Danielle Smith Establishes Sharia Banking in Alberta

What do we really know about Premier Danielle Smith?

Despite being regarded as Canada’s most conservative Premier, Smith recently laid the groundwork for Sharia-compliant banking in Alberta earlier this month. In a move that Muslim groups in Alberta have lobbied for, banks will be allowed to offer a separate Sharia-compliant financial service for Muslims. Islam places certain limits on the financial activities of adherents, including forbidding interest payments and prohibiting investment in businesses which provide goods or services deemed haram (sinful) – such as pork or alcohol.

Alberta will be the first province in Canada to establish a separate Sharia-compliant banking service. This announcement preceded Smith’s creation of a 30-member multiculturalism council tasked with promoting “cultural diversity and inclusiveness in Alberta”.

Why would a self-styled Right-wing populist, taboo-flouting firebrand create a council to promote diversity, and proudly become the first Premier in Canada to endorse Sharia banking? Because, generally, Canadian populists have no idea what they stand for. Right-wing populism in Canada, untethered from a clear political philosophy of conservatism, is too often fundamentally directionless, stripped of the guiding light of tradition, without a sense of history.

In her speech announcing the establishment of Sharia banking, to a largely Muslim audience, Smith offered a revealing definition of her understanding of the foundation of conservatism: “the individual, the family, the community, being built on freedom…”. To be clear, this is an entirely meaningless string of feel-good words. Several of the concepts even contradict each other: is conservatism about individuals, or the community? If it’s about both, which one takes primacy? And, how does “freedom”, in this case the “freedom” of Muslim groups to successfully lobby for a seperate Islamic banking service, help build up the “community” of Alberta?

Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party should serve as a warning to the Right. Populists attained a position of power, propelled by a wave of anger against the establishment, but their lack of a coherent conservative ideology prevented them from passing legislation to stop and reverse social and cultural change, and left them open to the lobbying efforts of non-assimilated elements of a foreign religious community.

If Smith’s tenure is to be successful, she needs to echo the concerns of her largely rural, socially and culturally conservative voter base. M0re broadly, Right-wing populism in Canada is in dire need of moving on from its present aimlessness, towards a robust philosophy of authentic conservatism.