Smith’s exchange with NDP Leader Rachel Notley came just hours after a damaging report from Alberta’s ethics watchdog concluded that “Smith contravened [section three] of the Conflicts of Interests Act in her interaction with the minister of justice and attorney general in relation to the criminal charges” faced by Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski for urging truckers to continue to block the Canada-U.S. border crossing near Coutts, Alta., in February 2022.
Historically, before the current era of post-shame politics, lawmakers got in trouble for running afoul of the law and ethics rules. Recent public opinion polls, however, suggest Smith appears poised to win next week’s election. Political scandals don’t appear to exact the same political price anymore in our modern, post-truth politics where partisans increasingly overlook their leaders’ once fatal transgressions.
“Partisanship is a hell of a drug,” says Feodor Snagovsky, an assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s political science department who studies identity politics in Canada.
The effect of partisanship is evident in Alberta voters’ evaluations of both Smith and Notley’s trustworthiness, according to 45,616 respondents who participated in CBC News’ Vote Compass from April 30 to May 23.
Notley seen as more trustworthy: Vote Compass
On average, users of CBC News’ online civic engagement tool do not find Smith all that trustworthy.
On a score out of 10, Smith only averaged 2.3 amongst people who responded to CBC News’ online civic engagement application developed by political scientists.
Notley’s 5.4 out of 10 average score for trustworthiness doubles Smith’s rating, in fact.
While NDP supporters, not surprisingly, gave Notley a 7.6 out of 10, UCP supporters surveyed by Vote Compass scored Smith lower — 5.8 out of 10 on average.
Notably, United Conservative Party supporters gave Notley 1.9 out of 10, close to the score Smith received — on average — from all Vote Compass users.
Essentially, UCP supporters told Vote Compass they don’t trust Smith all that much, but they’re still going to vote for her.
Increasingly, party identification — not policy preferences or concerns about trustworthiness — matters more in politics.
So, no surprise, the party faithful overlook their leaders’ missteps, including even contravening well-established ethical guidelines that preclude politicians from interfering in the administration of justice.
Longtime conservative voter Don Rausch questions the significance of the “so-called interference” of Smith in Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski’s criminal case.
“I think it’s a little overblown,” he told CBC’s West of Centre podcast host Kathleen Petty.
“I think this happens every day. People with influence over all kinds of judges do all kinds of things. This is not an exception,” added Rausch, a retired oil industry executive specializing in international business development and a member of CBC News’ citizens’ panel during this election.
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley, left, and UCP Leader Danielle Smith prepare for a debate in Edmonton on May 18. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)
Political interference in the justice system is, in fact, rare. And the ethics commissioner’s conclusion that Smith contravened the Conflicts of Interests Act is unprecedented.
“Political partisans,” said Snagovsky, “see things through the lens of their own partisanship … and seeing things through the prism of your team and the way that your team conditioned you to view things is really powerful.”
And politically, there appears to be a big advantage, especially for politicians on the right, to rip up the old rule book and crash through the usual guardrails that once constrained politics and government.
Many of their supporters like it and reward it.
Group identity, grievance politics and status threat
In her much talked about 2018 book explaining polarization in U.S. politics, political scientist Lilliana Mason illustrates how racial, religious and cultural identities have neatly aligned with political identities.
Partisans not only work hard to dismiss information that doesn’t fit with their preferred party, they also want to see their political team win at all costs. Mason’s book highlights how even moderate partisans feel more compelled to beat their opposing political party in an election than see public policy they actually like become law.
In her 2019 book explaining Donald Trump’s populist politics, noted political philosopher Wendy Brown argues that Trump’s transgressions — sexual abuse, adultery, paying hush money to porn stars, tax avoidance — prompts cheers and chants from his supporters because his abuses of power reclaims the power they lack. Trump, by this logic, is the avatar of their grievances — and voting for him exacts a revenge on a system that betrayed them.
These feelings of partisanship get dialed up when the status of the group gets threatened.
Preacher Artur Pawlowski addresses media and supporters outside the Lethbridge Courthouse on May 2. (Ose Irete/CBC)
Smith has Alberta’s back — and her partisan supporters have hers.
Post-shame politics
Conflicts of interest allegations toppled two premiers — Glen Clark and Bill Vander Zalm — in British Columbia in the 1990s.
