..This is the most extraordinary speech from a politician I have ever seen. Premier Danielle Smith hammers Mark Carney, the Liberal Party, the Alberta NDP, Naheed Nenshi, Al Gore, David Suzuki, Greta Thunberg and others. Unbelievable! No apologies at all. That's my Premier. Is this a game changer in the election?
..
TRANSCRIPT
The honorable the premier has a
statement to make Thank you Mr Speaker
When US President Donald Trump first
announced his threatened tariffs against
Canada and began musing about our
country becoming the 51st state many
Canadians and Albertans filled feared
for their futures And why because
regardless of our political stripe we
all knew that the imposition of 25%
tariffs on all Canadian goods to the US
would cost the jobs of hundreds of
thousands of Canadians would depress our
economy devastate our budget and damage
the sovereignty of our country And in
the roughly four months until just
before last weekend's federal election
call premers party leaders and Canadians
were united other than perhaps the
Alberta NDP in working as hard as we
could to convince the US president and
Congress to reconsider these unjustified
actions against our country In fact
premers were all encouraged by each
other as well as with the by the former
prime minister and his ministers to
visit the US to get on US media to speak
with every US official and influencer we
could to convince the US president to
refrain from imposing these tariffs It
was all about working as team Canada for
the greater good Enter Liberal Prime
Minister Mark Carney Now all of a sudden
it's apparently treason to talk to
American media personalities that we
disagree with It is disloyal to try and
persuade high-profile Republicans
holding influence with the president to
abandon his tariff policies on Canada
Indeed it's a high crime to try and
convince US officials to refrain from
imposing tariffs until after our country
has elected a leader with a strong
mandate Shame on all who dare to speak
with the enemy they now say These are
the team Carney and NDP talking points
Their endgame is quite obvious Frighten
and divide Canadians Try and make
Canadians forget the utter incompetence
of Liberal and NDP policies that have
been inflicted on this country over the
last 10 years associate uh conservatives
with President Trump And if they play
their cards just right and sprinkle in
just enough anti-alberta rhetoric presto
Canada might elect another Liberal
majority government Well the Carne
Liberals and the ND and the NINDDP are
right about one thing Our country is
indeed vulnerable right now And the
reason why is as clear as a sunny
Alberta day It is because for the last
10 years Liberal and NDP leaders across
this country both federal and provincial
have repeatedly sold out Canada and
Alberta with policies that have
landlocked our immense natural resources
made nation building projects
practically impossible to finance build
and have made securing access to our
parts an exercise in frustration and
futility These Liberal and NDP leaders
from Trudeau to Singh and now to Prime
Minister Mark Carney have done
everything in their power to seow
investment uncertainty to add impossibly
high costs on the development of our
resources and have disastrously weakened
our security and military all in the
name of their green extremist religion
and its cult leaders named Gibo Suzuki
Gore and Tunberg And the results are
obvious Canadians are poorer than
Americans overly dependent on the
Americans and vulnerable to many nations
including the Americans Canada has
indeed been sold out big time and it's
been sold out by the utter incompetent
self-righteous and extreme policies of
Liberal and NDP leadership across this
country including the Neni NDP right
here in Alberta From C69 to oil and gas
production caps to tanker bands to a
dozen other examples the Liberals and
their allies have attacked the Alberta
and Saskatchewan economies mercilessly
And despite all that despite the 10-year
attack on Alberta by our own federal
government where tariffs were threatened
on our our when tariffs were threatened
on our fellow Canadians and the federal
Liberals realized they had no contacts
or allies anywhere in the new US
administration what did the Alberta
government do did we cower in the corner
madly texting our tweets about hating
Donald Trump on X did we turn into
part-time tick tock rage farmers to stir
up as much fear and loathing of
Americans as humanly possible did we
give up throw our hands in the air
express righteous indignation but do
nothing to fight against the threat
imposed on our province and country no
That's what the Neni NDP did of course
But we Alberta's UCP government we did
not Instead our government did exactly
what Albertans expected us to do We
decided to fight tooth and nail for
Albertan and Canadian jobs and
sovereignty My ministers officials and I
have spent hundreds of hours over the
last several months talking with
lobbying educating and persuading every
US lawmaker and media influencer that
was willing to listen about how damaging
and wrongheaded imposing tariffs on
Canada would be for Americans and for
the millions of American jobs that would
be lost because of them I've made this
case repeatedly to the American people
and their leaders especially Republican
leaders from the US president to members
of his cabinet to senators to governors
to members of Congress to podcasters to
media personalities I've lost track of
how many nights I've spent in
uncomfortable hotel beds and airports
doing everything humanly possible to
stand up for Canadian and Alberta
workers and families convincing US
officials to refrain from putting
tariffs on any Canadian goods asking
that they respect the current free trade
agreement and not begin
renegotiations until Canadians elect a
new prime minister with a strong
four-year mandate doing all we could in
Alberta to secure the US border and
urging the Liberals to do the same
across the country so that we could
further delay the implementation of
tariffs And it hasn't just been Alberta
Several other premers particularly
conservative premers Premier Scott Mo
Premier Tim Houston Premier Doug Ford
have been doing the exact same thing And
the results it has been almost 4 months
since the president first threatened
tariffs on Canada And although steel and
aluminum are wrongfully being tariffed
at this time the tariffs on remaining
Canadian goods sits at zero today rather
than 25% And what has the NHI NDP done
to contribute to this effort not a
single thing other than raging against
this government for every effort we have
taken to protect Albertans Needless to
say there is not a doubt in my mind that
had the Neni NDP been in charge during
this period we would likely have long
ago been hit with across the board 25%
tariffs and lost thousands of Alberta
jobs already because the NDP have no
idea what diplomacy is as they don't
know how to talk constructively or
effectively with anyone they disagree
with And glad we never need to find out
Our government's advocacy had ma has
made a massive difference for Albertans
and for Canadians and that is a fact But
now we have another tariff deadline
looming on April the 2nd And I am now
off to the US yet again to try and speak
to Americans This time through the
second largest podcaster in the world
whose audience is made up of exactly the
people we need to persuade to convince
the their president to change course on
tariffs against Canada And what does
Teen Carney want me to do they want me
to abandon my post remain in Alberta and
do absolutely nothing to defend our
province They want me to cower in the
face of eastern media pundits and
politicians who favor political
grandstanding to effective diplomacy I'm
fiercely criticized for going into the
lion's den to change the hearts and
minds of the very Americans that we need
on Canada's side to avoid a trade war
with the most powerful economy on Earth
They want this lady and Alberta to just
sit down and shut up Well here is my
response to that I will not be silent
Alberta will not be silent We will not
be pushed around and called traitors for
merely having the courage to actually do
something about our nations and
provinces predicament other than merely
indulging in self-righteous tantrums And
I for one will never be s uh silenced by
the party in Ottawa that has sold out
our beloved province for the last 10
years with the help of their NDP
collaborators I have and I always will
put Albertans first And until this
danger to Alberta and our economy is
passed they're going to have to have to
roll me off off in a stretcher before I
will stop fighting for our province and
our people So they can call me my caucus
whatever name in the dictionary they
want As long as Albertans know that we
are fighting for them and their families
we could care less what the members
opposite or Liberal politicians in
Ottawa have to say about us Because
Albertans expect their premier and
government to always put Albertans first
and lead them through this storm with
fearless determination As Winston
Churchill once said "Fear is a reaction
Courage is a decision." We on this side
of the house have made the decision to
act with courage so that Alberta may
remain forever strong and free
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