Like the Social Credit governments of Ernest Manning and “Bible” Bill Aberhart, Smith’s UCP depends heavily on rural Alberta for its political base. That makes Smith’s UCP the most rural-oriented government in Alberta, by far, since the last one Manning led in 1967. Like Aberhart and Manning, Smith’s government is backstopped by right-wing religious conservatives. “I grew up in rural Alberta and these are my people,” he told Global News during the recent provincial election. Smith’s UCP has also been unafraid to do things that would instantly be described as “socialist” if they came from her political rivals.
