Lee Richardson has been a conservative for about just as long as he’s been anything at all. Executive assistant to John Diefenbaker at 25, chief of staff to
Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, deputy chief of staff to Brian Mulroney, then, federal Progressive Conservative MP for Calgary Southeast, Richardson is as closely associated with Alberta Conservatism Classic as anyone in the province. In the May 29provincial election, he will be voting NDP for the first time. He conducted the following email Q&A with Policy on that choice on May 18I am a Conservative, a Progressive Conservative in the Peter Lougheed tradition. Danielle is not a Conservative.
Sadly, she is not the Danielle Smith I first knew and admired 30 years ago. She was President of the U of C campus Progressive Conservative Club and a hard-working Progressive Conservative volunteer in my ‘93 federal election campaign. She was then bright, thoughtful, and driven – always challenging herself to get over her fear of meeting people, something she’d have to do, to someday get elected herself.
Over the intervening years, a clear vision or consistent political ideology or party loyalty would not impair that goal. As her political career ebbed and flowed, her self-professed libertarianism gave way to grievance politics and tactical populism. Danielle’s Tucker Carlson-inspired radio talk show provided the vehicle for the resurgence of her political following while stoking division, hate and fear in listeners, with negative rhetoric, culture wars, and conspiracy theories.
It also happens that the NDP candidate in my riding of Calgary-Elbow is a fantastic guy, highly qualified, named Samir Kayande, a successful engineer and energy consultant, Carnegie-Mellon MBA. A person of quality and character who will be an asset to the Legislature in Government or in Opposition.A growing number with each new Smith revelation.
And it’s not just former Progressive Conservatives who share a concern that Premier Smith panders to, and is overly influenced, even controlled by those Jason Kenney has described as, “unhinged conspiracy theorists” — some of whom I named in the
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