Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is not backing down.
She will defend Alberta.
She is asked again and again and again.
Smith’s latest answer?
No way. No how. You can call her traitor, often and louder each time you accuse her of treason.
You can accuse her of sucking up to President Donald Trump.
It’s not making a dent in her armour.
And when individuals, including politicians and some in the self-styled smart set, are handwringing about Canada becoming the 51st state, you wonder if they really believe what they’re saying or are they trying to gin up a fearful public.
On Wednesday morning, Smith and the premiers are expected to huddle virtually with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
President Trump’s people confirm Canada will be hit with tariffs Feb. 1. The date is on their books.
Smith was on CBC this week and she was asked if by sticking up for Alberta she was undermining the ability of Canada to deal with the Trump tariff threat.
Smith says blocking Alberta oil headed for the U.S. or the Canadian government slamming a tax on that oil is something she would fight.
She warns the folks a few provinces to the east of Alberta.
“I think Eastern Canada has to be very, very careful what they wish for. They get almost all of their energy from the United States,” says the Alberta premier.
Smith says the Americans have a pretty big stick if there is a trade war and she wouldn’t want to see Ontario or Quebec or the Irving refinery in New Brunswick cut off from American oil.
“I think we have to have a bit of a reality check about just how dependent eastern Canada is on U.S. energy imports.”
Smith says going after oil and gas to retaliate against the Americans is flawed thinking.
If only the people in eastern Canada had voted for a government supporting a pipeline from Alberta to the east, all the way to New Brunswick.
But many of our compatriots didn’t want such a pipeline and only now apparently realize the importance of oil and gas.
So much for the green utopia.
The premier repeats you don’t threaten the Americans with things you won’t do or where the retaliation might leave Canada worse off.
Smith adds it is a Team Canada approach to talk about putting a tax on Florida orange juice.
“But you shouldn’t put things on the table that would be harmful to the country as a whole.”
The premier advises Canada to find measures we can live with and see if we have to act on them.
There is another nugget sure to drive some souls into even more of a tizzy.
Trump talks about how he admires the tariff-loving President William McKinley who ran the show stateside at the turn of the last century.
Smith points out how McKinley didn’t hit countries with tariffs across the board.
According to the premier, he did not tariff raw materials because he realized the U.S. needs a good supply of cheap raw materials.
Then … read this line.
“Maybe there’s an opportunity for us to have that conversation,” says Smith.
The premier says food imports should be exempted from tariffs. Oil and gas and critical minerals and timber should be exempted in her view.
Let’s now drop in a quotation from a leading U.S. newspaper.
“Trump is particularly focused on using the threat of tariffs to change automotive rules forcing car plants in Canada and Mexico back to the U.S., according to people who follow his thinking.”
Smith maintains Canada can’t really win a tariff war against an economy 10 times Canada’s size and the focus should be on what exactly it is that would cause Trump to take tariffs off the table.
Reasonable folks are beginning to wonder why some Canadians would allow someone like Trump to get under their skin so much.
For those who have never been in a barroom fight, that’s not the way to fight.
Then again, when it comes to the smart set there aren’t a lot of brawls on the squash court.
Meanwhile, the smart money is also hearing many of Canada’s premiers and even key individuals in the federal Liberal government are moving toward Smith’s position of not letting our hair on fire even if tariffs do hit the country.
Question.
Are all these people traitors and bootlickers?