Prentice defends Danielle Smith’s career and Jamie Lall ouster
Posted Mar 30, 2015 6:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice defended the career and character of Danielle Smith Monday, following her defeat in the PC nomination battle of Highwood on the weekend.
Speaking in Calgary, Prentice said Smith deserves respect for her public life and he’s been concerned with the ‘piling on’ she has taken from the media and on social media.
“I don’t think it’s fair and I think we should respect people who are in public life who have given a lot,” he said, adding she changed Alberta politics, but at the end of the day, it’s the people that decide.
Smith lost to Carrie Fischer, an Okotoks councillor, on the same night her former party elected Brian Jean as the new Wildrose leader.
Asked if Smith brought any baggage after leading the high-profile floor-crossing, Prentice said he wouldn’t get into that and referred back to her service and the process.
“The life blood of the Progressive Conservative Party has been contested nominations and in those contested nominations, it is the people in individual constituencies that decide and they’re always right,” he said.
Prentice also commented on the controversial dismissal of PC candidate Jamie Lall, who was disqualified in the Chestermere-Rocky View battle, allowing Wildrose floor-crosser Bruce McAllister to win.
Lall said he still doesn’t know why he wasn’t allowed to run, after receiving a text from PC Party executive Kelley Charlebois late Saturday night informing him that he was out.
Lall added he was heavily vetted by the party and that he was never given a chance to meet with the nomination committee.
Prentice said there he is aware of why they made the decision to oust him.
“They made their decision in the case of Mr. Lall for good reasons, I can’t speak to you about what those reasons are because I think that’s up to Mr. Lall if he wishes to speak about it,” he said. “I’m satisfied that they made the right choice in terms of what is in the best interest of the Progressive Conservative Party.”
