United Conservative Party leader Danielle Smith posed for photos with campaign supporters Wednesday night, including three people who were either fined or charged for their role in the so-called Freedom Convoy to Ottawa.
Political events attract people from all walks of life and politicians are not known to waste opportunities to try and secure votes, but an Alberta analyst said this is not the first time Smith has met with supporters who hold extreme views. “Politicians take photos all the time.
If this was a one-off or a two-off or a three-off, you know, no big deal,” said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt. “But there seems to be a repeated pattern all related around COVID that Danielle Smith keeps sticking her foot into.” Smith had posed with James Bauder, his wife, Sandra Collins Bauder, and Harold Jonker at a fundraising event for Eric Bouchard, the UCP candidate for Calgary-Lougheed — former premier Jason Kenney’s riding. “James Bauder and Sandra Collins Bauder with Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario trucker Harold Jonker at a dinner and silent auction in Calgary.
Doing our small part to make sure Alberta is a beacon of Freedom to the rest of Canada,” reads the caption on the Facebook page for Canada Unity, which Bauder cof-ounded.