Alberta’s Danielle Smith has ‘great time’ with Ben Shapiro at US event

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Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith “had a great time” and “grateful” to share her message with Americans after appearing at a party in Florida with Ben Shapiro.

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“I will always defend Alberta’s best interest and I thank you for the opportunity to share our information with hundreds of Americans tonight and to do more via social media in the coming weeks,” Smith wrote on X.

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The event was a fundraising party for Prageru, a conservative advocacy group, held in Boca Raton, Florida, and was blocked by the media and had no live broadcast. Even the location is kept secret.

But the news agency National Observer and Striptease case, which focuses on environmental journalism, has obtained audio of the incident.

According to media, Shapiro and Smith discussed how Canada elects the United States’ “strong allies.”

“There’s a massive conservative movement in Canada,” Shapiro said. “I think the barriers that need to be removed. It’s better for the U.S. to have a real solid allies in Canada than some of the schmucks that Canada has run in the past few years.”

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“I think the president recognizes the importance of oil and gas in particular,” Smith replied, adding: “We have already shipped about 4.3 million barrels of oil to the United States every day. We will continue to move forward.”

On the first day of the federal election, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was forced to deal with the consequences of Smith’s comments on the Breitbart podcast earlier this month. She said President Donald Trump’s plan to impose Canada “seems to be benefiting from liberals” and Americans may consider suspending tariffs before the Canadian election is over.

She also said that he will be more “synchronized” with Trudeau’s resignation and Mark Carney being elected as a liberal leader in the shadow of the trade war, who has a dominant position in Canada’s vote. She also praised the United States for staying away from the 2050 climate target. In January, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

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Last week, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said he hopes the Liberals win the Canadian election. Host Laura Ingraham pointed out that the way Trump treats Canada can push Canadians to elect another Liberal government.

“I don’t care,” Trump said. “I think it’s actually easier to deal with the liberals, maybe they’ll win, but I really don’t care. To me, that doesn’t matter.”

The US president also criticized Poilievre. “Running conservatives are stupid, without my friends. I don’t know him, but he said negative things.”

Carney and Trump answered their first call Friday, just a few days after additional U.S. tariffs were about to take effect. In an article on his Truth Social Networking site, Trump called the phone “extremely productive” and said he and Carney “agree with many things.”

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So far, neither the Prime Minister’s office nor Prageru has released any audio or video of the event, nor has it raised objections to the accuracy of the national observer’s report. In a statement Friday night, Smith News Secretary Sam Blackett asked the news outlet to refer to “the official video of the event that event organizer Prageru will release in the coming weeks.”

“The Prime Minister’s participation in Prageru’s event is part of her ongoing advocacy efforts to convince key U.S. policymakers and the American people that tariffs will only harm Americans and Canadians,” Blacket wrote in an emailed statement.

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Prior to the event, Smith also spoke with Prageru CEO Marissa Streit and said the interview – Smith’s information about North American energy domination will be shared “in the coming weeks.”

The Alberta Prime Minister has been steadily protesting U.S. tariffs over the past few months, and her province is under tremendous pressure. Shapiro, who founded the Daily Telegraph, wrote in January that former Prime Minister Trudeau would be “exited to the Panama Working Canal” after the United States took over Canada. Shapiro argued in December that Canadians would greet Americans “as liberators” and would “be a foolish country to make maple syrup, hockey and annoying prime minister.” Shapiro said Thursday the comments were a joke. He had previously criticized Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

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“I still don’t know what the actual demand for Mexico or Canada is because the tariffs in Mexico or Canada are the number one trading partner with the United States,” Shapiro wrote on Facebook in early March.

Either way, Shapiro is a controversial figure in the United States – a fact that has not been lost by politicians in Alberta and Canada.

“Danielle Smith will raise funds from extremist Ben Shapiro while Canadians are encouraging Canadians to spend their travel funds while Florida governor is insulting tourists in Canada,” said Alberta State University NAHEED NAHEED NESHI.

On Thursday night, Shapiro and Smith settled the dispute on stage.

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“I know that the Prime Minister is on stage with me at all her homes in her hometown because I made an unfortunate mistake because I made an unfortunate mistake because I made a joke about the joke that is about to be our 51st state.”

According to Desmog and the National Observer, Smith said to the audience, “I’ll rest in peace” and received loud applause.

Editor’s Note

An earlier version of this story misunderstood the Prime Minister’s Office’s response to the state postal request. The story has been updated to correct the record.

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