Danielle Smith building bridges with Ottawa

Wildrose leader takes trip to capital

Call it Ms. Smith goes to Ottawa. In an unusual trip for the head of a provincial opposition party, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith had dinner with Alberta Conservative caucus members in the nation’s capital Tuesday evening and met three federal cabinet ministers on Wednesday.

In an interview, Smith said Wildrose wants a strong working relationship with the federal Tory government on important issues such as immigration and energy.

Smith acknowledged she also wouldn’t mind a healthy political relationship between Wildrose and the Conservative party, something the governing provincial PC party has also been developing in recent months.

“I understand the difficulties that our federal ministers and MPS are in, they have to have a relationship with the current (provincial) government,” said Smith.

“I wanted to let them know they can count on the opposition to be helpful and constructive in advancing issues of common cause in federal and provincial relations, whether we are an opposition party or whether Albertans decide to allow us to form government.”

Calgary-centre MP Lee Richardson said Smith had been “very impressive” in her grasp of issues, but stressed the dinner was an informal event, not an official meet- ing. He said the relationship between the federal and provincial Conservative governments has improved with Premier Alison Redford in office and is strong.

Last year, the Prime Minister’s Office sent out a memo to Conservativem psurging them to be low-key in their involvement in a spate of provincial elections and the Alberta PC leadership race.

But Richardson said it’s just common sense that most Alberta MPS will keep their powder dry in the upcoming provincial vote as the federal politicians have supporters in both the Wildrose and PC camps.

Smith said she was asked by the cabinet ministers she met with wednesday not to identify them in order not to disrupt relations with the province.