Premier Danielle Smith is quick to blast political enemies for their opinions, but her friends are free to say just about any darn thing without contradiction from her.
The latest exhibit is “chemtrails.”
You may not have heard of them, but hordes of people believe those water-vapour trails left in the sky by jet aircraft (contrails) actually dump toxic chemicals, genetic modifiers and/or population manipulators on the unsuspecting world below.
Smith was questioned about chemtrails at a UCP forum, diligently chronicled by independent journalist Katie Teeling. At any hint that Smith was denying the reality of poisoning from above, the audience got restless, emitting boos and some heckling.
I don’t think Smith believes chemtrails exist. But she will not say so, at least until after the Nov. 2 leadership vote.
A video from the event comes with her remarks.
“What I have been able to do is talk to the woman who is responsible for controlling the airspace, and she says no one is allowed to go up and spread anything in the air . . . if anyone is doing it, it’s the U.S. Department of Defense,” Smith said.
Whoa! She’s actually suggesting it might be the Americans?
Smith went on: “And you know, like, I have some limitations of what I can do in my job. I don’t know that I don’t have much power if that is the case, that the U.S. Department of Defense is (doing it).
“So I will do what I can to investigate, but everywhere I go I have found no evidence that there’s a private sector dumping involved.
“My environment department, they have a record of every single plane that goes up. So I’m kind of dead-ended here.
“If you have some leads that you want to give me afterwards, please let me know and I’ll track it down.”
Her deflection to the U.S. Department of Defense is stupendous for sheer gall.
Journalist Sean Amato emailed the Pentagon. They got back Tuesday, which was pretty big of them, considering that Iran was raining missiles on Israel.
“We do not have anything to provide — you’d have to ask her what she meant,” said the duty press officer for Defense.
“Also, NORAD would be the appropriate group to speak to about joint US/CAN air operations over Canada.”
Federal Liberal Minister Randy Boissonnault, from Edmonton, had a run at Smith.
“She’s simply not doing her job and she’s sowing fears about the U.S. putting chemtrails in the air? It’s simply bonkers.
“I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Premier Smith is using her office to peddle conspiracy theories.”
By Tuesday afternoon, Smith’s office was sending a soothing statement to reporters who asked for comment.
“The premier has heard concerns from many Albertans about this topic,” said spokesperson Savannah Johannsen.
“In response, the provincial government looked into the issue and found no evidence of chemtrails occurring in Alberta.
“The premier was simply sharing what she has heard from some folks over the summer on this issue.
“She was not saying that she believed the U.S. government was using chemtrails in Alberta.”
Once again, none of it adds up to a firm “No” about the release of toxic material from aircraft.
Smith isn’t the only one. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe won’t say it either. This refusal only boosts the spread of conspiracy theories.
They include Flat Earth beliefs, which offer a full explanation of why Earth is not a globe, complete with advice on how to avoid falling off.
My favourite theory is the one about lizards from a distant star taking on human form and becoming Earth’s political leaders. Smith hasn’t faced the obvious question about that one.
Her coddling of such conspiracy theorists leads one distressed UCP veteran to say: “The problem isn’t so much the crazy people. There are always crazy people, and they have a right to be crazy.
“The problem is that the normies — i.e. severely normal centre-right Albertans — have let the crazies take over the governing party.”
That’s no conspiracy theory.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
X: @DonBraid