But the old rules, whereby shame and disgrace precipitated both of those leaders’ exits from politics, don’t appear to apply any longer. As the former U.S. President Donald Trump proved time and time again, the old political rules don’t apply if you simply ignore them.
Trump showed no shame, even turning old television footage of him bragging about groping women that surfaced weeks before his election win in 2016 to his advantage with claims that the elite media and establishment were determined to destroy him.
“I think [political] leaders since Donald Trump have realized that if they just sort of stay in the game, they’ll be fine, that they can just keep either denying or if they just last long enough, the media will eventually pay attention to something else,” said Snagovsky.
Justin Trudeau, for instance, took responsibility but did not resign in 2019 when the federal ethics commissioner concluded that the prime minister violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to influence then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to step in and resolve a corruption and fraud case involving the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group.
United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith speaks following the Alberta election leaders debate in Edmonton on May 18. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)
Trudeau also apologized to voters for violating federal conflict laws with his visit to the Aga Khan’s island in the Bahamas.
The old rules relied a lot on politicians policing themselves, and adhering to norms.
The freshman Republican from New York appears deaf to the loud and continuous calls for him to resign.
Post-shame politics corrosive effect
While politicians uncomplicated by feelings of guilt appear able to weather even the nastiest of political storms, the enduring — and worrying — effect comes in the lasting stain it makes on our wider politics and the trustworthiness of all politicians.
This, in turn, makes people more open to dirty politics to counter their opponents.
“It definitely creates the impression that my opponents are doing this, so I might as well do it,” said Snagovsky.
But the University of Alberta political scientist stresses the worst thing that we can do is accept this cynical take on politics.
Getting past post-shame politics
Not all UCP supporters have given Smith a pass on her contravention of Alberta’ Conflicts of Interest Act.
Former Calgary city councilor Jeromy Farkas, a conservative stalwart who placed second in Calgary’s mayoral race in 2021, called Smith’s claim that Alberta’s ethics commissioner cleared her of wrongdoing “brazen” on CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener last Friday.
“It really proves why we need to speak out, to hold our own side to account,” said Farkas.
In addition to Farkas, Jim Foster, who served as PC premier Peter Lougheed’s attorney general and later as a Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, endorsed Rachel Notley and the NDP this week, saying he was “deeply concerned” about the ethics commissioner’s findings.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized to voters for violating federal conflict laws with his visit to the Aga Khan’s island in the Bahamas in 2017. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
“If you applied the criminal code lens to [Smith’s] actions, it raises the serious prospect the Premier may have broken the law by attempting to pressure the Attorney General over the prosecution of Artur Pawlowski,” Foster said in a statement. “The Attorney General should have resigned after this call with the Premier occurred. An independent investigation to protect our democracy and independent justice system should be considered.”
As well, Doug Griffiths — a longtime Progressive Conservative who served in Premier Ed Stelmach’s government — also is voting NDP in his Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville riding, stressing that the UCP under Smith “are conspiratorial,” “feeding anger,” and “anti-science, anti-truth, anti-fact.”
Snagovsky encourages voters and politicians to call out norm-busting by politicians and to pay special attention to democratic ideals and the rule of law.
“The worst thing that we can do,” he says, “is to not talk about it, the worst thing we could do is just to say, well, that’s just the way politics goes.”
“If you sort of throw your hands up like that, then it becomes really normalized.”
How Vote Compass data is gathered and interpreted
Developed by a team of social and statistical scientists from Vox Pop Labs, Vote Compass is a civic engagement application offered in Alberta exclusively by CBC Radio-Canada. The findings in this story are based on 45,616 respondents who participated in Vote Compass from April 30 to May 23, 2023.
Unlike online opinion polls, respondents to Vote Compass are not pre-selected. Similar to opinion polls, however, the data is a non-random sample from the population and has been weighted in order to approximate a representative sample.
Vote Compass data has been weighted by gender, age, education, region and partisanship to ensure the sample’s composition reflects that of the actual population of Alberta according to census data and other population estimates.
Moe is set to speak in the city of Yorkton about affordability measures this morning before travelling to the nearby village of Theodore for an event with the local Saskatchewan Party candidate.
NDP Leader Carla Beck doesn’t have any events scheduled, though several party candidates are to hold press conferences.
On Thursday, Moe promised a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected.
The NDP said the Saskatchewan Party was punching down on vulnerable children.
