SMITH： I will not be silent, Alberta will not be silent
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
159.54791
Summary
Learn English with the Honourable the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein. Ralph Klein delivers a statement in response to the proposed 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods sent to the United States by President Donald Trump. He calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta s premier, Rachel Notley, to speak out against the proposed tariffs.
Transcript
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The Honourable the Premier has a statement to make.
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Thank you Mr. Speaker. When U.S. President Donald Trump first announced his threatened
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tariffs against Canada and began musing about our country becoming the 51st state,
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many Canadians and Albertans feared for their futures. And why? Because regardless of our
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political stripe we all knew that the imposition of 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods to the U.S.
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would cost the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, would depress our economy,
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devastate our budget and damage the sovereignty of our country. And in the roughly four months until
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just before last weekend's federal election call, Premiers, party leaders and Canadians were united,
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other than perhaps the Alberta NDP, in working as hard as we could to convince the U.S. President
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and Congress to reconsider these unjustified actions against our country. In fact, Premiers were all
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encouraged by each other as well as by the former Prime Minister and his ministers to visit the U.S.,
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to get on U.S. media, to speak with every U.S. official and influencer we could to convince the U.S.
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President to refrain from imposing these tariffs. It was all about working as Team Canada for the
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greater good. Enter Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney. Now all of a sudden it's apparently treason to talk
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to American media personalities that we disagree with. It is disloyal to try and persuade high-profile
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Republicans holding influence with the President to abandon his tariff policies on Canada. Indeed,
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it's a high crime to try and convince U.S. officials to refrain from imposing tariffs until after our
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country has elected a leader with a strong mandate. Shame on all who dare to speak with the enemy,
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they now say. These are the Team Carney and NDP talking points. Their end game is quite obvious.
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Frighten and divide Canadians. Try and make Canadians forget the utter incompetence of Liberal and NDP
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policies that have been inflicted on this country over the last 10 years. Associate
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Conservatives with President Trump. And if they play their cards just right and sprinkle in just enough
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anti-Alberta rhetoric, presto, Canada might elect another Liberal-majority government.
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Well, the Carney Liberals and the NDP are right about one thing. Our country is indeed vulnerable
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right now. And the reason why is as clear as a sunny Alberta day. It is because for the last 10 years,
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Liberal and NDP leaders across this country, both federal and provincial, have repeatedly sold out
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Canada and Alberta with policies that have landlocked our immense natural resources, made nation-building
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projects practically impossible to finance and build, and have made securing access to our parts
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exercise in frustration and futility. These Liberal and NDP leaders, from Trudeau to Singh and now to
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Prime Minister Mark Carney, have done everything in their power to sow investment uncertainty,
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to add impossibly high costs on the development of our resources, and have disastrously weakened our
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security and military. All in the name of their green extremist religion and its cult leaders
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named Gibbo, Suzuki, Gore and Thunberg. And the results are obvious. Canadians are poorer than Americans,
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overly dependent on the Americans, and vulnerable to many nations, including the Americans. Canada has indeed
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been sold out. Big time. And it's been sold out by the utter incompetent, self-righteous, and extreme
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policies of Liberal and NDP leadership across this country, including the Nenshi NDP right here in Alberta.
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From C-69 to oil and gas production caps, to tanker bans, to a dozen other examples, the Liberals and their
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allies have attacked the Alberta and Saskatchewan economies mercilessly. And despite all that, despite the 10-year
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attack on Alberta by our own federal government, when tariffs were threatened on our fellow Canadians
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and the federal Liberals realized they had no contacts or allies anywhere in the new U.S. administration,
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what did the Alberta government do? Did we cower in the corner, madly texting our tweets about hating
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Donald Trump on X? Did we turn into part-time TikTok rage farmers to stir up as much fear and
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loathing of Americans as humanly possible? Did we give up, throw our hands in the air, express righteous
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indignation, but do nothing to fight against the threat imposed on our province and country? No, that's
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what the Nenshi NDP did, of course. But we, Alberta's UCP government, we did not. Instead, our government
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did exactly what Albertans expected us to do. We decided to fight tooth and nail for Albertan and
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Canadian jobs and sovereignty. My ministers, officials and I have spent hundreds of hours
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over the last several months talking with, lobbying, educating and persuading every U.S.
