Danielle Smith on the podium at the Premier’s Pancake Breakfast held at Legislature grounds in Edmonton. Nichapat Jitpraphan/ The Griff
Premier Danielle Smith appeared at the legislative grounds in Edmonton on Thursday morning to flip pancakes and speak to the media about some of her party’s policies, including new pipelines to British Columbia and Ontario, and AI data centers being planned across Alberta.
Members of various communities across Alberta visited the event to share their concerns and voice their criticisms of Smith’s UCP government.
Laurie de Grace, a volunteer of Water Not Coal, said “My main concern is the environment.”
De Grace had a heated exchange with the premier as Smith served pancakes to some of the guests; however, before much was said, police officers asked De Grace to leave the line.
“We took two years to make sure that we got the policy right, to work with the proponent to find the right location, to address areas of local concern, make sure it was on industrial land, make sure it wouldn’t impact the power grid, make sure that it had an appropriate amount of water use” Smith said during the media portion of the event. “Every data centre is gonna go through the same rigorous process.”
The premier said those are the concerns that the government heard from Albertans.
Edmonton high school student Carly Vos shared her views on Smith’s anti-trans policy. “It has been incredibly detrimental to students and all youth in Alberta.” Vos also raised their concerns over “UCP’s ignorance to the genocide in Gaza.”
A vocal protester was removed from the event after shouting at Smith. As police removed the individual from the grounds, the individual shouted, “you sold us out to corporations . . . you fucking fascist.”
