Even as most of the country’s provincial premiers and Prime Minister Trudeau are scheming a trade war with the U.S. over President Trump’s threat of imposing tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada’s jingoist glitterati refuse to credit the insight and unflinching character of the one premier, Alberta’s Danielle Smith, who is largely responsible for striving to prevent the disaster. Smith had met with Trump, various governors, senators, and congressional leaders, engaging in rational and mature pre-negotiation discussions treating the contentious tariff issue. She did not come to brandish a cudgel. She came to talk.
The typical Canadian stance, however, was made of equal dollops of bloviation, shortsightedness, and self-infatuation, as press and politicians ganged up on Smith for refusing to join Team Canada’s self-destructive trade vendetta against the threat of U.S. tariffs. Canada’s newspaper of record The Globe and Mail is representative of this mentally sluggish attitude: “Smith is fighting Ottawa rather than Trump’s tariff. This will cost us all.”
The disingenuous nonsense is palpable since a lax and delinquent Ottawa presiding over a porous border is the culprit here, not Washington. Canada’s new $1.3 billion border security package pales before the $20 billion it sent to defend Ukraine’s borders. For Canada’s primary leftist rag the Toronto Star, Smith’s motives can only be sordid and perhaps even treacherous: “Danielle Smith cozies up to Trump to sell more oil and avoid tariffs”…”Alberta’s premier is playing right into Donald Trump’s hands,” etc. etc. One waits eagerly for such people to crawl back into the woodwork.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, bloated with over $1 billion annually of public money and given to awarding staff and executives obscene bonuses, has taken its job as the Liberal Party’s propaganda arm seriously, faulting Smith for “bailing on the ‘Team Canada’ approach.” Team Canada, for all the hype, is a losing proposition, a collection of groveling incompetents that has brought its troubles on itself by its feckless mismanagement of political and economic affairs.
Trudeau has hypocritically called for Smith to “put her country first,” which is precisely what she did and he didn’t. As the Western Standard points out, Smith took flak “from her fellow premiers — notably Ontario’s Doug Ford — and the PM for being the lone holdout on a joint communique that amounted to a ransom note on withholding some 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of Alberta oil exports.” This is entirely the wrong strategy when it comes to dealing with Trump, and Smith knows it.
Smith is aware that Alberta’s economy has been plundered by the Ottawa cabal for decades to bolster the economy of other provinces, chiefly secessionist-prone Quebec, energy-ravenous Ontario, and the economically derelict Maritimes. At the same time, its oil and gas industry has been decimated by federal bans on extraction and pipelines. Thus, she is intent on securing her province’s menaced prosperity, a perfectly legitimate policy. Alberta is no longer to be Ottawa’s catamite.
But Smith’s refusal to buckle under pressure is also good for the country as a whole. We learn that Ontario’s Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada (CCMBC) has backed Smith to the hilt. Its president Catherine Swift stated, “Despite pressure from federal Liberals… and other provincial premiers, Premier Smith is the one truly standing up for Canada’s interests…Many manufacturers and businesses across Canada, including those in Ontario, rely heavily on Alberta’s oil and gas sector. By defending this vital Canadian export, Premier Smith is safeguarding not only Alberta’s interests but those of the entire country.” No one can argue with that except the congenitally myopic and professionally inept.
As to be expected, there is a major hitch in potential developments. “The usual suspects trash-talking Premier Danielle Smith,” writes former constitutional law professor Ted Morton, “are curiously silent on Ottawa’s threat to impose a new export tax on Albert oil and gas.” In other words, should Trump spare only Alberta’s exports, which is a possibility, “Ottawa is considering an export tax on Canadian oil and gas…that would generate billions of dollars, paid for by Alberta producers,” essentially saving Ontario and Quebec from economic implosion.
But as Morton indicates, Section 92A of the Constitution Act states that all provinces have exclusive jurisdiction to “make laws in relation to exploration … development, conservation and management of non-renewable natural resources.” And Section 125 prohibits either level of government from taxing the “lands or property” of the other. By using the Constitutional powers at her disposal, and barring a totally corrupt judiciary, Smith should be able to defeat the next predatory federal assault.
Among Premier Smith’s recommendations for study and implementation on the Canadian side in order to reassure Trump are the following pragmatic initiatives: enhanced border security (“Strengthen measures to combat illegal drugs and migration along the Canada-U.S. border”), a revamped immigration policy (“Address immigration loopholes that threaten national security,” including American security, obviously), and robust support for Canada’s (read, Alberta’s) energy sector (“Repeal federal anti-energy policies and fast-track major energy projects like Northern Gateway and Energy East”). Whether or not such proposals are too late, they are Canada’s only hope.
Danielle Smith is one of the very few significant personalities in this country who is capable of making sense and has the courage of her convictions. “Rather than escalate tensions,” she wisely advises, “we need to double down on building a win-win partnership that benefits both nations’ economies and security.” She seems to be the only grown-up in the room, arguing for reason and diplomacy that would benefit both countries rather than a juvenile confrontation that would hurt Canada far worse than the U.S.
Of course, Trump intends to create a new 'External Revenue Service' to collect foreign-derived revenues. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said. February 1 is zero hour. He must be taken at his word. Smith still has her work cut out for her and little time in which to bring it to a successful conclusion. Unfortunately, there is no one else in the country with the smarts and cojones to pursue the task.
Columnist Shaun Polczer at the Western Standard puts it succinctly: “Smith’s proactive outreach to U.S. leaders has positioned Alberta as a key voice in Canada’s economic and energy strategies, ensuring that the province’s priorities remain central to any future negotiations.” But she has done more than that.
She has made a case for the continued viability of Canada. She has put her political colleagues and confederates to shame, showing them up as second-rate, vainglorious actors on a crumbling stage, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” She has faced down a decrepit media consortium populated, to put it bluntly, by liars, time-servers, and imbeciles. And she has resisted the threats and blandishments of a cult of pontificating cowards — the so-called elite — who appear determined on a policy of self-immolation.
Danielle Smith may be the premier of Alberta, but she has taken on the role of national leader in the absence of any credible alternative. Everything considered, she now seems to be the de facto prime minister of Canada.
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