Election day is Oct. 28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is promising a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected, a move the NDP’s Carla Beck says weaponizes vulnerable kids.
Moe made the pledge Thursday at a campaign stop in Regina. He said it was in response to a complaint that two biological males had changed for gym class with girls at a school in southeast Saskatchewan.
He said the ban would be his first order of business if he’s voted again as premier on Oct. 28.
It was not previously included in his party’s campaign platform document.
“I’ll be very clear, there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls,” Moe said.
He added school divisions should already have change room policies, but a provincial directive would ensure all have the rule in place.
Asked about the rights of gender-diverse youth, Moe said other children also have rights.
“What about the rights of all the other girls that are changing in that very change room? They have rights as well,” he said, followed by cheers and claps.
The complaint was made at a school with the Prairie Valley School Division. The division said in a statement it doesn’t comment on specific situations that could jeopardize student privacy and safety.
“We believe all students should have the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe and welcoming learning environment,” it said.
“Our policies and procedures align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
Asked about Moe’s proposal, Beck said it would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable.
Moe is desperate to stoke fear and division after having a bad night during Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate, she said.
“Saskatchewan people, when we’re at our best, are people that come together and deliver results, not divisive, ugly politics like we’ve seen time and again from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party,” Beck said.
“If you see leaders holding so much power choosing to punch down on vulnerable kids, that tells you everything you need to know about them.”
Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.
People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she added.
“We don’t have to agree to understand Saskatchewan people deserve better,” Beck said.
The Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation last year that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
The law has faced backlash from some LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Beck has said if elected her party would repeal that legislation.
Heather Kuttai, a former commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission who resigned last year in protest of the law, said Moe is trying to sway right-wing voters.
She said a change room directive would put more pressure on teachers who already don’t have enough educational support.
“It sounds like desperation to me,” she said.
“It sounds like Scott Moe is nervous about the election and is turning to homophobic and transphobic rhetoric to appeal to far-right voters.
“It’s divisive politics, which is a shame.”
She said she worries about the future of gender-affirming care in a province that once led in human rights.
“We’re the kind of people who dig each other out of snowbanks and not spew hatred about each other,” she said. “At least that’s what I want to still believe.”
Also Thursday, two former Saskatchewan Party government members announced they’re endorsing Beck — Mark Docherty, who retired last year and was a Speaker, and Glen Hart, who retired in 2020.
Ian Hanna, a speech writer and senior political adviser to former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall, also endorsed Beck.
Earlier in the campaign, Beck received support from former Speaker Randy Weekes, who quit the Saskatchewan Party earlier this year after accusing caucus members of bullying.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan‘s provincial election is on Oct. 28. Here’s a look at some of the campaign promises made by the two major parties:
Saskatchewan Party
— Continue withholding federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa on natural gas until the end of 2025.
— Reduce personal income tax rates over four years; a family of four would save $3,400.
— Double the Active Families Benefit to $300 per child per year and the benefit for children with disabilities to $400 a year.
— Direct all school divisions to ban “biological boys” from girls’ change rooms in schools.
— Increase the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to $15,000 from $10,000.
— Reintroduce the Home Renovation Tax Credit, allowing homeowners to claim up to $4,000 in renovation costs on their income taxes; seniors could claim up to $5,000.
— Extend coverage for insulin pumps and diabetes supplies to seniors and young adults
— Provide a 50 per cent refundable tax credit — up to $10,000 — to help cover the cost of a first fertility treatment.
— Hire 100 new municipal officers and 70 more officers with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
— Amend legislation to provide police with more authority to address intoxication, vandalism and disturbances on public property.
— Platform cost of $1.2 billion, with deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in 2027.
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NDP
— Pause the 15-cent-a-litre gas tax for six months, saving an average family about $350.
— Remove the provincial sales tax from children’s clothes and ready-to-eat grocery items like rotisserie chickens and granola bars.
— Pass legislation to limit how often and how much landlords can raise rent.
— Repeal the law that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.
— Launch a provincewide school nutrition program.
— Build more schools and reduce classroom sizes.
— Hire 800 front-line health-care workers in areas most in need.
— Launch an accountability commission to investigate cost overruns for government projects.
— Scrap the marshals service.
— Hire 100 Mounties and expand detox services.
— Platform cost of $3.5 billion, with small deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in the fourth year.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct .17, 2024.
