The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - March 30, 2025


Smith fights U.S. tariffs, blasts Carney and Nenshi


Episode Stats


Length

21 minutes

Words per minute

164.0343

Word count

3,500

Sentence count

180

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivered a nearly 10-minute speech in the Alberta legislature defending her government's stance in the face of tariff threats from the United States. Her speech alluded to her upcoming meeting with Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, which we've previously discussed on the show. Separate from that, Smith blasted Mark Carney for flip-flopping on his stance on the oil and gas emissions cap, after a new report showed that Alberta would get the short end of the stick if that continues. An Alberta NDP MLA will run for Carney's Liberal Party, despite years of blasting the party with some very strong language and now broken promises, and a conservative Calgary candidate who previously donated to the Liberals and Liberal MP George Johal's riding association wouldn't say whether his pre-election ads were funded with taxpayer money. Plus, Oilers fans develop a new term, the Carney Curse, after the team had some bad luck following Carney s recent bad luck. All that and more on the Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux ( )!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivered a nearly 10-minute address in the Alberta legislature
00:00:16.240 about how her government has stood up for Albertans in the face of tariff threats from
00:00:20.620 the United States. Throughout the address, she took aim at Liberal Party of Canada leader 0.98
00:00:25.540 Mark Carney and Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nanshi, along with the Liberal NDP leadership
00:00:31.620 nationwide over the last decade. Her speech alluded to her defense of her upcoming meeting
00:00:36.860 with Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, which we've previously discussed on the show. She also
00:00:42.740 released a statement independent of that further defending the upcoming fireside chat. Separate
00:00:48.760 from that, Smith blasted Carney for flip-flopping on his stance on the oil and gas emissions cap
00:00:54.240 after a new report released showed that Alberta would get the short end of the stick if that 0.99
00:00:59.220 continues. An Alberta NDP MLA will run for Carney's Liberal Party, despite years of blasting the
00:01:05.720 party with some very strong language and now broken promises. A conservative Calgary candidate
00:01:11.540 previously donated to the Liberals and Liberal MP George Johal's riding association. Speaking of
00:01:17.940 Johal, he wouldn't say whether his pre-election ads were funded with taxpayer money. And coming back
00:01:22.900 to Carney and sports, which we haven't discussed in some time, Oilers fans developed a new term,
00:01:28.220 the Carney curse, after the team had some bad luck following Carney skating with the Oilers ahead of
00:01:34.080 a recent game. All that and more on the Alberta Roundup today with me, your host, Isaac Lamoureux.
00:01:39.680 Now let's hop into that first story. So Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivered an almost 10-minute 0.97
00:01:44.540 statement in the Alberta legislature, taking aim at Carney and Nanshi, while defending her position and
00:01:50.340 record of standing up to the tariff threats with a head-on approach to protect Albertans and all
00:01:55.580 Canadians. While I encourage you to watch the entirety of the 10-minute speech posted by Smith
00:02:01.020 to X because it was very powerful, I'll do my best to break it down for you in a succinct manner and
00:02:06.900 feature the clips that stood out most to me. Smith began by saying that the country was more or less
00:02:12.060 united, aside from the Alberta NDP, on trying to convince the US not to impose tariffs against Canada
00:02:17.800 over the last four months prior to the recent election call. She said that every Premier was
00:02:23.360 encouraged by one another and even by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit the US, get on US
00:02:28.720 media, speak with every American official and influencer possible to try and subside the tariff
00:02:34.380 threats. She said that was the entire position behind the Team Canada approach. But then she said
00:02:40.640 everything changed when Mark Carney became Prime Minister. She equated talking to media personalities in the US
00:02:46.960 now as, quote, treason, adding that talking to high-profile Republicans with influence over the
00:02:52.980 president as apparently now disloyal behavior. Smith said, quote, it is a high crime to try and
00:03:00.000 convince US officials to refrain from imposing tariffs until after our country has an elected leader with a
00:03:05.220 strong mandate. Shame on all who dare to speak with the enemy, they say. These are the Team Carney and
00:03:11.560 Nancy NDP talking points. Smith said the following on the talking points. Take a listen.
