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Walked into the premier’s office in Calgary.

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“Let me show you something,” says Premier Danielle Smith.

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She shows me paper with numbers and bar graphs and the biggest numbers and the tallest bar graphs are from Alberta.

It shows insurance premiums and how high they are in this province.

This is exactly the type of issue Smith should be doing something about.

“Look at that. It’s just such an obvious outlier,” points the premier, to Alberta auto insurance rates so high and nearby provinces lower.

Your scribbler takes time to tell Smith a personal insurance story. Many of us have one.

“That’s not how insurance is supposed to work,” says Smith.

Oh, the insurance industry.

I fought against that hard-nosed crowd back in the day, a crew who often seem eager to rake in the dough, not so eager to pay it out.

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The question is asked. Does Smith think she can get where we have to go on insurance premiums, her pledge to go after pricey insurance?

Two of her inner circle have already met with insurance big shots.

“We have to. We have to address it,” says the premier.

“It’s not going to be an easy solution, unfortunately.”

Smith turns her attention back to Alberta’s high insurance premiums and the big numbers and the tall bar graphs spelling out the reality.

“This is not just an anomaly. You can’t look at that and say these are isolated incidents. It’s across the board. There’s a problem there and we have to figure out why that is.

“I don’t know what the answer is yet. We’ve told the industry they need to work with us on finding one because we can’t continue to see these high prices.”

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The way to not continue to see these high prices is to lower the prices.

Smith is even more explicit when she takes to the airwaves after our talk.

The premier says she didn’t go for a freeze on premiums since she thinks freezing “is not going to cut it” for most Albertans who want “to understand how we can get rates reduced.”

Rates reduced. Good.

After all, Smith admits, premiums have gone up and up and up and up in recent years.

“There’s no question. It doesn’t seem to matter what age you are, what kind of car you drive, across the board Alberta rates are now higher. That’s a problem.”

Smith wants to work with the insurance industry “so people can see their rates go down.”

Their rates go down. Yes!!

Now, premier, go and it make happen.

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Even the province’s Alberta Auto Insurance Rate Board has pointed to the mounting frustration with higher and higher premiums, especially when drivers have no claims and no tickets.

It will only get worse if something is not done, sooner rather than later.

The only individuals who seem to think things are fine are those who say something like: I was in Saskatchewan and I paid $2,000 there but in Alberta I only pay $500 and the broker gave me a calendar and a cup of coffee.

Well, I’m happy you’re happy and I know you think it’s just about you being happy.

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But most Albertans are not happy.

Sadly, the Smith government’s main man on insurance is budget boss Travis Toews.

He was handling this political football when Premier Jason Kenney was running the show.

Everyone knows the Kenney government had a cozy relationship with insurance company lobbyists.

Well, whenever Toews talks, he goes on about premiums flattening and the system working pretty darn well and there’s no big deal.

Guess we’ll see who is in charge: Smith, Toews or the insurance companies.

A Smith column wouldn’t be complete without some mention of COVID.

It is a huge reason she got the top job, winning the UCP leadership.

Smith doesn’t want to lose her base.

There is always the threat they will stomp away and call it Splitsville to the UCP’s marriage of convenience between Wildrosers and PC folks.

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The premier says people wanted to see some accountability for those giving advice and making decisions during the COVID pandemic and “this is the reason why we needed new leadership at the Chief Medical Officer of Health office and that’s why we needed new leadership at Alberta Health Services.”

Smith feels she needs to look ahead to the next pandemic and see if changes in the law are needed so “a better response takes place.”

She’s setting up a task force in the new year to see what changes need to be made.

“The balance between public health and individual rights, I think most people looking back don’t think we got the right balance.

“We need to understand how we can better protect medical choice.”

That’s the unvaccinated.

So it goes.

We’re told, nearing year’s end, the Smith braintrust is optimistic better times are ahead.

Doing something big on insurance wouldn’t hurt.

rbell@postmedia.com