Lots of Canadians are losing sleep over this. You've made some solid pro and con arguments for possible actions and consequences of those actions.
The bottom line for me is that Premier Smith should not have taken it upon herself to travel to Mar-a-lago to bend the knee and kiss the ring of the Orange king. She broke diplomatic lines of responsibility with her unprecedented move. She showed her hand as an alt-right Conservative separatist going to Mar-a-lago with the likes of Kevin O-Leary and Jordan Peterson.
In my opinion what former party leaders, present premiers and pundits across Canada are saying is the tone of how most Albertans and Canadians are thinking about Smith. She seems determined to undermine our social programs in Alberta, undermine our Canadian solidarity and undermine our negotiations with a monster who will be the crazy president of the USA too soon.
I lose sleep over how to stop Smith and her caucus from doing more damage to Alberta, and Canada.
There have always been differences of opinion between individuals within each party, between the federal parties, between the provincial parties of each province, and between the provincial governments and federal governments but in the end there has always been a consensus in the end, a sense of a united front. This is the first time I've seen a premier refuse to even join discussions with other premiers and the Prime Minister. It's the first time a premier has said NO to a consensus and refused to engage in further discussion.
I suppose if you really believe she is going to facilitate a separation of Alberta from the rest of Canada or help to make Alberta a 51st state you would see her actions as those of a strong, determined woman. I suppose if you believe either of the above moves would be advantageous for Alberta you'd also feel what she's doing is great. I don't believe Smith can do that in the next 3 years if ever since the majority of Albertans are opposed to both.
"She broke diplomatic lines of responsibility ..."
So ..... just who was actively putting Alberta's (or even Canada's) case forward? Pretty much no one.
Why is it that so many folks consider someone who is not demonstrably left of center to be "alt-right" or "extreme right", hmmm?
You lose sleep - and I do lament that for you - but I sleep well in the thought that she is working hard to protect Alberta. As always, we are allowed to have different opinions.
Ken Schultz: Danielle Smith isn't the Prime Minister. She's the premier of Alberta. She was out of bounds, and she is a hypocrite for telling the federal government to stay in their lane, and she doesn't do so herself.
Anon, at the time that she went to Mar-a-lago, the feds had retreated from the scene and were not obviously trying to protect Alberta's main industry. In fact, they were and are planning to sacrifice us in order to provide refuge for Ontario's auto industry.
So, if you want to call her a name for protecting her province while the feds were not obviously trying to protect us, then have at it.
Evidently, you didn't know that Trudeau made the same pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and made many of the same arguments she did before she did. The result was that Trump ridiculed him and started talking about annexing Canada.
Why she expected any different response from Trump for offering to throw the rest of Canada under the bus is beyond me.
Trudeau, as our PM had the diplomatic right to go to Mar-a-lago for discussions with Donald Trump. In fact, it's considered part of a PM's job. Trump hated him before any visit Trudeau made. Trump hates everyone, & if you think he, Musk & whoever else met with Smith didn't ROFLAO after she left you really don't know MAGAs. Smith's an embarrassment & a sellout.
Oh, I am quite aware the the Face Painter also went to Mar-a-Lago.
So, if the Face Painter could go and be praised for his failure, why is it that Danielle Smith receives such approbation for also trying to sway the orange man?
I'm not answering to someone who is too juvenile to call our Prime Minister by his name. Nothing I could say would change the mind of someone like that. Whether you want to hear it or not, Danielle Smith is treasonous!
The curious thing is that you identified immediately the subject of my descriptive phrase. You are completely correct insofar as I will never change my mind about that particular individual.
In fact, the way that the Face Painter and his father before him have done their utmost to destroy Alberta's energy industry makes them treasonous in my mind.
As for my premier, Danielle Smith, I see that you have made up your mind and are unable to change it.
Until Danielle Smith does anything to show us she is for Team Canada first, then Team Alberta and Team Trump/USA isn't even on her list of potential contenders, yes, my mind is made up just like a growing number of Albertans. Tata, my kool-aid drinking neighbour.
