Now that he’s been ordered by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith shut the heck up and stop slagging federal Conservative boss Pierre Poilievre and his lovely wife, will Take Back Alberta (TBA)’s founder and sometime executive director David Parker meekly do as he’s told or will he make like Darth Vader and move to take over the known universe?
In other words, is he the sinister political operative who knows no bounds, an image he’s carefully curated for himself, or will he meekly obey the premier’s command and pull the plug on his X account, which has become the No. 1 source of entertainment in Alberta for bored politicos with a smartphone?
As reported by The Globe and Mail yesterday – which means that as of now it’s officially news everywhere in Canada – Premier Smith said at a news conference that she had advised Parker to “to delete his X account and to get some help” after he took to tweeting crudely about Poilievre, his wife Anaida, and their relationship.
That, Smith said, was “inappropriate and hurtful.”
Oddly, though, for months the lad from Clive, AB, used the same social media platform to publish a long stream of ugly personal attacks on various Alberta and Canadian political figures and no one from the UCP appeared to take offence.
To be fair, Smith also claims to have urged Parker to quit mocking the physical appearance of NDP leadership candidate Sarah Hoffman and former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is thought to be considering seeking the same job, in social media posts. Of course, both are tough and experienced politicians quite capable of giving as good as they get and have shrugged off Parker’s juvenile shots.
According to the premier, she told Parker “that those kinds of comments are unprofessional and it does not help to elevate the discussion in the public square.”
Smith may well have said that, although as we know from her telephone conversation with radical street preacher Artur Pawlowski in the spring of 2023 that what she says she said isn’t necessarily what she actually said. We know this because, as it turned out last year, Pawlowski or someone on the line recorded the conversation, then leaked it.
Naturally, one wonders if Parker recorded his phone call with Ms. Smith for future reference. Of course, once bitten, twice shy, the premier may have been more careful with her words as a result of her experience.
“He doesn’t work for me,” Smith told the news conference attended by members of her cabinet and representatives of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations. “He’s not on my payroll. He doesn’t have a position on any of our boards of directors. He operates an independent organization.”
The latter point is true, but, as a wise political commentator of my acquaintance explained it, there are a lot of independent factions operating within the fetid ecosystem of the UCP nowadays, some as extreme as TBA, which controls the party’s board.
The Alberta commentariat is certainly taking her rebuke of Parker seriously.
“TBA’s David Parker speaks up after Premier Smith slams him down,” reads the headline on Rick Bell’s Postmedia column yesterday. “Premier Smith blasts David Parker of TBA for attacks on Poilievre and wife,” said the one over a similar column by Don Braid on the same website the day before.
Those two commentaries make it sound as if the premier’s comments were reminiscent of a scripture that Parker, home schooled as he was by an evangelical pastor and his wife in rural Central Alberta, would certainly be familiar with. “Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”
Such a development would not surprise anyone who has followed Smith’s career.
Consider the way she cut off Tom Flanagan, her professor, mentor, and campaign manager in the 2012 election when she led the Wildrose Party to defeat at the hands of Alison Redford, whose political sins seem almost quaint in the rear-view mirror compared to the operations of the Smith government.
Smith dumped Dr. Flanagan as quickly as the Canadian wing of the Ditchley Foundation ditched Mr. Parker when he became an embarrassment to that exclusive club.
But would Smith really dare to cast David Parker somewhere darker, if not quite into utter darkness?
Or does she still need to keep him sweet to avoid embarrassing rifts within the UCP?
That might explain Parker’s continuing appearances with Smith’s transportation minister, Devin Dreeshen, at meetings to collaborate on setting up a TBA-style municipal political party, soon to be permitted by UCP legislation.
Likewise, will Parker stick with the Darker Side of his personality and declare war on Smith, whom he has made amply clear is not the boss of him, or will he meekly submit now that Smith has given him his marching orders?
From everything we’ve seen so far, his instinct will be to fight back, as he suggested in a Telegram post quoted by the Globe: “If we are seen as simply radical right-wing extremists who blindly support every right wing politician no matter what they do, then the general public will be trained to isolate us.”
Surely Mr. Parker will feel the need to prove that while he may be a radical right-winger, he’s one who’s got principles.
It’s hard to believe the guy who put Smith on the throne after successfully declaring war on Jason Kenney won’t be thirsting for revenge after a public dressing down.
So Smith and Poilievre should probably brace themselves for more attacks from right field.
Pass the popcorn!
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Nick Seebruch, editor
