Last week, internet sleuths noticed the notorious High River railcar restaurant owned by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her husband has been put on the market following a conveniently-timed Postmedia fluffer story.
Whatever can it mean, wondered a multitude of Albertans. Is the seller motivated? If so, why?
We also learned that Smith – famous for banning virtually anyone who disagrees with her from her social media accounts – has herself been banned from Facebook for offenses as yet unspecified.
Could there be two more quintessential Alberta political stories? How does one even choose which one to cover? And from what are we being distracted?
Let’s just look at them in chronological order.
“Fun fact,” Smith tweeted on June 12. “My husband and I still own a restaurant.”
“This weekend the dishwasher broke down, so I went in for a shift,” she added.
This prompted hoots of derision on social media, naturally, especially as Smith appeared in the photo accompanying her tweet wearing open-toed shoes and not exactly breaking into a sweat at her supposed workstation.
The general consensus: Naw, ya didn’t. You were just using your political status to plug your restaurant.
The next day, the ubiquitous and obsequious scribbler known as “National Post Staff” published a fawning review of the restaurant and sycophantic profile of the politician-restaurateur briefly spotted at the dishwashing station.
“The Dining Car at High River, which mainly serves diner food, is rated 4.5 out of 5 according to user-submitted reviews on Google,” panted the anonymous author, adding an enthusiastic description of the decor and the lovely herb garden out back.
“When Danielle Smith is not busy being the premier of Alberta, she also has a business to run,” the advertorial-style story began.
Not so quick there! All of a sudden, it sounds as if the premier and husband David Moretta don’t intend to run it for long.
According to a listing on Realtor.ca, the “beautiful, fully restored rail car” comes with “a platform patio and a fresh herb garden for the creative chef! The purchase price includes the rail car and it has a very reasonable land lease with a total term of 20 years. Ideal for a chef or husband and wife team.”
Asking price: $350,000 … less the price of a new dishwasher, presumably.
Whatever can it mean? Are the rumours of a quick flight to Panama true after all? Or what?
Meanwhile, fast forward to mid-afternoon and Smith was complaining on the same Twitter account about how “big tech and government censorship is becoming a danger to free speech around the world.”
“My Facebook account has been banned from posting content for a ‘few days’,” she lamented. “As the Premier of a province of 4.6 million Albertans – if they can prevent me from communicating with you, imagine what they can do to any one of us.”
“Regardless of our political leanings, we must all stand against censorship.”
This too prompted hilarity from the Twittersphere, where the premier’s propensity for banning anyone who responds to her posts and tweets with criticism, even when expressed politely, was widely noted, often with commenters’ personal stories about what got them cancelled.
In other words, Smith herself is responsible for her inability to communication with large numbers of Albertans who, unlike her, don’t have the ability to send out a press release if they have something urgent to say.
When respected Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt commented on the irony of the premier’s self-righteous posturing in a Global News story about the ban, the premier’s office manager and one-man strategic brain trust, former Wildrose Party House leader Rob Anderson, responded with abuse.
“I find that an interesting parallel,” observed professor Bratt, “where she’s complaining about being banned from Facebook while she has blocked so many Albertans from Twitter. The whole thing is quite curious.”
“It sounds like we’re drifting in towards American-style culture wars,” he added.
Culture warrior Anderson barked back: “NDP partisan & alleged political scientist @DuaneBratt equates Facebook banning the Premier’s account w/ blocking a few disrespectful Twitter users – which virtually every politician of every party does …”
Bratt, of course, is not an NDP partisan and there’s nothing alleged about his PhD, but whatever. Anderson and Smith are known to be a bad combination, bringing out the worst in one another, so the professor and the rest of us will likely just have to brace ourselves for more of the same.
None of Smith, Anderson, or the Premier’s Office indicated why they think Smith was banned.
Since asking might get you banned, it’s probably best just to wait and see.
Meanwhile, also in Alberta, former UCP Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s Law Society hearing into allegations he broke the profession’s code of conduct while in office has been adjourned until Sept. 5. Shandro lost his political job in the May 29 provincial election.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
