<b>Twice resurrected from political death, Danielle Smith now serves as the friendly face of MAGA-style populism in Canada as Alberta’s premier.</b><br/><br/>From her short-lived tenure as a Calgary school board trustee to her decision to blow up the Wildrose Party and her most recent re-emergence as the conspiracy-minded, separatist-adjacent premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith has always demonstrated a penchant for following the prevailing winds within the global conservative movement.<br/><br/>With a little help from her friends in the mainstream media and corporate worlds, as well as her undeniable populist charisma and talents as a communicator, Smith successfully used pandemic anxieties and a uniquely Albertan style of grievance politics to mount her seemingly improbable comeback.<br/><br/>In <i>Dark Phoenix</i>, Jeremy Appel charts how Smith has risen from the ashes in alignment with dark, authoritarian forces who are using the spectre of U.S.-aligned Alberta separatism to restructure the state as a corporate entity, with Smith as its CEO.