Bell: Danielle Smith doubles down on Calgary City Council antics

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Premier Danielle Smith took to the airwaves this weekend to continue hitting the same message boards, this time a little harder.

After he turned around and felt the heat, he didn't look like the leader who helped pay for Calgary's low-income transit fares.

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He did not appear to be a leader, as he faced a lot of backlash from loudmouths for giving too much power to local governments.

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In reality, Smith was just a soldier.

The Prime Minister reiterated that he wanted his government's inner circle to hold power, in some cases requiring local-level government to change or fundamentally change six laws they passed.

Why?

Yes, we're talking about Calgary and its council as a prime example.

People told Smith they didn't know Calgary City Council would implement the rezoning. The debate on this issue continues for the third week.

Little did they know that the council would bring in what is now known as the bag law. Dropping this crap will be discussed on Tuesday.

Little did they know that the council would declare a climate emergency. You hear it all the time.

Little did they know that a majority of the council would vote to try to push the Smith government to allow non-permanent citizens to vote in city elections.

It happened last week and it got a low grade from Smith and his men.

“Sometimes you have municipalities passing laws that are not very well-advised and may not even be within their jurisdiction,” the prime minister said on his Saturday radio show.

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“When we hear a lot of concern from the public that they think municipalities are overreacting, we have to respond to that.”

But Smith was accused of usurping power and cut off his nose, as local governments often do, and caused much fanfare and media ink.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek joined the chorus.

Smith isn't backing down.

“We consult with the public and adopt policies that we hear the public wants us to pass.” It's not just consultation with municipalities,” he says.

The premier says Toronto wants the Trudeau government to allow them to decriminalize hard drugs, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford has vowed to fight it tooth and nail because, in Smith's words, Toronto is “operating completely against public health laws.”

Smith said it seemed “but crazy.”

After all, provincial government is higher up the political food chain than city government.

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An updated news report says the Toronto inquiry is now in limbo.

Smith says that if local governments like Calgary City Council get tired of spending taxpayers' money, they won't go on ideological adventures and stick their noses in.

The premier hopes to rein in local governments “a little bit,” but he will step in if they encroach on areas of provincial authority or directly “contradict what we're trying to do as a province” with Ottawa.

“Now they know.”

Smith is not done.

He talks about some local governments where “they seem to want to have their cake and eat it too.”

As an example, Premier uses … where ….

Calgary.

“They want more money for operations, and they also want us to keep funding big projects.”

Smith knows the score.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Calgary City Council are less popular than appointing a root canal.

Few are hitching their wagons to most of this crew, a collection of people that most Calgarians have absolutely no idea they're tired of.

Smith reminds Calgarians once again that their city council overestimates their spending, underestimates the cash coming their way, runs a surplus, puts the surplus in the fund, takes money from the fund, spends it, and then raises taxes.

“This year was also special. Calgarians should ask their council why.

“They have the ability to cut taxes and they choose to do something else. It's their right to do that, but they can't blame me because it's their funding policy.”

Unfortunately, Smith's words would be more if Albertans were to deliver the tax cuts they promised this year.

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