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Twice resurrected from political death, Danielle Smith now serves as the friendly face of MAGA-style populism in Canada as Alberta's premier.
From her short-lived tenure as a Calgary school board trustee to her decision to blow up the Wildrose Party and her most recent re-emergence as the conspiracy-minded, separatist-adjacent premier of Alberta, Smith has always demonstrated a penchant for following the prevailing winds within the conservative movement.
With a little help from her friends in the mainstream media and corporate world, as well as her undeniable populist charisma and talents as a communicator, Smith successfully used pandemic anxieties and a uniquely Albertan style of grievance politics to mount her seemingly improbable comeback.
In Dark Phoenix, Jeremy Appel charts how Smith has risen from the ashes in alignment with dark, authoritarian forces, who are using the spectre of U.S.-backed Alberta separatism to restructure the state as a corporate entity, with Smith as its CEO.
From her short-lived tenure as a Calgary school board trustee to her decision to blow up the Wildrose Party and her most recent re-emergence as the conspiracy-minded, separatist-adjacent premier of Alberta, Smith has always demonstrated a penchant for following the prevailing winds within the conservative movement.
With a little help from her friends in the mainstream media and corporate world, as well as her undeniable populist charisma and talents as a communicator, Smith successfully used pandemic anxieties and a uniquely Albertan style of grievance politics to mount her seemingly improbable comeback.
In Dark Phoenix, Jeremy Appel charts how Smith has risen from the ashes in alignment with dark, authoritarian forces, who are using the spectre of U.S.-backed Alberta separatism to restructure the state as a corporate entity, with Smith as its CEO.
Price: $24.99
Pages: 340
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Imprint: Dundurn Press
Publication Date:
10 November 2026
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781459757240
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Canadian, Political ideologies and movements, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Commentary & Opinion, Political leaders and leadership, Populism / populist ideologies and movements
Jeremy Appel is an independent journalist covering Alberta politics and author of Kenneyism: Jason Kenney’s Pursuit of Power. He writes The Orchard newsletter on Substack, and his work has appeared in the The New York Times, Toronto Star, Canada’s National Observer, Jacobin, and The Tyee. He lives in Edmonton.