Cast your mind back, dear readers, to a simpler time. And by that I mean 2021.

The UCP government of Jason Kenney (who would have thought then that we’d look back fondly on his days in power?) was in a referendum mood. One was a meaningless vote for an Alberta Senator; my favourite candidate was a guy named Chad Jet Thunders Saunders, who described himself as an “air guitarist”. The winner, however, was someone named Pam Davidson, who is not in the Senate. The second was a loaded question about dumping equalization payments, and – shocker! – 62% agreed it should be dumped. That’s like asking someone if you’d like to give away some of your money. The third one – the only one that had any real impact on our daily lives – was about going to permanent daylight time. The result was almost impossibly close, with just 50.2% rejecting the idea of year-round daylight time. Still, the people had spoken, or at least the 1,092, 960 who voted. It was a no to permanent daylight time. 

Fast forward to 2026, and suddenly, the UCP has decided we’re going to permanent daylight time. Never mind the scientific consensus that year-round daylight time is bad for us. Our dear leader, Danielle Smith – let’s call her Queen Danielle – knows best, so darkness at 9 a.m. in the winter it is. 

Strange, isn’t it, how a government that has an absolute mania for referendums  (referenda?) ignores the results from just five years ago. Queen Danielle explains the proposed change by saying times have changed because B.C. has opted for year-round DST. Frankly, who cares what B.C. does? Since when does Canada’s most right-wing government take its cues from Canada’s most left-wing government? 

But Queen Danielle gets what Queen Danielle wants. Or, put another way, what those who put her on the throne want.

For example, take the redistricting of the electoral map. I know this sounds incredibly boring, but stay with me here.

Every eight to 10 years, the government redraws the constituency map to account for population changes. A five-person committee – a non-partisan judge; two MLAs from the UCP; two from the NDP – came up with suggestions on redrawing the map, adding a couple of seats. But the UCP MLAs didn’t like it, and produced an unheard-of ‘minority report’. Based on the minority report, in an unprecedented move, Her Majesty threw out the recommendations and ordered the creation of a new report. This time, however, the committee would be made up of a majority of UCP MLAs. 

Why the fuss? There is no doubt that the new map will favour rural areas, where the UCP is strongest. This is called gerrymandering, a very American process of changing electoral districts for one party’s benefit. It’s anti-democratic, but not unexpected from this government.

Then there’s denying the severely handicapped the right to assisted suicide. And ordering cities to stop using vote tabulators. And giving the government the power to dismiss elected municipal officials.

But perhaps I shouldn’t complain. Queen Danielle knows what’s best for Albertans, whether we like it or not.