00:00:00.000We're five days away from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, and the threat of 25% tariffs continues to loom over Alberta.
00:00:10.040Over the weekend, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith went down to Mar-a-Lago, where she visited with the incoming president.
00:00:16.220But she's warning that there's no sign Alberta will be granted an exemption from the tariffs.
00:00:22.260Joining me today to discuss is True Norse Alberta reporter Isaac Lamoureux.
00:00:27.160I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show.
00:00:30.000Hey, everyone. I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show.
00:00:49.440We are going to be diving into U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's looming threat of 25% tariffs and all the latest that Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has said about it.
00:01:01.020My colleague Isaac Lamoureux, who has taken over the Alberta beat and is doing an excellent job of it, is here to break it all down for us.
00:01:09.060So hello, Isaac. Thank you for being here.
00:01:10.820I want to start right off the hop. Obviously, we've known that Trump has been promising these tariffs for about two months now.
00:01:18.000How is Alberta Premier Daniel Smith positioning Alberta?
00:01:21.280What's the latest that she said in her hopes of trying to secure an energy exemption from those tariffs for the province?
00:01:27.300Yeah. So following Smith's meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, what took me most by surprise, because I expected Smith to come back and say,
00:01:37.900hey, we talked about this, maybe we can make this happen.
00:01:39.740But no, she essentially said, look, these tariffs are coming, whether we like them or not, how are we going to deal with them once we see that they are implemented?
00:01:48.920And we're paying 25% tariffs on all the goods, which obviously will decimate our economy.
00:01:55.700But Smith's really tried to position not only Alberta, but Canada as an energy behemoth.
00:02:02.580And it's like she keeps talking about how much energy Canada supplies the United States at a discounted price, I might add.
00:02:09.380And we've seen other premiers not take that position initially.
00:02:14.400But I think they're starting to follow suit because we saw, for example, Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently with his Can-Am proposal,
00:02:21.260which is along the same lines of improving the current existing electricity and energy grids between Ontario and the United States.
00:02:31.040So positioning ourselves as a supplier to the United States to avoid the tariffs.
00:02:37.940We know that Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie was asked if she would consider cutting off the energy supply to the United States.
00:02:46.220And she said that nothing is off the table.
00:02:49.300How did Danielle Smith respond to this?
00:02:51.840Yeah, I mean, Smith basically positioned this statement from Jolie as ridiculous, as you might imagine.
00:02:56.920And she said, Smith did, quote, you should never threaten something you can't do.
00:03:02.320Because, look, she said to Jolie, Jolie, pick up a map and look where line five goes.
00:03:07.080If you cut off the United States, you're cutting off Ontario and Quebec.
00:03:12.740It's a ridiculous statement to begin with.
00:03:14.740And Smith kind of laughed it off because, obviously, Jolie has no idea what she's talking about when she made such a claim.
00:03:21.100I think we actually have the Premier's very fulsome response to this question.
00:03:27.080Take a look at Alberta Premier Daniel Smith responding to Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie's suggestion that Canada should cut off the energy supply to the United States.
00:03:36.040Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie talked about, she was asked specifically, if in negotiations with Trump, Canada would consider an energy embargo on the United States.
00:03:53.400And I want to, as leverage, what do you think, what do you make of what she said?
00:03:59.240Well, first of all, it's oil and gas that's owned by the provinces, principally Alberta, and we won't stand for that.
00:04:09.300And you should never, ever threaten something you cannot do.
00:04:14.160And I would encourage the minister to look at a map of where line five goes.
00:04:21.020Line five comes down through Michigan to get to Sarnia, and then that feeds the bulk of the supply needed for Ontario and connects with line nine, which feeds the bulk of the product needed for Quebec.
00:04:38.120And so if you cut off that line, you are cutting off Ontario and Quebec.
00:04:43.800So I would encourage the ministers to either understand how our integrated pipeline system works and start looking at ways that we would be able to practically respond, because there's no point in making empty threats that cannot be executed on.
00:05:04.640So there are other things, I'm sure, that we'll all talk about collectively, but let's just remember how integrated our markets are with the Enbridge system, the TC Energy system, that we have a product going back and forth across the border every single day.
00:05:24.880And we cannot do anything that harms Canadians in such a substantial way.
00:05:31.120So I just don't take that as a credible threat.
00:05:33.720I'm sure that the U.S. administration won't either.
00:05:36.300So we should talk about things that we actually can do as opposed to empty threats.
00:05:40.940So in that clip, you hear the premier say a couple of times, we should focus on practical solutions, things that we actually can do to respond to the Trump administration and the incoming tariffs.
00:05:55.160As you've said, Isaac, Daniel Smith is saying it seems pretty likely that we are going to see these tariffs come into effect on January 20th.
00:06:03.360So what are some of those practical things, those actual solutions and responses that she's talking about?