00:03:16.580 Their endgame is quite obvious. Frighten and divide Canadians. Try and make Canadians forget the utter 0.71
00:03:22.820 incompetence of Liberal and NDP policies that have been inflicted on this country over the last 10 years.
00:03:29.480 Associate Conservatives with President Trump. And if they play their cards just right and sprinkle in just enough
00:03:36.420 anti-Alberta rhetoric, presto, Canada might elect another Liberal majority government.
00:03:41.440 She added that they aren't entirely wrong because the country is vulnerable, which Smith attributed to
00:03:47.040 the Liberals and NDP waging war on the country's natural resources over the last decade.
00:03:52.820 On top of waging war in the energy sector, Smith said that Liberal and NDP leaders have weakened the
00:03:58.100 country's security and military in the name of their, quote, green extremist religion and its cult leaders 0.96
00:04:04.460 named Gibbo, Suzuki, Gore, and Thunberg. Take a listen to the following quote.
00:04:10.480 Canadians are poorer than Americans, overly dependent on the Americans, and vulnerable to many nations,
00:04:17.800 including the Americans. Canada has indeed been sold out, big time, and it's been sold out by the
00:04:23.540 utter incompetent, self-righteous, and extreme policies of Liberal and NDP leadership across this
00:04:29.460 country, including the Nenshi NDP right here in Alberta. From C-69 to oil and gas production caps
00:04:36.100 to tanker bans to a dozen other examples, the Liberals and their allies have attacked the Alberta
00:04:41.180 and Saskatchewan economies mercilessly. She then took aim directly at Nenshi for making angry tweets 1.00
00:04:47.440 at Trump, becoming TikTok rage farmers to stir up fear and loathing, and throwing hands in the air
00:04:53.660 while accomplishing nothing. Conversely, she said her and her government have spent hundreds of hours
00:04:59.680 talking with, lobbying, educating, and persuading anyone who would listen in the United States
00:05:05.140 about the economic devastation that the tariffs would wreck. Smith said she'd lost count of the
00:05:12.240 nights sleeping in hotel beds and in airports doing everything humanly possible to stand up for
00:05:18.080 Albertan and Canadian workers. She applauded other conservative premiers in Canada who have acted
00:05:23.480 similarly, naming Scott Moe, Tim Houston, and Doug Ford. She said there have been some promising
00:05:29.520 results, notably that while steel and aluminum are being tariffed, remaining Canadian goods stand
00:05:35.320 tariff-free instead of the threatened 25%. Smith said the following of what would have happened if
00:05:42.960 Nenshi were in power. Take a listen. And what has the Nenshi NDP done to contribute to this effort?
00:05:49.500 Not a single thing other than raging against this government for every effort we have taken to
00:05:54.780 protect Albertans. Needless to say, there is not a doubt in my mind that had the Nenshi NDP been in
00:06:00.420 charge during this period, we would likely have long ago been hit with across the board 25% tariffs
00:06:05.740 and lost thousands of Alberta jobs already. Because the NDP have no idea what diplomacy is, as they don't
00:06:12.220 know how to talk constructively or effectively with anyone they disagree with. And glad we never
00:06:17.720 need to find out. However, Smith said the war isn't over. There is another deadline looming on
00:06:22.860 April 2nd, and Smith is off to the United States again, this time to speak to Ben Shapiro and try
00:06:28.420 and make a difference. The last clip I'll have you listen to for this story is longer, but it's
00:06:32.960 Smith's conclusion and a powerful one at that. Take a listen. And what does Team Carney want me to do?
00:06:38.320 They want me to abandon my post, remain in Alberta and do absolutely nothing to defend our province.
00:06:43.820 They want me to cower in the face of Eastern media pundits and politicians who favour political
00:06:48.960 grandstanding to effective diplomacy. I'm fiercely criticized for going into the lion's den to change
00:06:55.360 the hearts and minds of the very Americans that we need on Canada's side to avoid a trade war with
00:07:01.120 the most powerful economy on earth. They want this lady and Alberta to just sit down and shut up. 1.00
00:07:07.520 Well, here is my response to that. I will not be silent. Alberta will not be silent. We will not be
00:07:14.560 pushed around and called traitors for merely having the courage to actually do something about our
00:07:20.720 nation's and province's predicament other than merely indulging in self-righteous tantrums. And I, for one,
00:07:26.720 will never be silenced by the party in Ottawa that has sold out our beloved province for the last 10
00:07:33.440 years with the help of their NDP collaborators. I have and I always will put Albertans first. And until