I identified who you were referring too because thar reference is so exhausted from overuse. I suppose you believe you're the clever one who thought that up? 🤣 Stand in line. There's dozens more poor souls who can't debate without using derogatory names for anyone they don't like or disagree with. Your poor tired brains can't come up with originals anymore. What will you all do now that there's no more Trudeau? 🤣
I thought they were both dumb to try it--anybody who has watched Trump should know that he's a bully who enjoys humiliating anyone who submits to him--, but, even if Dani couldn't figure that out on her own, she should have learned from what it got Trudeau.
I suggest you check the dictionary for the meaning of "approbation."
If Trudeau had not gone to have talks with Trump all of the haters would have said he was too chicken to face Trump. He, as the Prime Minister of Canada, has every right to go there and have talks about tariffs and any other topics he chooses. In fact, that is part of his job.
"Should Alberta seek an exemption from the Trump tariffs for oil and gas?"
Con: Given that the climate clock is ticking and we've failed to do much to slow it down, anything that reduces our production of GHGs is worth considering. Tariffs may have a silver lining.
Some will say that if we don't produce the hydrocarbons someone else will. But anything that forces us to reduce Albert's production and transition, at least partly, off of O & G is worth considering.
No. Allowing Trump to get away with placing tariffs on Alberta's oil is not the way to go to lower ghg. That's capitulating to a monster who is being ultra protectionist.
We already sell our crude to the USA at low prices. They refne it and then resell it at a much higher amount. That is the reason USA has been buying our oil. It's cheap.
We have to fight those tariffs tooth and nail, not just as a province, but as a country. There are only a few ways to do that.. offset the tariffs or shut off the taps. It's a gamble but this is a game to Trump, a game where he thinks winner takes all.
Some say Trump is bluffing when he says he will take Canada, not by force, but by ruining us economically. I don't put anything past Trump anymore. How many times have Americans been unprepared for Trump's next move? Who believed he would even be re-elected once Harris threw her hat in the ring and they were neck in neck? No one was more surprised than the Democrats when Trump won. We must be prepared for the worst and stop underestimating that narcissist.
As far as ghg emissions is concerned, there is a better way to achieve net zero in Alberta. Keep sending strong messages to this UCP government that we want responsible actions against global warming prevention. The UCP is lying to Albertans, telling us there's a cap on oil production when it is really a cap on emissions.
Because Smith and the UCP are lying about that and a lot of other important issues we need to send a even stronger message when we vote in the next Alberta election by defeating them, by voting for a party that will be responsible when it comes to our energy sector, and everything else.
In the meantime let's show Trump and the world a united Canadian front. Believe me, everyone is watching.
I think the media and commentators could be doing a much better job communicating that there is no “good” outcomes available, for us or the USA. So much of the discussion is framed as if there’s going to be a winner and a loser. That one country is going to come out of this on top
That’s fundamentally not true. Trump’s tariff proposals are insane and ungrounded in reality. As soon as they go into effect, everyone ends up worse off. Us, the USA, lots of other jurisdictions that will be caught in the fall-out. Everyone will be worse off.
This needs to be covered as the deliberate self-inflicted destruction that it is, rather than some political negotiation
A good outcome could be that tariffs force Canada to live up to its NATO commitments and possibly free Canadians from the Laurentian Oligarchs. Negotiations with Trump should be viewed as cover to move away from protection of the dairy, poultry, telecom, commercial airline, media and financial service industries. The key will be to secure as much as possible in return such as a long term free-trade agreement that includes softwood lumber.
Unfortunately, I think this will actually entrench our protectionism, at least on essential industries. After all, hard to make a case that it’s secure to put our food supply and telecom under the control of American companies. If they were under USA jurisdiction right now, do you think Trump would hesitate for a moment to cut them off?
