There’s never a dull moment in Canadian politics these days. Pierre Poilievre must cringe every time Premier Danielle Smith packs her carry-on to fly business class to the US or interviews with American right-wing media. She’s been a frequent flyer recently.
On March 8, she told Breitbart News that American tariffs would hurt Poilievre and the Conservative’s chances in the upcoming federal election.
“So I would hope that we could put things on pause, is what I’ve told administration officials. Let’s just put things on pause so we can get through an election,” Premier Smith told Breitbart.
She wasn’t finished. “The perspective that Pierre would bring would be very much in sync with, I think…the new direction in America,” said Premier Smith.
“Ouch. Thanks for nothing Danielle,” Poilievre must be thinking.
He’s still recovering from Smith’s unintentional Breitbart blunder. A recent survey has Mark Carney’s Liberals polling at around 45 percent as of March 31, with the Conservatives trailing by eight points at 37 percent support.
There are still more than three weeks before the election. In this shifting and volatile trade war, a lot can happen between now and then.
But if these numbers hold it will mark a spectacular fall for Poilievre’s Conservatives, which less than three months ago seemed poised for an easy victory.
Who Can Handle Trump?
The race is boiling down to a battle over who will be the best leader to deal with Trump while defending Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
The majority of Canadians who believe in this country will have a big problem with a Prime Minister who is, in Premier Smith’s words, “in sync” with Trump.
Much has been made about the Breitbart interview, how Premier Smith was, in her own way, meddling or encouraging America to meddle in Canada’s federal election.
Perhaps. However, everyone – even a Premier – is entitled to an opinion. The more important question is Premier Smith’s endorsement of the “new direction in America.”
Premier Smith Loves the New America
Let’s unpack this statement. Since his inauguration on January 20, Trump has attacked American democracy while staking out an isolationist, paranoid and at times delusional stance on the international stage.
His administration proposed taking over Gaza and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump has withdrawn from the United Nations and signed an order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court staff who investigate American citizens and allies.
American scientists have been forbidden from collaborating with colleagues in other countries.
Trump has given an unelected billionaire sweeping powers to gut the public sector and use falsehoods to justify the cuts.
Trump foolishly ordered the release of water from two California reservoirs into a dry lakebed nowhere near the fires in Los Angeles.
His vice president JD Vance has openly mused about the president defying Supreme Court orders and decisions that the administration declares unjust.
Trump’s government is using the threat of withholding billions of dollars in funding from universities that don’t agree to certain conditions supposedly aimed at combating antisemitism but are clamping down on freedom of speech and expression on campuses.
Trump has attacked journalists and news organizations that he considers unfriendly and talks openly and frequently about expanding US territory, two hallmarks of an emerging dictatorship.
He’s even admitted to looking for ways to bypass the US Constitution that limits a president to serving two terms (tick another box in the dictator’s playbook.)
This is just a small example of the “new direction in America” that Alberta’s Premier seems to love.
A Reckless Regime
Not everybody has to agree on everything. Conservatives and Liberals can have their differences but they can still agree on the foundations of democracy and sovereignty.
Not in Danielle Smith’s world. Her southern forays have exposed her true colours as a leader without much love for Canada and even less love for responsible and accountable government.
Why else would she spend Albertan taxpayer dollars to fly down to Florida to appear at a conservative fundraiser and shrug off now-familiar 51st state taunts from right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro with the following response:
“That would be like adding another California to your electoral system, and [you] would never have a Republican president in the White House again,” she quipped.
Every trip Premier Smith makes south of the border we learn a little more about who she is.
The next time she slips into a business class seat, all Albertans – not just Poilievre – should be deeply concerned, or at least hope it’s a one-way ticket.
Is this the kind of reckless regime we want our leader to endorse? Some leaders have their time in history. This isn’t Smith’s time.
