CTV News Edmonton has reported:

Journalist Jeremy Appel’s book about Danielle Smith’s return to political prominence is scheduled for release Oct. 13, just before Albertans go to the polls for a referendum. Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall, and Reemergence of Danielle Smith traces her career from a brief period as a Calgary school board trustee through her time with the Wildrose Party and her election as Alberta premier.

The book launch will take place at The Aviary. Advance tickets cost $25 and include a hard copy of the book. Appel said in a recent interview that he sees Smith as a skilled communicator, regardless of whether readers support her politics.

“I think she’s a remarkable communicator,” Appel said. “Whether you like her politics or loathe them, she’s very good at taking the ideas of her base that is rural, often religious and socially very conservative, and translating them into terms for the broader public that sounds more innocuous, if not commonsensical, and presenting her positions as this prudent middle grounds between two imaginary extremes.”

With the referendum approaching, Appel described the vote as the apex of Smith’s political approach and pointed to questions put to Albertans about immigration. He said Smith has presented a story that the federal government has flooded Alberta with immigrants, despite having asked the federal government less than three years ago to allow more immigrants into the province.

“Smith has been very adept at selling this narrative to the public that the federal government has just flooded our province with immigrants,” Appel said. “Never mind that less than three years ago, she was asking the federal government, in fact, demanding the federal government allow more immigrants into Alberta.”

“With this style of politics that Smith embodies, you see that the particulars don’t really matter. It’s about finding scapegoats and telling people a story about why classrooms are overcrowded, waiting times are excessively long in hospitals and what have you,” he said.

Appel said polling he has seen suggests some of the referendum questions on immigration are likely to pass. The report also included files from CTV News Edmonton’s Michael Higgins.