Why are dairy and poultry considered essential to the food supply while grains, beef, potatoes etc. are not? Supply management not only restricts foreign competition, it discourages new domestic suppliers.
Because the dairy cartel is concentrated in Quebec. Trudeau is happy to make Canadians pay outrageous prices for dairy because that makes Quebec farmers happy.
There are also federal "cabotage" laws, which prevent foreign airlines from carrying passengers between Canadian cities. This law exists mostly to protect Air Canada, also based in Quebec.
Trump, as much as he is personally obnoxious, raised the dairy issue with Trudeau in his first term and was rebuffed.
So it's a bit rich that after Trudeau pounding the oil industry for a decade, Alberta is being called out for not being a team player. Trudeau caused Canada's dependence on the US to buy our oil and gas by delaying, cancelling or changing regulations to prevent LNG and pipeline construction throughout his decade in office.
Functionality? Because we produce so damn much of them that there’s no realistic world where we’re not producing and exporting a huge surplus’s.
That’s not true of milk and eggs, partly because historically they didn’t travel well so there was no incentive to significantly overproduce what your region could use.
But these days that’s less true. And with the huge domestic subsidies the USA provides their producers, and the size of their markets”, they’d absolutely eliminate our domestic supply. All it would take would be a couple years where they overproduce, and dump the excess on us below production cost.
Then we’re vulnerable to things like the infant formula shortage they had just a couple years ago. Their domestic supply chain crashed, and they ended up halting all their exports. It was a disaster for countries that relied on them. We were totally unaffected
There’s lots of things where self-sufficiency isn’t a huge deal. Staple food isn’t one of them. A country not being in control of the means to feed its own citizens is an existential threat. Same goes for transport, and telecom.
Right now, if Donald Trump had the literal option to starve us out, do you think he’d hesitate? What sort of negotiating position would we be in then?
The US subsidizes more ag than just dairy and poultry yet the Canadian vegetable and beef industries survive? Supply Management only exists to protect Laurentian interests.
If self-sufficiency were the true motivation, would you support limited foreign imports but eliminating domestic quotas to open up domestic competition?
I think Premier Smith's action of not signing the Premier's communique points to her being controlled by her political & financial supporters within the oil and gas industry. As David Yager told me in a phone conversation with him just over a year ago, it was his group of oil and gas insiders that put Smith into power and they expect some favors for that support. At the time we were talking about the inactive oil and gas well fiasco that we have in Alberta & he was saying that the taxpayers would be needed to solve that problem because there's an insolvency and financial crises within the juniors produce's sector of the patch. Alberta's democracy has been taken over by corporations, and Smith will throw all of Alberta and the rest of Canada under a bus just to stay in power. Is she a traitor? Will, if the shoe fits..........
David Yager is an oil and gas insider who has been connected to Smith going back to the Wildrose days. He was a mover and shaker within the Wildrose party back then, and is very experienced in co-opting our political system for his needs. TBA is another group that did have some power within the UCP but that has been somewhat more subdued since its main leader David Parker has had a falling out with certain elements of the party, including Smith. She apparently has told Parker that he should seek help for his anger issues.
Your first two sentences are very relevant. We pride ourselves on our election spending limits vis á vis the US. But have we left a huge opportunity for money directed to unannounced leadership candidates or advertising campaigns outside the writ period. After all, candidates for the last CPC and the current LPC campaigns needed loads of bucks to enter.
As near as I understand the law (I am a retired accountant not a constitutional lawyer), I expect that the cost of that billboard might be subject to expenditure limits under Elections Canada rules.
My memory is that the maximum amount that any individual can contribute to any campaign is $1,750. I further expect that a campaign against candidate X would be construed by EC as a campaign FOR the other candidate(s) and therefore subject to the expense limitation.
My read is that this will indeed become a proxy battle over unity, that has indeed been simmering; probably since Rachel Notely was elected, which challenged many Albertans' identity of the province. Given the firewall letter and everything that has happened since then, notably Alberta's attempt to carve everything that it can out of federal/national participation, will it accelerate some of the UCP's internal agenda by linking things like CPP/APP into the conversation? This could be very messy.
