Bell: No fighting! Danielle Smith offers olive branch to Calgary and Edmonton

Wow!

Wasn’t expecting that one!

The referendum story has an unexpected chapter.

Can’t wait for the details on what’s to come.

I spoke with Premier Danielle Smith on Thursday and it is crystal clear she has learned more than one thing from this week’s referendum, the vote where Alberta separatists were trounced and scored real ugly results in Calgary and Edmonton.

A vote where the numbers were not the same in the two big cities as they were in the province’s heartland, both on separatism and on eight of the nine questions the premier put on the Oct. 19 referendum ballot.

It has been a long week for the premier.

She has done umpteen interviews.

She told separatists in her party they could not speak for the UCP or run for office under the UCP banner or become board members of the UCP or be UCP members of the legislature.

And there won’t be another independence referendum as long as Smith is running the show.

But Smith had more to share about the way going forward for Calgary and Edmonton and I didn’t even ask her.

For some conservatives, Edmonton may seem like a lost cause, but the UCP must give it the old college try. It was even tough sledding for former premier Ralph Klein.

Calgary is battleground Calgary. Smith cannot afford to lose Calgary.

In a recent vote, Smith’s UCP lost a legislature seat they held in the city’s conservative south. They hold fewer seats in Calgary than the NDP.

Smith admits the UCP need to “be mindful” the two big cities and rural Alberta have different concerns they want tackled.

“The issues in Calgary and Edmonton are quite a bit different than the issues in rural Alberta and they want us to focus on the things that matter to them in their daily lives and that’s where we’ve got to be turning our attention.”

Bingo!

Smith says the issues brought up in dinner table conversations in Calgary and Edmonton are not the same as in many places in rural Alberta.

In the big cities, when people are talking politics, the big concerns are clear for Smith.

“It’s about affordability. It’s about health care. It’s about kids in class.”

We know it’s not about becoming citizens of the Republic of Alberta.

“Those are the things I think Calgarians and Edmontonians want us to focus on and we will. We have and we will continue to do so. We have to make sure we are focusing on their issues.”

Fine words, Premier Smith.

But what does all this look like for the two big cities? What can we expect?

“I met with Mayor Jeromy Farkas on Wednesday so we can begin mapping out a few things we could work on together and so they’re going through their budget cycle and we’re going through ours.

“I’ll be doing the same thing with Mayor Andrew Knack in Edmonton.”

Farkas and Smith? Knack and Smith?

They’ve butted heads more often than you’d see in a fight where one of the brawlers gets a piece of his ear bit off.

Smith sounds serious.

“There’s a way for us to address the policy issues that matter in rural Alberta but just understand, the priorities in Calgary and Edmonton are a little bit different.

“So we have got to make sure we’re matching the priorities in Calgary and Edmonton with the things voters care about there.”

OK, maybe there won’t be a group hug photo opportunity just yet and Sister Sledge won’t be singing We Are Family over the city hall speakers by the time you read this column, but it sure sounds like a different songsheet is being sung all the way around.

Even saw Mayor Farkas compliment Smith on social media for her latest statements on separatism and how the independence crowd will not speak on behalf of the party or represent it.

My, my. Politics is a long and winding road.

“There’s a little more work to do there,” says Smith.

“I don’t want to tell you everything about what might be in our future budget or what might be in city budget deliberations but that’s where it begins, having a conversation with the leadership in Calgary and Edmonton about how they want to partner with us.

“We are going to make a lot of effort to do that.”

So they’re talking. Calgary’s mayor, Edmonton’s mayor, the premier.

Stay tuned.