Marlaina Danielle Smith ECA MLA (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 2022.

After briefly serving as a trustee for the Calgary Board of Education, she worked as a journalist in print, radio and television, during which she shared opinions on politics and healthcare.

Smith won a seat in the Legislative Assembly for Highwood in that election, and served as leader of the Opposition until 2014, when she resigned to join the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs).

Her classmates included Ezra Levant; Rob Anders; Naheed Nenshi; and Kevin Bosch, who became an adviser to prime ministers Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau.

The report argued that "contrary to public opinion, in most instances objectives for protecting human health and the environment are being met, pollution and wastes are being controlled, and resources and land are being sustainably and effectively managed".

[9] After graduating with an English major, Smith briefly lived in Vancouver where she worked as a waitress and as an extra in movie and TV productions.

[19] That same year, she also wrote an article titled "Anti-smoking lobby does more harm than good", in which she stated that smoking cigarettes can "reduce the risk of disease".

[21] In September 2006, she co-hosted the Calgary Congress, a national assembly of citizens and economic and constitutional specialists to consider basic federal reforms for Canada.

While employed here, she coauthored a paper called "Achieving Eco-prosperity" Smith supported Ted Morton in the 2006 PC leadership election.

Years later, Smith recalled that Anderson told her that despite the Tories' reckless spending and unwillingness to listen to the backbench, they were the only credible centre-right party in the province.

[29] Smith convinced three PCs who served in government to cross the floor to join the Wildrose Party: Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth, and later Guy Boutiller.

[31] Numerous polls indicated that the Wildrose Party could defeat the governing Progressive Conservatives, who were also led by a woman, Premier Alison Redford.

Smith was elected to the Legislature from Highwood, just south of Calgary, on the same day, defeating John Barlow, editor of the Okotoks Western Wheel.

Allan Hunsperger, running in an Edmonton riding, had written a blog post claiming that gays would end up in a "lake of fire" if they did not renounce their lifestyle.

[38] According to the National Post, Hunsperger and Leech's extreme views, as well as Smith's refusal to condemn them, cost her a chance of unseating Redford.

"[44] Several weeks after Smith joined the Progressive Conservatives, in a Facebook post, she apologized for the anger caused by her move and for not consulting with Albertans before making the decision.

[54] On May 18, 2022, Smith announced that she was launching a campaign to seek the leadership of the United Conservative Party of Alberta, after the resignation of sitting premier and UCP leader Jason Kenney.

[62] Preceded by Herbert Greenfield, William Aberhart and Jim Prentice in this regard, she was just the last in a series of persons who have ascended to the premier's position without holding a seat in the legislature.

[64][65] She also said that people who are unvaccinated should be protected under the Alberta Human Rights Act; alluding to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, she said that they have been "the most discriminated against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime",[66][67][68] had "faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year", and that "we are not going to create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice".

[64][65][69] On October 24, Smith pulled Alberta from the World Economic Forum Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare, saying that she would not "work with a group that talks about controlling governments."

[70][71][72] As Smith was not a member of the Legislative Assembly when she became premier, she ran in a by-election for the southern Alberta seat of Brooks-Medicine Hat on November 8, 2022.

[93][94] She was scheduled to attend Trump's inauguration, but was unable to because the event was moved into a small indoor venue due to bad weather conditions.

[101] Smith shared a mentor, political scientist Tom Flanagan, with former Reform Party leader Preston Manning and former prime minister Stephen Harper.

[105] While she was leader of the Wildrose Party, Smith supported conscience rights legislation for health care workers[106] and opposed publicly funding gender-affirming surgeries.

[107] In February 2024, Smith announced a ban of gender-affirming healthcare for those 17 and under (including a ban on puberty blockers for those 15 and under), the requirement of parental consent for students aged 15 and under to be referred to by a different name or different gender pronouns, the requirement of parents to give their consent before having their children taught human sexuality, and that third-party resources on sexuality be approved by the Education Ministry.

"[114] Smith also made posts on Locals.com critical of COVID-19 vaccines and questioned the legitimacy of reports that unmarked graves had been found in Canadian residential schools.

[121][122] A news-leak on December 18, 2023 revealed allegations of an ongoing ethics probe into recent re-structuring at Alberta Health Services, including the rapid hiring and firing of Deena Hinshaw for a position on their Indigenous Wellness Core team just days prior to starting.

[123] At the 28 September, 2024 UCP Town Hall in Edmonton, Smith responded to a concern that the municipality was being sprayed by so-called chemtrails[124]—a "long-held conspiracy theory" that airplane condensation vapours are purposeful nefarious acts.

Kolodnicki also listed his nation of origin as Austria and his race as Ruthenian, a term that at the time referred to the ancestors of modern Ukrainians, Belarusians and Rusyns.

[131] An investigation from APTN National News looked over U.S. census records and found Crowe was born in 1870 in Georgia, about 20 years after the U.S. government forced the Cherokee out of their homelands.