There is zero chance, absolutely none, that separatist leaders will kick Premier Danielle Smith out of office and take over the United Conservative Party.

That’s how they talk, of course. They’re going after the premier because they don’t like her referendum question and her embrace of federalism, Alberta style.

In the last column, I tried to explain the movement against Smith, and the obvious steps she’s taking to keep separatists out of riding nominations and UCP board positions.

But this situation is nothing like the challenges that eventually drove former premier Jason Kenney from office in 2022.

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The ghost of his shattered leadership hovers over any challenge, naturally. It showed that even a powerful premier can be run off by his party.

In fact, the memory of Kenney’s fate is the only thing that gives the current separatist campaign any credibility.

I’ll plagiarize myself here by quoting something I wrote shortly after the UCP leadership vote of May 18, 2022, that forced Kenney to resign.

“Here’s a man who left federal........

© Calgary Herald