Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has taken a lot of abuse from some of her fellow politicians as well as fellow Canadians in recent weeks. Because she has chosen to take a somewhat different path in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs threats, she has been criticized as not being part of “Team Canada” – which seems to be defined by the federal Liberals and Ontario Premier Doug Ford as being anyone who agrees with them. In the extreme, Smith has been called a traitor for not buying in to the chest-thumping retaliatory tariff approach favoured by some which will do so much damage to Canadian businesses and their employees.
The current eruption of this sentiment involves Smith taking a trip into the U.S. this week to appear on Ben Shapiro’s podcast. Shapiro is a well-known conservative podcaster who has over seven million subscribers and is a powerful influencer in Republican circles. U.S. podcasters with enormous audiences are increasingly influential in the U.S. – and to a lesser degree in Canada, as people become turned off the mainstream media which is seen as biased and unreliable.
In a previous appearance on another U.S. news outlet, Breitbart News, Smith made a statement about federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre that was greatly misinterpreted. She stated that Poilievre would be the better person to negotiate with Trump on behalf of Canada, adding that he would be more “in sync” with the new direction in which the U.S. was headed. The was subsequently pounced on by the Liberal election campaign, which looks for any opportunity to compare Poilievre with Trump, despite the fact that such comparisons bear no relation to reality.
Smith was right to say that Poilievre, like Trump, favoured lower taxes, smaller government, opposed censorship of online communications, endorsed pro-energy sector policies and other ways to boost Canada’s economy and the freedoms of average Canadians. As is typical in a hotly contested election, this was exaggerated into meaning that Poilievre was being Trumpesque.
In the current imbroglio with the United States, Canadians should be asking themselves whether a tariff war which we, as the smaller and more vulnerable player, will never win, is the wisest course. Canadians are understandably angry at Trump, but we often seem to be cutting off our nose to spite our face as our economy is damaged and jobs are lost. The bottom line is we can’t control Trump, but we can do something about our own weaknesses over which we have total control.
Instead of imposing retaliatory tariffs and spending billions to compensate affected Canadian industries, further worsening our already massive deficits and debt, why do our governments not implement policies to strengthen Canada for the long term? Things such as reducing our heavy tax burden on individuals and businesses, enabling our resource sector which has been severely constrained under the Trudeau government and will continue to be with a net zero-obsessed Carney government, shrinking the overly-large public sector which is a drag on our prosperity and reduce the regulatory wet blanket that prevents much needed resource and infrastructure projects from being built and drives away investment.
Trump is being used by many of our governments as a convenient scapegoat for Canada’s problems when these governments should be looking in the mirror to see the true source of our troubles. Trump has also loomed large in the current federal election campaign, and perversely his threats seem to have helped the Liberal party whose harmful policies during their decade in power were the real culprits in weakening Canada and increasing our vulnerability to U.S. attacks.
It can’t be denied that throughout this entire mess, Smith has consistently had the best interests of Alberta at heart. That is, after all, her job. And whether Canadians outside of Alberta realize it or not, many businesses and jobs in other provinces are dependent upon Alberta industries for their existence. This is especially true for the energy sector. Alberta has also long contributed much more than other provinces to programs such as EI and CPP and is by far the largest contributor to the equalization payments that go to other provinces.
Given the immense importance of the U.S. market to the Canadian economy, does it not make sense to pursue all avenues to stave off the worst of Trump’s threats, including educating Americans on the realities of how beneficial our trade relationship is to the United States? Smith has been one of the hardest working premiers in pursuing this objective. She is very much a constructive part of “Team Canada” and does not deserve the criticism she has received. Those who criticize her pragmatic and persistent work on behalf of Canada for their own partisan gain should be ashamed of themselves.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