I believe the fact is that in Canada, we have fairly clearly defined separaion of powers. Sections 91 and 92 of the BNA Act (1867) define the powers of the Federal and Provincial governments. I think I heard of another Act or maybe the same one, that puts INTERNATIONAL TRADE under the scope of the Federal Government. There was a time when, Klein, was setting up trade offices in foreign nations, Washington D.C. and was duly repremanded and found out such offices have only a PR function, not an actual embassy function. Smith is pushing the button. What we need is a Federal leadership that will enforce the Canadian Constitution, and put her squarely in her place. The real damage that Smith causes with her MapleMAGA moves is that it puts the citizens of Alberta in the crosshairs of other Canadians. She has to be put in her place as a Premier and not a US Governor.
If anything, Alberta is one of the only provinces that has a clear identity. It is more or less an island due to geographic isolation, lacks shared history and connects weakly to a Canadian economy built on Laurentian protectionism. Notley's election didn't change anything.
I can't think of any period in history where Alberta was on the same page as Ottawa expect for during the Diefenbaker and Harper years, and possibly some of the Mulroney years.
You might be running with a few assumptions here. Imagining that Alberta is the only province with a clear identity being one of them.
Thinking you're the exception....that you rock, and everybody who doesn't agree with everything you want or feel entitled to is 'on the other side' or just 'picking on Alberta" out of envy.............seems more like a delusion than an identity.
Yes...we've had the highest per capita income in Canada...but that's because of oil and gas.......we give ourselves airs sometimes....
But aside from the convoy driven right, I don't see much difference between us and the rest of Canada. Perhaps a bit tighter fists exist out here....certainly a determination not to understand confederation.........or the limits of provincial autonomy seems to flourish here. Mostly we give ourselves airs...overlooking the consequences of our fossil fuel driven exceptionality.
Diefenbaker, Harper and the Mulroney years........conservative years....were the only times we agreed with Ottawa??? None sense. We took to single payer health care very easily........and many Albertans will benefit from affordable daycare, dental care and relief on pharmaceuticals......just as will the rest of Canada.
You may be suffering from a wee right wing myopia.
Just an FYI here.. PET was PM in 1974 when the federal government set up AOSTRA using federal tax dollars and they also set up Research and Innovation support.
In Alberta in the 1960’s Albertans were sold equity to help open the Great Canadian Oil Sands Project. Not the Great “Albertan” Oil Sands project.
And over the years the Alberta governments have sunk billions into the Oil and Gas industry using tax dollars. Now the Alberta government does not track tax expenditures, research and development, support or direct expenditures associated with oil and gas development and they certainly go out of their way not to publish them!
Does it still exist? Imagine...we worked against Keystone and the Northern Gateway........convinced by the science we couldn't keep ramping up fossil fuels...especially the unconventional ones.........but I never heard of this outfit.
Alberta was the holdout against a national healthcare system: Douglas versus Manning: The Ideological Battle over Medicare in Postwar Canada | Journal of Canadian Studies https://search.app/CPrUd3DTrtN8HmrH8
One more crime to lay at the feet of Preston....still, once you have single payer health care, the only way to get it back is to destroy the system from the top. Conservative ideologues still work hard to do that...........but it's not going to be easy. Turns out, medical bankruptsies aren't as popular as that hat Doug Ford is sporting.
I didn't think it was possible for me to be more angry at Danielle Smith, but the treachery she's exhibited this week have done that.
Should the feds take a cut of exports off the table? No, they should not. At this point, when the incoming president is still musing aloud about actually taking territory (I prefer invasion and occupation to the more anodyne "annexation"), NOTHING should be off the table. Obviously, as you have pointed out, it would be economically devastating. But we're talking about the very real prospects of defending our sovereignty, not just our economy.
