The MLA for the riding of Highwood says her highly scrutinized decision to vacate her position as leader of the opposition in order to join the PC party was predicated by a number of factors, but she was caught off-guard by reaction to her move.

“I think I misunderstood just how angry people would be,” said Danielle Smith during Saturday’s Disaster Recovery Program announcement in High River. ”I have to take responsibility for the fact that people were surprised, it was unexpected, but in the end there were just certain factors that we had to deal with.”

Smith says the tight winter timetable of caucus meetings for both the PC and Wildrose parties prevented her from consulting more Highwood constituents prior to the move.

“If we had had the luxury of a little bit more time, raising it maybe a month earlier and having the opportunity to debate it and discuss it, I think many people would come to same conclusion that I did, that it’s time to reunify conservatives and Premier Prentice is the right leader for the province.”

According to Smith, both the PC and Wildrose Party had to internally discuss the move during caucus meetings. If she did not act during the December 17 Wildrose meeting, the next caucus meeting was scheduled for January 28, 2015, after Premier Prentice’s planned date to start riding nominations.

The Highwood MLA says her decision to join the PC party was spurred by:

  • Wildrose Party losses in recent byelections indicating Alberta’s conservative voters were unifying under Premier Prentice
  • The Wildrose Party Annual General Meeting in Red Deer where she realized party membership was going in a different direction than she wanted
  • The November 2014 floor crossing of Wildrose caucus members to the PC Party (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle and Little Bow MLA Ian Donovan)

Smith has scheduled two Town Hall meetings for February and will address the Okotoks Chamber and the Okotoks Rotary Club during upcoming events.

“This is just what you have to do when you are an elected politician. You make tough decisions sometimes, not every decision is a popular one,” said Smith. “I will be running and seeking the nomination for Highwood for the PCs and I’ll leave it to the members and to the voters to decide what they think of the decision in the next election.”

“I did what was best for my constituents. I did what was best for Alberta.”