In her first press conference as Alberta's newly sworn-in Premier, Danielle Smith was asked several times to clarify her position on the Alberta Sovereignty Act and how she would proceed now that she is Premier. Smith said she does not view the issue as black-and-white. 

"The reason why it's not a clear answer is that we are a combination system between the U.K. and the U.S. In the U.S., they have a bill of rights where the Supreme Court is the final say. In the UK, the Supreme Court offers an opinion but it's parliamentary supremacy that has the final say. We created a hybrid with the notwithstanding clause that allows for the conversation to take place between our legislative branches and our judicial branch," she said. 

However, Smith did say that her intention is to support the Supreme Court of Canada when a decision is made.

"People asked me if I was just going to ignore the current ruling [on carbon tax] and I said the Supreme Court has ruled on that [and] we'll have to find another way to be able to address these issues. I want to re-litigate it and find a way to be able to offset emissions in a different way so that we don't have to penalize our seniors and vulnerable on their electricity and power bills."

Smith was also asked if the former premier Jason Kenney had provided an orderly transition. Smith said that while she had reached out to the former premier for a meeting, he had not accepted it. Smith added that she plans to announce her new cabinet on October 21 and promptly swear in the new cabinet on October 24. While Smith did not divulge whom she plans to keep or oust in the new cabinet, she did say she will be looking to replace Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who up until now has been Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health.

"I appreciate the work that Dr. Deena Hinshaw has done, but I think that we're in a new phase where we are now talking about treating Coronavirus as an endemic as we do influenza and so I will be developing a new team of public health advisors."

Smith also announced that she hopes to shake up the leadership at Alberta Health Services, to address the ongoing issue within Emergency Medical Services.

"We clearly have made a wreck of ambulance services and it's been successive governments under successive banners who have done it. I think everyone has to take responsibility for thinking that they could do it better in a central planning model; they cannot," Smith said.

She said that she plans to receive a brief on healthcare later on Tuesday afternoon and that she approximates that within 90 days, she hopes to have a new governance structure in place. 

Alberta's New Premier also made it clear that she wants to proceed forward with plans for a provincial police force.

"I'm very much in the mode of wanting to have augmentation to the RCMP by creating an Alberta provincial police very quickly so that we can address issues of rural property crime that is often fueled sadly by drug addiction, and so that's why we want to make sure that there are extra hands on deck and that our Alberta provincial police are trained in the new policing priorities that we have."

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Salma Lakhani, Alberta's Lieutenant Governor conducted the swearing-in and administered the oath of office to Premier Smith at an event attended by the Premier’s family, close friends and caucus colleagues. Following the swearing-in, Premier Smith chaired her first cabinet meeting.