Bell: We wait for Danielle Smith's move, no matter the referendum score

By the time you read this column you might have seen referendum results but no matter the score it’s not over.

Let’s quote the wise words of former British prime minister Winston Churchill after an Allied victory in a Second World War far from finished.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”

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How will Premier Danielle Smith hold her political party together, a tent with separatists and pro-Canada types?

How will the premier calm the waters in the UCP and will her trust in Carney be rewarded?

These questions and many others will be jawed over in the days and weeks ahead and they will become the ongoing chapters in the real story.

As we learn who won and by how much in the Alberta referendum remember Premier Danielle Smith herself was always looking to the days after the vote.

Nose counters told us Albertans who did not vote for Smith in the last provincial election almost to a person would vote for Option 1.

That was Premier Smith’s option and the option of almost every politician in the province, at least those willing to show their colours.

The number crunchers also told us, when it came to those voting to have a referendum on Alberta independence, more than half of Smith’s supporters said they backed a ballot on whether Alberta should leave Canada.

In other words, most of Smith’s supporters would head in an opposite direction from the premier.

Smith knew all this and she spoke openly about how she wanted everyone to respect the wisdom of the people casting ballots, knowing every talking head, every finger in the wind deep thinker said the Alberta separatists would lose big.