Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, former columnist and media personality who has served as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since 2022.

Born in Calgary, Smith attended the University of Calgary and earned degrees in English and economics. After briefly serving as a trustee for the Calgary Board of Education and being fired from the Board, she worked as a journalist in print, radio and television, sharing opinions on politics and healthcare. During this time she also worked as the director of provincial affairs for Alberta with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She entered provincial politics in 2009, becoming the leader of the Wildrose Party. Smith contributed to the growth of the party, which formed the Official Opposition after the 2012 election. Smith won a seat in the Legislative Assembly for Highwood in that election, and served as leader of the Opposition until 2014, when she resigned to join the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs). Smith was defeated in her bid for the PC nomination in Highwood for the 2015 election.

Between 2015 and 2022, Smith worked in talk radio and served as the president of the Alberta Enterprise Group. Upon Premier Jason Kenney's resignation announcement on May 18, 2022, Smith announced her campaign in the United Conservative Party leadership election. On October 6, Smith won the leadership on the sixth count. She was sworn in as premier on October 11 and became MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat on November 8, 2022. She led the UCP to reelection as a majority government in the 2023 general election.

Smith's policies have primarily focused on extending Albertan provincial autonomy. In 2022, her government passed the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which seeks to protect Alberta from federal policies it deems detrimental to the province. Smith's government has also begun the process of withdrawing Alberta from the Canada Pension Plan to create a pension plan exclusive to the province's residents.

Marlaina Danielle Smith was born in Calgary on April 1, 1971, the second of five children. She is the daughter of Sharon (Hawkins) and Doug Smith, an oilfield consultant and previously a board member for the Wildrose Party. She is named after the song "Marlena" by The Four Seasons. Her paternal great-grandfather, Philipus Kolodnicki, a Ruthenian from Austria, changed his surname to Smith after arriving in Canada in the early 1900s. Her maternal ancestors came to Canada via the United States. In 2022, Smith's claims of "mixed-race ancestry" and indigenous ancestry on her maternal side were questioned.

Growing up, her family lived in subsidized housing. As a student she worked at McDonald's, at a bingo parlour and at restaurants bussing tables.

Smith described her parents as "reliably conservative" in an interview with the National Post. When Smith was a grade 8 student, she said she came home praising a teacher who spoke positively about communism, and her father argued otherwise. Smith said she had family in Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time. "Then he realized we needed to talk a lot more around the dinner table," Smith told The Canadian Press in 2014.

She is also a past member of the Girl Guides of Canada and was featured in a 2013 museum exhibit about prominent Girl Guides at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. She is a fan of the young-adult fantasy novel Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and once considered becoming a novelist in the science fiction and fantasy genres.