00:06:09.800What are some of those things that she's suggested that Alberta can do?
00:06:12.780Is she looking at retaliatory measures?
00:06:17.360And I kind of alluded to that earlier, wherein Ontario premier Doug Ford was, of course, the first premier to call for retaliatory measures.
00:06:26.240And at the time, Smith said, in no way, shape or form are we considering that.
00:06:30.880She was really trying to emphasize collaboration over retaliation.
00:06:36.840A few things I wanted to add based on the stuff you said there, which first, this one's interesting.
00:06:41.580Obviously, Trudeau has announced his resignation.
00:06:45.220So he is still prime minister, but he will resign once a leader is chosen in the leadership election.
00:06:50.580So Smith has said that she's been actually negotiating and speaking with U.S. administration independently because Trudeau really has no public mandate.
00:07:12.920And they're also planning to meet roughly a month after Trump is inaugurated in Washington, D.C. to discuss how the tariffs are affecting all Canadians, which, I mean, it won't be no surprise.
00:07:27.980They're going to be terrible for our economy and the United States is in theory if they do come to be.
00:07:34.980So, I mean, I mean, that's a month after the tariffs are supposed to be implemented.
00:07:40.540I want to talk a little bit about a little bit more about Justin Trudeau in a second.
00:07:44.900I just have sort of one last tidbit on Daniel Smith.
00:07:48.520You know, she's also warning that if Ottawa sought to do this, it would create a national unity crisis.
00:07:53.240And to me, living here in Alberta, I know you live up in Edmonton, it often feels like we are on the bit of the cusp of a national unity crisis with the Trudeau government and Albertans being so frustrated, feeling so targeted.
00:08:06.220I remember growing up and learning about, you know, the West wants in, the movement of Western provinces saying that they felt left behind.
00:08:13.640And I feel like we're feeling a lot of those sentiments right now.
00:08:16.400So here's Danielle Smith saying what the impact of a cutting off the energy supply would be.
00:08:45.160It's interesting seeing this clip as we're in the midst, as you mentioned, of a liberal leadership race.
00:08:49.560How much more difficult, if the federal government chooses to go ahead with this, how much more difficult would that make the task of the next liberal leader and prime minister at a point when Alberta specifically and other Western provinces, but I think Alberta at the helm of that, feels so frustrated with Ottawa.
00:09:08.400Yeah, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford has touched on this briefly.
00:09:13.020Obviously, he's the chair of the Council of the Federation, informally known as Canada's premiers.
00:09:17.520And he said, look, we know this leadership race is going on, which is a huge distraction for the prime minister and all liberal MPs.
00:09:25.000But the number one focus of Trudeau needs to be on these tariffs.
00:09:29.320This is the biggest threat to our country right now.
00:09:32.260The leadership election is kind of just some distraction.
00:09:39.780Harper, in a recent podcast interview, he mentioned something along those lines.
00:09:45.080He was saying that the new liberal PM, whoever that may be, is going to be in an untenable position wherein they're going to have to support the Liberal Party's platform and say how good it is during the election, evidently.
00:10:01.480And then only have a few weeks until a federal election takes place where they've just presented themselves as this liberal bastion.
00:10:09.240But Canadians are done with the Liberal Party and their platform.
00:10:12.420So he basically said, look, they're going to need a miracle to win.
00:10:16.120They're in an impossible situation where they're obviously not going to win.
00:10:20.520You're talking about how everyone's saying this really needs to be Trudeau's focus, even though he is a lame duck prime minister.
00:10:29.000And yet you reported this week that Justin Rudeau is actually planning on holding his final caucus retreat over Trump's inauguration.
00:10:37.600So is Justin Rudeau even going to be attending the inauguration?
00:10:41.520Yeah, so I reached out to the prime minister's office because they're holding this retreat in Quebec the day of Donald Trump's inauguration.
00:10:49.380So I thought to myself, well, it's very unlikely that Trudeau will be there.
00:10:53.460I guess there's some small possibility where he could jet away from this retreat quickly to be at the inauguration, though extremely unlikely.
00:11:01.320So I reached out to the PMO and they didn't get back to me.
00:11:04.160Of course, we've been talking about Danielle Smith.
00:11:06.340She is attending the inauguration in person after being personally invited.
00:11:10.520So I also asked whether Trudeau had even been invited.
00:11:13.280Some people on X have suggested that he hasn't.
00:11:15.840But interestingly, also, Conservative leader Pierre Polyèvre, he won't be attending.
00:11:20.800So I don't know if in the past opposition leaders have attended inaugurations, but he won't be going.
00:11:28.060But yeah, no, the interesting thing about Trudeau's retreat is he said he's holding this retreat to figure out how to deal with the tariff threats and how to deal with that.
