Albertans divided on Smith government’s direction, report suggests

A new report finds that Alberta residents give the provincial government higher marks than most other Canadians give their own governments, yet half of Albertans still believe the province is headed in the wrong direction.

The report from the Angus Reid Institute shows Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP government performing comparatively well on major issues, ranking near the top nationally in approval, yet the numbers still reveal majority dissatisfaction.

“The UCP government under Premier Smith is relatively well-appraised when it comes to the top issues of the day,” reads the report from the non-profit. “But the word relatively is doing significant heavy lifting.”

Health care and the cost of living, the two issues Albertans identify as most important, draw the sharpest criticism, with 67 percent of respondents saying the government is doing a poor job on health care and 66 per cent saying the same about the cost of living.

Around one-third of respondents believe the government is handling those issues well, a higher approval level than most other provinces report.

Overall, 52 per cent of Albertans say the province is on the wrong track, while 38 per cent believe it is headed in the right direction. That places Alberta behind only Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the share of residents who feel their province is moving in a positive direction.

The findings suggest a complex picture where Alberta outperforms much of the country in relative approval, yet significant concern remains about the government’s handling of the issues that matter most to residents.