00:07:40.160 this danger to Alberta and our economy is passed, they're going to have to have to roll me off in a
00:07:45.600 stretcher before I will stop fighting for our province and our people. So they can call me, I'm a caucus,
00:07:51.520 whatever name in the dictionary they want. As long as Albertans know that we are fighting for them and their
00:07:56.320 families, we could care less what the members opposite or liberal politicians in Ottawa have to say about us.
00:08:02.400 Because Albertans expect their premier and government to always put Albertans first and lead them through this
00:08:08.960 storm with fearless determination. As Winston Churchill once said, fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.
00:08:17.120 We on this side of the house have made the decision to act with courage so that Alberta may remain forever strong and free.
00:08:27.840 Wow, Smith is not backing down. We discussed the upcoming Shapiro appearance on a previous episode of the Alberta Roundup,
00:08:33.520 but here Smith is defending it further. She issued a separate news release explaining the importance of the upcoming chat with
00:08:40.240 the Daily Wire founder. She said the show has a monthly reach of 220 million people. Smith said, quote,
00:08:48.880 I am committed to acting in the best interest of Alberta and all Albertans. This includes continuing to engage with the
00:08:55.280 influential Americans in the US to make it clear that the continuation of destructive tariffs on Canadian goods and energy
00:09:02.640 will cost hundreds of thousands of American and Canadian jobs and benefit no one. This is an important
00:09:09.200 opportunity to gain support in the US and add voices to the conversation that will help amplify Alberta's
00:09:15.920 and Canada's calls to work together on solutions and to rebuild our important trade relationship.
00:09:22.480 Her itinerary is featured in the release and she said the expenses will be posted for the public to see.
00:09:27.760 Sticking with Smith for our next story, she called out Carney for his inconsistent messaging surrounding
00:09:33.040 his position on an oil and gas emissions cap. Smith said that Carney came to Edmonton and said he
00:09:38.960 opposed an oil and gas production cap last Thursday, but then said the exact opposite expressing support
00:09:45.040 for it in Ottawa the next day. She said, quote, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The
00:09:51.840 liberals clearly have not learned their lesson and have no plan to make our country into the independent
00:09:57.040 economic powerhouse it could be. Carney's new environment minister, Terry Deguid, apparently told
00:10:03.280 the media that the liberals' emission cap is here to stay. Smith said, quote, this has been the same
00:10:09.440 story for the last 10 years. Liberals come to Alberta, smile for the cameras, tell everyone how much they're
00:10:15.040 going to work with Alberta and support the energy sector. Then they leave, go home, and proceed to do
00:10:20.400 everything in their power to roadblock and scare away investment from the energy sector. We'll remember Carney
00:10:26.000 previously came under fire for similar contradictory remarks, where he told English and French-speaking
00:10:31.680 audiences conflicting stories about the future of pipelines in Canada. The day after Carney called the
00:10:37.440 election for April 28th, another report, this time from the Conference Board of Canada, highlighted the
00:10:43.280 economic devastation that a federal emissions cap would have on the country. This report showed that
00:10:48.560 while all Canadians will be poorer due to the cap, Albertans will be affected disproportionately.
00:10:54.240 By 2050, the report highlights that Alberta's GDP will shrink by 11 percent, employment will decrease
00:11:01.360 by 4.1 percent, and the average Albertan will have 3,300 less in disposable income. By 2030, the report
00:11:09.360 suggests that Alberta will experience a deep recession due to the plan. Nationally, real GDP will fall by
00:11:16.160 3.8 percent due to the emissions cap by 2050. Canadian oil and gas production would drop by 37
00:11:23.040 percent by 2050. Nationwide, employment is expected to fall by 2.6 percent, and consumer prices are
00:11:29.600 expected to increase by 2.5 percent. If the economic damage isn't bad enough, the report concluded that the
00:11:35.920 emissions cap won't even result in Canada meeting its emissions target. Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca
00:11:42.000 Schultz said, quote, These findings should send a message to whoever ends up being the next federal
00:11:47.600 government. Our province remains firmly committed to protecting the environment and creating a future
00:11:52.480 for our children, but that can't be achieved by trampling on Canadians' livelihoods. She added, quote,
00:11:58.960 Ottawa has offered nothing but penalties and vague rhetoric. Instead of meaningful incentives to reduce
