"Is it now a little clearer why the ex-PM offered a generic endorsement of the UCP, rather than a personal one of its leader? The fact that Danielle Smith is a dubious political bar of soap from a marketing point of view is only part of the story.
The other part is, just what is an endorsement from Stephen Harper worth these days?
After all, he is no longer the populist boy-politician collecting donations in KFC barrels in Calgary basements. Six-and-a-half years after leaving politics, Harper is now a full blown globalist entrepreneur raking in big money with his consulting firm Harper & Associates. His job description apparently entails cozying up to human rights violator Saudi Arabia and tweeting his congratulations to authoritarian politician Viktor Orban for his latest win in Hungary.
And there is hay to be made right here in Canada. A case in point. Harper’s firm is paid $240,000 a year by the province of Saskatchewan, in part to open doors for Premier Scott Moe that Harper walked through as prime minister. That’s why Harper was included on a recent provincial government trip to India, a junket that created controversy for Moe back home. Why did he have to drag a highly paid consultant along?
Who can tell the exact angle Harper is trying to play by inserting himself now into Alberta’s election conversation? But here’s one way to read it.
What we have in Danielle Smith is a politician who is hard to sell, being promoted by a self-styled champion of the little guy who is now very much a member of the elite he has spent so much time demonizing."
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/04/26/Stephen-Harper-Endorses-Danielle-Smith/