00:11:36.380But I was thinking to myself, would going to the inauguration and speaking with Trump, which he'd no doubt be able to do at some point, not be the best way to address the tariff threats?
00:11:46.120Say, hey, man, how can we work this out?
00:11:47.540I'm seeing you eye to eye, man to man and negotiate right there.
00:11:52.260I don't know what him being in Quebec with a bunch of his close friends or MPs is going to accomplish.
00:11:58.080That seems a little bit like they're just trying to, you know, get while the going is good.
00:12:03.800One last nice big holiday vacation for them that taxpayers will put the bill for, of course.
00:12:10.560You mentioned former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
00:12:14.200He has been pretty quiet since he left office.
00:12:17.320But he did a fulsome interview this week covering some of the trade war and Donald Trump's jokes about making Canada the 51st state in a fulsome interview this week.
00:12:27.960I think Canadians were, you know, happy and pleased to hear from him.
00:12:31.180I have a clip that I want to play for you guys where he's talking a little bit about the fault of Justin Trudeau.
00:13:57.980So ultimately, you know, you listen to this interview with Stephen Harper and you reported on it.
00:14:02.580Who is he blaming for the trade war that's breaking out?
00:14:06.980Yeah, no, this was a very interesting interview.
00:14:10.320Obviously, Harper sat down with Gabriel Groisman for about 30 minutes.
00:14:14.920So and he said a lot, a lot of things.
00:14:17.460So when I was writing my article, it was hard to even fit it into one.
00:14:20.620I could have arguably done three separate articles on the things that Harper mentioned.
00:14:24.380And that's how many salient things he brought up.
00:14:27.940But in the short, he essentially broke down all the recent statements by Trump, rebuking a lot of them, but also noting where some had value.
00:14:38.640So, for example, Harper said, quote, I must admit to being shocked by some of the things he said.
00:14:44.740I have a real problem with some of the things Donald Trump is saying doesn't sound to me like the pronouncements of somebody who's a friend, a partner and an ally, which is what I've always thought the United States is for our country.
00:14:57.860And interestingly, Harper positioned himself as the most pro-American prime minister in Canada's history.
00:15:04.100I don't know how people feel about that necessarily, but I did find that pretty intense of a statement.
00:15:11.200But where Harper agreed with Trump was, of course, the border crisis, which he called a, quote, enormous problem.
00:15:20.180He even went on to say that he's actually close friends with Joe Biden, but he criticized his administration's disgraceful.
00:15:30.200And he even went on to say that, quote, it was a violation of his fundamental duties to the country, those open border policies.
00:15:38.220But even with the border critique, Harper said that the migrant flow from Canada to the USA is minor compared to that of Mexico and that drugs, crime and guns are really flowing into Canada from the US, not vice versa.
00:15:52.980And, of course, he went on and discussed the tariffs, as everyone said, that we're selling the US oil at a reduced price.
00:16:00.960So I don't know what the problem is there.
00:16:05.180And then he spent a lot of the interview, as you might imagine, criticizing Trudeau for waging war against Canada's resources like mining and energy.
00:16:14.120And he said that Polyefra will turn that right around, along with Trudeau's overbearing tax regime.
00:16:24.620He also said some pretty noteworthy things of Trudeau and left-wing governments in general.
00:16:31.440He said that when Trudeau first took office, he really presented himself as a centrist prime minister, a centrist government.
00:16:38.980But Harper said he quickly shifted to the far left and he said, oh, we won't we won't change Harper's policies too much.
00:16:45.460You know, we'll just shift it a little bit.
00:16:47.040But then, of course, when when they said they'll only tax the rich a bit and spend a little bit, Trudeau's government has, as you know, spent more than every government before it combined.
00:16:57.860Because, of course, when Trudeau took office, the national debt was six hundred and sixteen billion dollars.
00:17:02.340And he has since doubled it to over one point two four trillion.
00:17:07.640So, yeah, no, Harper said, look, he spent a lot and he's taxed everyone a lot.
00:17:12.440Another very interesting and salient point that Harper brought up, which I was shocked to hear, was that he said Trudeau, he's like, I shouldn't discredit Trudeau too much.
00:17:25.200He won three elections, but he only did so because of the media conglomerate behind him, essentially spreading propaganda.
00:17:33.440But he said, look, that's not going to work anymore because essentially the legacy media has lost their sway over Canadians, independent media, social media.
00:17:42.340The legacy media can't in its own win a prime minister in an election as it may have been able to in the past.
00:17:49.780First, I mean, I could go through this forever, Rachel.
00:17:54.100There's so many things that he brought up, just a few other things.
00:17:57.240He really said that all of Trudeau's policies were terrible, bad economy.
00:18:01.420He said the policies he implemented are anti-Canadian and that the federal government has essentially resulted in a useless public sector, which, as we know, Rachel's like half the jobs in Canada at this point.