It’s been hard not to wonder over the past few crazy months where Premier Danielle Smith’s loyalties truly lie. Back in January, before Donald Trump’s inauguration, she flew to Florida to sip cocktails at Mar-a-Lago with the president-elect and Canadian reality TV Star, Trump fan, and proponent of scrapping the Canadian dollar, billionaire Kevin O’Leary.
Smith was there trying to cut a side deal that would spare Alberta from Trump’s promise of punishing tariffs. Fair enough. At the time all Canadian politicians were scrambling to muster a response to what was shaping up to be a mutually destructive trade war.
However, did our Premier bring up Trump’s continuous trolling and taunting of our outgoing Prime MInister – like him or not – and threats of taking over Canada? Apparently not.
Following her Mar-a-Lago meeting, a reporter asked Smith about Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly’s suggestion that Canada could block oil and gas exports in response to the tariffs.
Smith replied by saying “Oil and gas is owned by the provinces.”
Then she went on to say that she wanted to “have a constructive relationship with Canada,” and that she hoped that “would hope that would continue to be the case,” regardless of how the Albertan government handled Trump’s tariffs.
That sounds a lot like language used to describe the relationship between two countries, and not that of a Canadian citizen who feels strongly about our country’s independence.
There’s more reason to question Smith’s underlying geo-political beliefs. When a billboard urging her to make Alberta the 51st state appeared on the side of the highway in poor little Bowden, this was the best she could come up with:
“I don’t think there’s a lot of enthusiasm for what the billboard says or what the president has been talking about,” she told the media.
Wow. Where’s the passionate defense of Canada? Where’s the challenge to a vengeful American president and convicted felon who openly discusses annexing our country?
Only when Trump’s promised tariffs landed with a stock market crash on March 4 did Danielle Smith finally say something about the need for national unity.
Last Tuesday Smith told media that she supports the federal reciprocal response. She called Trump’s tariffs “foolish and a failure in every regard,” and an “an unjustifiable economic attack on Canadians and Albertans.”
Better late than never.
Ontario Gets It
Albertans aren’t used to looking east for inspiration. But now is a good time for Smith to tear a page from the playbook of fellow Conservative and Ontario premier Doug Ford.
A crisis can be a flailing politician’s salvation. Ford has definitely risen to this occasion, and all the way to re-election for a third term.
“I will work with every level of government and every political stripe, because fighting back against Donald Trump, standing up for Canada, it will take a full team Ontario effort,” he said, on Feb, 27 election night. “It will take a full team Canada effort.”
That sounds like someone who truly cares about this country.This isn’t about stirring up ugly flag-waving nationalism – Canada is far from perfect. We face many challenges and still grapple with the dark side of our colonial past. But it is about defending Canada from a new type of aggression that Trudeau rightly said seems to be about “collapsing” our economy.
Right from the moment that Trump started insulting Canada last fall and threatening tariffs (illegal under NAFTA but laws don’t seem to constrain Trump), Ford has been unwavering in his defense of Canadian sovereignty, the economy and Ontarians.
While Smith was hanging with Trump and pretend-Canadian O’Leary, Ford was already wearing his blue “Canada is not for sale” ball cap. When his efforts at diplomacy with politicians south of the border seemed to go nowhere, he promised to hit back hard.
And hit back he has.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has stopped stocking shelves with U.S. booze.
American companies are banned from bidding on Ontario government contracts.
The $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink has been cancelled.
And if the tariffs remain, Ontario will impose 25% tax on electricity exports to the U.S.
To be fair, on Wednesday, the day after tariffs went into effect, Smith announced that Alberta will also stop buying U.S. alcohol products and gambling machines. The province also banned American companies from bidding on government contracts. That’s a good play.
But Smith fell short of playing what she calls Alberta’s “trump card” – oil and gas.
According to a US government report, Canadian crude oil is critical to the U.S. economy and accounted for 60 percent of the country’s oil imports in 2023.
“Crude oil imports from Canada have become increasingly important to U.S. oil refineries, now making up most U.S. imports,” the report reads.
Hello opportunity.
Doug Ford could inflict immediate pain by turning off the electricity switch to millions of customers in the U.S. So could Smith by turning off the oil taps.
Though both actions would no doubt hurt Canadian workers, the pain would likely be short-lived. But what a message Danielle Smith could send to Trump and his MAGA minions.
No Donald. Canada is not a disposable neighbour that America subsidizes, but is in fact a place that produces stuff that Americans want. And as an added bonus, we’re usually friendly.
Nobody in Canada welcomed or wanted this insane trade war that will waste billions of dollars that could be invested in health care, housing, parks, and any number of other needs. Nobody, except maybe a fringe of separatists and right wing extremists who fly the Confederate flag and find safe haven in the margins of Pierre Poilievre’s federal conservatives.
The writing was on the wall a long time ago that appeasement and playing nice with Trump wasn’t going to work. Doug Ford leads on this one. Premier Smith arrived late.