00:12:03.840 emissions, we get carbon taxes, production caps, and layers and layers of costly regulations,
00:12:09.600 all burdening families and workers who are already struggling. The emissions reduction plan includes
00:12:15.600 the carbon tax, emissions cap, electricity regulations, and more. The parliamentary budget
00:12:20.640 officer similarly recently published a report showing that the federal emissions cap would lead to a
00:12:25.760 $20.5 billion decrease in Canada's GDP by 2032 and the loss of 54,400 jobs. Alberta has already
00:12:35.520 rejected the Liberals' electricity regulations and threatened a court fight. Canada's top energy
00:12:41.200 executives recently called on the federal government to declare a, quote, Canadian energy crisis and
00:12:47.120 cancel most of the measures contained in the plan. Smith said it was time for Carney to offer clarity to
00:12:52.880 Canadians on whether he supported the production cap before they head to the polls, not after. Now hopping
00:12:58.720 into an election story not involving the Premier, former Alberta NDP MLA Rod Loyola announced he will be
00:13:05.120 running a federal Liberal candidacy right after he resigned from his seat in the provincial legislature.
00:13:10.560 He has a long history of slamming the federal Liberals and insisting he would never work with the
00:13:14.960 party. He wrote in a post to X, Twitter at the time, on March 25, 2015, quote,
00:13:20.160 You won't catch me working with the Liberal Party of Canada. They talk like NDPers, but they act like cons.
00:13:26.000 Loyola resigned his provincial seat in the Edmonton-Ellersley riding on Tuesday. He announced his
00:13:30.880 candidacy for the federal Liberal nomination in Edmonton Gateway the following day and was
00:13:35.360 confirmed as a candidate shortly after. In 2014, Loyola also criticized then Liberal leader Justin
00:13:41.440 Trudeau, writing in a post to X that Trudeau, quote, only cares about his Liberal Party, not the
00:13:46.400 hardworking Canadians that built this country. With an evident change of heart, Loyola said he was
00:13:51.200 excited to be a part of Carney's team. He called Carney the first, quote, Edmontonian Prime Minister.
00:13:56.800 Carney was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He moved to Edmonton at age six and his father ran
00:14:03.600 as a Liberal candidate for Edmonton South shortly after, in the 1980 federal election. The Liberal
00:14:09.280 leader has taken flack online for resigning outside of Canada over the past decade and being unclear
00:14:14.560 about whether he had a Canadian residence. Carney has been an Irish citizen since birth and a citizen
00:14:20.080 of the United Kingdom since 2018 when he was the former governor of the Bank of England.
00:14:25.040 Loyola also previously shared a quote from Anne McGrath in 2013, the former president of the
00:14:31.200 Alberta NDP, who said, quote, we must win is who we are. We must not win as a Liberal Party.
00:14:37.360 Alberta's Environment Minister Rebecca Schultz blasted Loyola for his change of heart.
00:14:41.760 She said, quote, there is zero difference between the NDP and the Liberal Party of Canada now.
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00:15:04.000 Maybe a different color, but same ideological activists. Same broken promises.
00:15:09.120 Popular poll aggregator 338 Canada currently has Edmonton Gateway as a toss-up between the
00:15:14.880 Liberals and Conservatives, giving the Conservatives a slight edge. The Conservative candidate in the
00:15:20.080 district is Tim Uppel, who currently sits as an MP for Edmonton Millwoods. Edmonton Gateway is a new
00:15:26.160 federal riding. The 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution saw it created out of parts of
00:15:32.880 Edmonton Millwoods, Edmonton Riverbend, and Edmonton Wetaskiwin. Sticking with stories on individual
00:15:38.000 candidates, this time with an exclusive, Elections Canada records reveal that Calgary-Skyview
00:15:43.200 Conservative candidate Amanpreet Singh Gill previously made donations to the Federal Liberal
00:15:48.400 Party and Liberal MP George Chahal's Riding Association. According to filings from Elections
00:15:53.680 Canada, Gill made multiple donations to the Liberal Party of Canada and one donation to the Calgary-Skyview
00:15:59.760 Federal Liberal Association in 2022. The documents show a $500 donation by Gill to Chahal's Riding
00:16:06.240 Association on July 8, 2022. Chahal was elected as the Liberal MP for Calgary-Skyview in 2021 but is
00:16:13.200 now running as a candidate in the neighbouring Calgary-McKnight Riding. The other donations
00:16:17.680 were made to the Liberal Party of Canada. Despite his monetary support to the Liberals, Gill ran for
00:16:22.640 the Alberta's United Conservative Party in the 2023 provincial election and is now seeking federal
00:16:28.720 office under the Conservative Party of Canada banner for the upcoming federal election on April 28.
