Lawyer Leighton Grey, one of the bill’s principal advocates, says the inclusion of Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms effectively neutralizes it. 

Section 1 of the Charter “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

“We were disappointed that they decided to include an equivalent of section one of the Charter. Speaking as a lawyer who’s spent a lot of time fighting COVID cases, section one was really the enemy. It was used as a cure-all for every type of government action,” Grey told PressProgress. 

“When we crafted our submission to the government on the Bill of Rights we specifically excluded section one because it essentially defeats the purpose of the Bill of Rights.”

The Black Hats specifically excluded that part of the Charter giving courts discretion to uphold government lockdown tyranny. Below is the subsection of the new AB BOR that imports S.1 of the Charter. It grants the AB government license to violate individual rights & freedoms. pic.twitter.com/Xpt4e2X33z

— GreyLaw (@LeightonVon) October 29, 2024

Grey identifies as an Alberta Sovereigntist and, as a lawyer, represents elements of the Alberta right, including David Parker.

Mitch Sylvestre, a former TBA Captain and Director, also joined in with the Black Hatter movement. He says he is similarly disappointed with the bill.

“There was a lot promised and very little delivered, so that doesn’t bode well going into a leadership review,” Sylvestre told PressProgress. 

“There’s some things in there of big concern. I don’t think this version of the Bill of Rights is going to be a big help. The bill is going to a debate on the floor. The funny part is that the government’s going to be against the members.”

Sylvestre says the Constituency Association of Bonnyville – Cold Lake – St. Paul, of which he is President, is bringing several hundred members to vote in the AGM.