Premier Danielle Smith defends Florida trip

Article content

Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith said he gave the entire plot the next day after talking to controversial American podcast Ben Shapiro, discussing the harmful effects of tariffs on Americans.

Speech on the 880 Ched Podcast. Your prime minister on Saturday, Smith, was criticized by the Alberta NDP for attending the event with Shapiro, Florida, on Thursday, saying the result of her trip and conversations “is exactly what we want to achieve.”

Article content

“Yesterday, he was dedicated to the entire podcast talking about how terrible tariffs are in the U.S. and North America,” Smith said.

“I think it will be the way we move the dial, the way we convince Americans one by one, and the influential people around the president, tariffs are bad for both economies and we need to take a different attitude.”

Alberta NDP criticized Smith for moving forward despite the controversy surrounding Shapiro. Smith responded on Saturday that Shapiro and herself agreed with the tariffs – but said she disagreed with everything he said.

Prime Minister and liberal Mark Carney actually met on Friday with how the country would move forward to deal with the looming tariff threat, which will take effect on April 2. Before the meeting, Carney and U.S. President Carney and Donald Trump called to discuss the tariffs, which Carney described as “constructive.”

Article content

Article content

Smith said from what she heard, the two sides would have “full renegotiated” the Canadian-U.S. free trade agreement immediately after the election.

“I think it’s a success to be able to make the president of the United States realize that we have to deal with all these stimuli,” Smith said.

When talking about the “Canadian Team” approach, Smith said all of her companions were very constructive when discussing tariffs regardless of the political conflict, pointing to a signed agreement between the prime ministers last week that they promised to work in the economic corridor.

“I’m very happy to see that at the subnational level we have solidarity about it and let’s build on it because I think it’s the way we can make this country really work again,” Smith said.

“I’m very encouraged by what I’m seeing at the provincial level.”

Article content

One issue she disagrees with is the imposition of export taxes or restrictions on oil and gas, saying she is standing up for Alberta and doing so will help prevent “massive escalation” in the trade war.

According to Smith, Alberta sent $150 million worth of agricultural products to the United States, and the money would be handed directly to Ottawa – not Alberta if the federal government imposes a 25% tariff on oil and gas.

“In no case, I would agree that they intend to export tariffs, and Ottawa politicians spent all their money to Ottawa. I don’t know how I would be clearer. That said, I’ve been supporting a reasonable anti-measurement.”