Danielle Smith, centre, looks on after losing Okotoks town councillor Carrie Fischer defeats her in the Highwood Progressive Conservative nomination race in High River, Alta. on Saturday, March 28, 2015.Jordan Verlage/The Canadian Press
Only three years ago, Danielle Smith faced cheering Wildrose Party faithful in her hometown of High River as she pledged to restore democracy in Alberta. In only a short time, she had led the upstart party from the political wilderness to official opposition in the 2012 election, garnering national headlines as an emerging political star.
After a stunning rise in which many saw her as Alberta's premier-in-waiting, Ms. Smith's fall came even more quickly.
Four months after leading many Wildrose MLAs to defect to the governing Progressive Conservatives and slipping into the background, Ms. Smith's political career hit the rocks Saturday – in High River. She lost the PC nomination for the Highwood riding to a relative unknown, Carrie Fischer.
In Calgary, meanwhile, Wildrose members elected former federal Tory MP Brian Jean as Ms. Smith's replacement. They hooted loudly when news arrived of their former leader's fate.
"This is, of course, a mixed-emotions day for me," Ms. Smith said after her loss.
"I wanted to get a mandate as the PC candidate for Highwood but of course residents felt otherwise," Ms. Smith said.
After taking three questions, the former leader who once commanded the spotlight quickly walked out the back door of a nearly empty community hall.
In December, Ms. Smith led the bulk of her Wildrose Party to join the Tory government. The move stunned Alberta, and the defection of the Wildrose Nine, as the group is known, was an unprecedented floor crossing.
Many Tories who cast ballots for Ms. Smith's opponent, a first-term town councillor from neighbouring Okotoks, said they couldn't forgive the betrayal.
Born in Calgary but making her home in High River, Ms. Smith had impeccable conservative credentials in October of 2009, when she took over a little-known party then going by the name Wildrose Alliance.
"My No. 1 job is to turn Alberta back into a real democracy again," she said at the time.
A former Fraser Institute intern and policy wonk, she had played host to a current affairs television program and lobbied for small business. In 2008, Ms. Smith ended her life-long support for the Tories over plans to hike energy royalties and run record deficits.
At the time, she said the Tories were conservative in name only.
In Wildrose, Ms. Smith saw a party that could unseat a Tory dynasty then approaching 40 years in power. She pulled together a hard-right platform that flirted with libertarian views.
"She was a remarkably talented policy wonk and politician, but she always had a tin ear for how people would react to things," said Vitor Marciano, who worked alongside Ms. Smith in a number of positions with Wildrose from 2010 to 2014.
Preparing to face off against Premier Alison Redford in the 2012 election, Ms. Smith pledged to give rural landowners a veto on expropriation and instill conscience rights in the province. She also ruffled feathers by talking about more privatization in health care.
Despite hiccups during the campaign, including when Ms. Smith defended a candidate's statement that gays would burn in a "lake of fire," Wildrose vaulted from almost nothing to claiming much of southern Alberta and building a 17-MLA caucus.
As opposition leader, Ms. Smith went on the attack. She tormented Ms. Redford daily, attacking her government and tabling documents that led to a number of spending scandals. Some Tories have yet to forgive Ms. Smith for the caustic and sometimes personal attacks.
Ms. Redford resigned in March, 2014 – in large part due to the Wildrose attacks. Ms. Smith looked set to sweep the Tories out of power. However, her triumph was short-lived.
Shortly after Jim Prentice was sworn in as Premier in September, 2014, negotiations started for a mass floor-crossing. A former senior Conservative MP, Mr. Prentice swept four by-elections a month after taking office and seemed to have quickly reinvigorated the Tory party.
Ms. Smith faced her own troubles. She was losing control of Wildrose after members voted down an equality statement at a general meeting – she has said the vote was intended to embarrass her.
On Dec. 17, Ms. Smith joined the party she had spent years preparing to destroy. Speaking alongside Mr. Prentice, she said she wanted the Tory Leader to succeed.
After her loss on Saturday, Ms. Smith once again called on Alberta's conservatives to buy Tory memberships.
"I believe that Jim Prentice is exactly the leader we need right now," she said. "I think it's really important when we are facing such challenging fiscal times for conservatives to unite under Premier Prentice's leadership."
She remained adamant after her loss that the floor crossings were "absolutely not" a mistake. Only three of the Wildrose Nine will be running in an election expected this spring.
Justin Giovannetti