00:16:33.600 Gill's donation to the Calgary-Skyview Federal Liberal Association came after incumbent Chahal was
00:16:39.760 caught violating election advertising laws in 2021. He was caught on video removing an opponent's
00:16:45.360 flyer from a residence's home, replacing it with his own, and fined $500 for violating election
00:16:51.360 advertising laws. Similarly, Chahal recently faced public scrutiny for not revealing if taxpayer funds
00:16:57.520 were spent on pre-election ads. Popular poll aggregator 338 Canada currently has Calgary-Skyview as a
00:17:03.840 toss-up between the Liberals and Conservatives. Now, sticking with George Chahal, he recently faced
00:17:09.040 accusations that he was using public funds to sidestep political advertising rules prior to a
00:17:14.880 federal election after signs emblazoned with his face and the House of Commons logo popped up in Calgary.
00:17:20.720 Chahal's signs, which displayed logos like Canada is not for sale, alongside the House of Commons logo,
00:17:26.640 have prompted concerns about whether current election laws are too easily skirted. The signs
00:17:31.840 also refer to his official title as Member of Parliament Calgary-Skyview. Some online have
00:17:37.200 suggested that taxpayers might be footing the bill. Federal laws exist that prohibit the unauthorized
00:17:42.800 use of official symbols including parliamentary shields, crests, and royal coats of arms.
00:17:48.000 While Elections Canada does not regulate the use of parliamentary resources outside of election
00:17:53.120 periods, MPs are expected to avoid using taxpayer-funded resources for partisan purposes.
00:17:59.040 Once the writ is issued, the Canada Elections Act prohibits using public funds for campaign
00:18:03.760 advertising. And remember, these signs popped up about a week before the election was called.
00:18:08.480 Rules on how MPs may spend parliamentary budgets outside of election periods are governed by the
00:18:14.080 House of Commons Board of Internal Economy, which prohibits using resources for activities unrelated
00:18:20.080 to a member's parliamentary functions. For our last story today, we'll be diving back into sports,
00:18:25.440 which we haven't talked about in a while, and you might think with the MLB season just starting,
00:18:29.680 it would be on that, which is why I'm wearing my Blue Jays jersey. But no, today we're talking about
00:18:34.880 hockey and what some Oilers fans are now calling the Kearney curse. Firstly, the Edmonton Oilers
00:18:40.800 decided to post a video of Mark Kearney skating on the ice with the team at practice. The post was
00:18:46.560 not taken well, as most of the top comments were blasting the team for letting politics enter the
00:18:51.680 game they loved. In fact, many of the top comments contain language too explicit to show here.
00:18:57.040 One of the top commenters, who received over 1,000 likes on his reply, wrote, quote,
00:19:01.600 As an Oilers fan, I am disappointed and disgusted with the Oilers for allowing this.
00:19:06.320 Top commentators on X also shared other images and videos of Kearney participating with
00:19:12.000 added commentary. One political commentator said, quote,
00:19:15.200 We all know if this guy had his way, he would force them to change their team name. He hates
00:19:19.760 oil and gas. Kearney was wearing goalie skates despite skating around as a forward. He played for
00:19:24.960 Harvard University as a third string goaltender. A popular hockey commentator and former Edmonton
00:19:31.040 oiler Ryan Whitney created a new term after Kearney's display. He said, quote,
00:19:35.920 The Kearney curse is real for Edmonton. What the hell just happened? Guy is on the ice with the
00:19:41.600 oil this morning and now everyone is injured. Of course, Leon Dreisaitl was injured before
00:19:46.840 Kearney's trip to Edmonton. However, the Edmonton Oilers played the Winnipeg Jets the night Kearney
00:19:51.600 laced up his skates. And during the game, the Oilers' best player and arguably the best player in the
00:19:56.420 world, Connor McDavid and starting goaltender Stuart Skinner were both injured and had to
00:20:02.260 leave the game. The Oilers ended up losing to the Winnipeg Jets in overtime. While this game
00:20:08.340 happened last Thursday, McDavid and Dreisaitl remain injured. Stuart Skinner returned but was injured
00:20:13.960 again and had to leave the game this Wednesday. Despite Kearney lacing up and trying to appease
00:20:20.240 Edmontonians, he named his 23 minister cabinet last week. Of the 23 ministers sworn in by Governor
00:20:26.840 General Mary Simon, only one is west of Winnipeg, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who represents
00:20:33.360 the BC riding of North Vancouver. Not a single minister was elected in an Alberta riding. That
00:20:40.320 wraps up this week's show. My name's Isaac Lamoureux, your host of the Alberta Roundup. Have a great
00:20:45.300 weekend. Thank you and God bless.
00:20:50.240 Thank you.