Alberta Premier Danielle Smith responded on Wednesday to the barrage of criticism she’s faced from across Canada for her recent diplomatic efforts and media appearances in the U.S.
During Wednesday’s afternoon session in the Alberta Legislature, Smith said she’s been unjustly criticized for her attempts to persuade officials that a trade war between the U.S. and Canada would be a bad idea. She defended her strategy, characterizing her actions as entering the “lion’s den” to change the hearts and minds of Americans that Canada needs on its side.
“I will not be silent. Alberta will not be silent. We will not be pushed around and called traitors for merely having the courage to actually do something about our nation’s and province’s predicament, other than merely indulging in self-righteous tantrums,” Smith said.
“Until this danger to Alberta and our economy is past, they’re going to have to roll me off in a stretcher before I will stop fighting for this province and our people.”
Smith gave these remarks to the legislature as she prepares to fly to Florida this week to speak at an event with U.S. conservative media personality Ben Shapiro at a fundraiser for non-profit organization PragerU. Her participation in the event has been criticized because of the involvement of far-right figures in the U.S.
Criticism of Smith has intensified across Canada since last weekend, when her March 8 interview with right-wing U.S. media outlet Breitbart News resurfaced.
In the interview, Smith said the threat of “unjust and unfair tariffs” had boosted Liberal support, and added that she’d told U.S. administration officials that she hoped “we could put things on pause,” so Canada could get through an election.
She also said that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s perspective is “very much in sync” with the Trump administration.
Earlier this week, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi suggested Smith had invited a foreign country to interfere in Canada’s election, a claim that’s been echoed across social media as well. Smith’s press secretary Sam Blackett told CBC News last weekend that any suggestion Smith asked the U.S. to interfere in Canada’s federal election, which was called on Sunday, is “offensive and false.”
Alberta NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi responded to Smith’s speech on Wednesday by arguing the premier’s diplomatic efforts have not proven to be effective, because ongoing tariff threats continue to destabilize Canada’s economy.
The White House went ahead with tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum earlier this month, and U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order the same day of Smith’s speech to impose tariffs on all auto imports.
“We must be smart, building long-term relationships with U.S. stakeholders that support Alberta’s interests on all sides of the political spectrum, not just ideological buddies,” Pancholi said in the legislature on Wednesday.
Diplomatic efforts raise questions
Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University, said there are legitimate questions to raise about whether Smith’s diplomatic efforts have been helpful to Canada, and that it would be better for Smith to engage with those questions.
“This response in the legislature is going to play very well with her supporters, but there are lots of folks in Alberta and Canada who are caught up in this surge of national unity, want to protect Canada, and are concerned with some of the things Danielle Smith has said,” Williams said.
Social media comments calling Smith a traitor are unfortunate and too common, Williams noted. But she said that Smith’s remarks on Wednesday seemed like an attempt to shift focus away from the criticism of her Breitbart interview, and to paint all criticism of her as attacks on her attempts to stand up for Alberta.
Williams said she’s unsure if Smith’s comments in the Breitbart interview that have drawn the criticism — asking to pause rather than stop tariffs and saying Poilievre is more in sync with Trump — really seem as though they’re standing up for Canada.
“There are a lot of Canadians that are very, very focused on national unity right now, standing up for Canada against threats that are coming out of the United States,” Williams said.
“They don’t see other Canadians as the primary threat, they see the Donald Trump administration as the primary threat that Canada needs to be concerned with, and I think she’d be wise to focus on that.”