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lawmaker and media influencer that was willing to listen about how damaging and wrongheaded
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imposing tariffs on Canada would be for Americans and for the millions of American jobs that would be
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lost because of them. I've made this case repeatedly to the American people and their leaders, especially
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Republican leaders, from the U.S. president personally, to members of his cabinet, to senators, to governors,
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to members of Congress, to podcasters, to media personalities. I've lost track of how many nights
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I've spent in uncomfortable hotel beds and airports doing everything humanly possible to stand up for
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Canadian and Alberta workers and families, convincing U.S. officials to refrain from putting tariffs on any
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Canadian goods. Asking that they respect the current free trade agreement and not begin renegotiations
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until Canadians elect a new prime minister with a strong four-year mandate. Doing all we could in
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Alberta to secure the U.S. border and urging the Liberals to do the same across the country so that
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we could further delay the implementation of tariffs. And it hasn't just been Alberta. Several other
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premiers, particularly conservative premiers, Premier Scott Moe, Premier Tim Houston, Premier Doug Ford,
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have been doing the exact same thing. And the results, it has been almost four months since the
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president first threatened tariffs on Canada. And although steel and aluminum are wrongfully being
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tariffed at this time, the tariffs on remaining Canadian goods sits at zero today, rather than 25%.
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And what has the Nenshi NDP done to contribute to this effort? Not a single thing,
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other than raging against this government for every effort we have taken to protect Albertans.
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Needless to say, there is not a doubt in my mind that had the Nenshi NDP been in charge during this
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period, we would likely have long ago been hit with across the board 25% tariffs and lost thousands
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of Alberta jobs already. Because the NDP have no idea what diplomacy is, as they don't know how to talk
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constructively or effectively with anyone they disagree with. And glad we never need to find out.
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Our government's advocacy has made a massive difference for Albertans and for Canadians,
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and that is a fact. But now, we have another tariff deadline looming on April the 2nd.
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And I am now off to the US, yet again, to try and speak to Americans, this time through the second
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largest podcaster in the world, whose audience is made up of exactly the people we need to persuade
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to convince their president to change course on tariffs against Canada. And what does Team Kearney want me to
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do? They want me to abandon my post, remain in Alberta and do absolutely nothing to defend our
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province. They want me to cower in the face of Eastern media pundits and politicians who favour
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political grandstanding to effective diplomacy. I'm fiercely criticized for going into the lion's den
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to change the hearts and minds of the very Americans that we need on Canada's side to avoid a trade war with
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the most powerful economy on earth. They want this lady and Alberta to just sit down and shut up.
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Well, here is my response to that. I will not be silent. Alberta will not be silent. We will not be
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pushed around and called traitors for merely having the courage to actually do something about our
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nations and provinces predicament other than merely indulging in self-righteous tantrums. And I, for one,
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will never be silenced by the party in Ottawa that has sold out our beloved province for the last 10
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years with the help of their NDP collaborators. I have and I always will put Albertans first. And until
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this danger to Alberta and our economy is passed, they're going to have to have to roll me off off
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in a stretcher before I will stop fighting for our province and our people. So they can call me in my
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caucus, whatever name in the dictionary they want. As long as Albertans know that we are fighting for them
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and their families, we could care less with the members opposite or liberal politicians in Ottawa
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have to say about us. Because Albertans expect their premier and government to always put Albertans
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first and lead them through this storm with fearless determination. As Winston Churchill once said,
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fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision. We on this side of the house have made the decision to act
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with courage so that Alberta may remain forever strong and free.