And in that, it needs to be noted that the THREAT of an action can be far more powerful than the action itself. In that, the specific action of cutting energy exports should very much be a last resort, left to the end, widely communicated. Trump succeeds by destabilizing his opponents. No reason we should not play the same game. And I can think of nothing that would destabilize Trump that the idea that the gas pumps might run dry next week, or that the lights might not come on in New York tomorrow.
Suggesting that Alberta's heavy oil should be off the table.........and that the Federal government should make that decision, thus removing from Danielle the responsibility for insisting that, as usual, Alberta should be the 'exception', or else Alberta is being 'picked on by Ottawa' seem to me to be asking for Alberta's 'business as usual stance'.
As an Albertan, I'm sick to death of our so called 'exceptionality'...........its one more sign of an entitled citizenry allowed by its inherent superiority to be apolitical. Had we not kiboshed Pierre Trudeau's idea of a national oil strategy, we might still be the owners of a resource now reduced to mainly the tarsands. Sure, we call them the oilsands, but name changes are propaganda devices not the latest in scientific research.
Thanks to that Alberta sheik we're told to be nostalgic about, Petro Canada is dead, American corporations own most of what's left of our advantage..............and we've elected a Manning Institute protege to do Big Oil's work for them.
I'm 100% opposed to any part of Canada receiving a 'carve out' from these tariffs...in the long term, it will weaken Canada.........make it easier for Trump to jettison our plans to build EV's in the country that has the rare earth minerals aplenty.......exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions, and speed the day when Alberta's narrow minded 'advantage' takes us all to hot house earth.
Let's stand together as Canadians....do what hurts Trump's stupid ideas the most....and stop trying to forge deals with the devil. What's exceptional about Alberta, is it single handedly produces the largest %age of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. More than enough carve out for one little part of a mighty Federation.
I thought it would be fun to see what percentage of each of the four companies you mentioned was owned by Canadians. As a first approximation I asked MS Copilot "what percentage of [company name here] shares are owned by Canadians?"
So in essence, my first comment about us not owning our own resources was true........and your reply about where they had an office just obfuscation???
Thank you for this, I appreciate the effort that must have gone into trying to find the balance on all these issues; Lord knows I can't.
It's hard to know where to start with all this, but, so far anyway, here's my main take aways:
1. For Danielle Smith and the UCP a 'United' Canada is one that does whatever AB wants. Anything else will cause a 'national unity crisis'.
2. For the most consequential F/P/T Premiers meeting in years Danielle Smith can barely be bothered to interrupt her vacation, and literally video phones it in.
One can only imagine the UCP wailing and media outrage had Trudeau done that for this meeting.
3. Smith's audience for what ever she has to say is her UCP base, and the energy industry. That's why her statement said ' federal government officials "continue to publicly and privately float the idea of cutting off energy supply...'
Not, federal officials and 8 other provinces, which was the situation. As always, it's all 'Ottawa's' fault.
4. Facilitating Donald Trump's juvenile tactic of division doesn't bother her in the least. Wonder how she's going to react when Trump decides to humiliate her?
Because he will, he always does, she's a woman negotiating from a position of weakness, she may as well have a 'Kick Me' sign on her back.
5. Way back in the 1980's when I was doing my undergrad in Poli Sci we used to talk about agency/regulatory capture and politicians looking for the money trough of lobbying after their political career was over. That government at times ruled in the interests of lobbyists was taken as a given, one of the things about the political economy model that really worked. But if you had told us that someday you would have a leader acting as though they were an energy lobbyist in power, we would have said you're nuts, and over simplifying some very complex relationships and structures. But here we are. She's not the first in AB to do that, Ralph Klein having industry people drafting legislation lowered that bar to the ground.
6. Doug 'Notwithstanding' Ford is seen to be a national leader and champion of Canadian solidarity. Just chew on that for a minute.
7. And yes, those pictures of the Premier of the country's wealthiest province posing like an Alt-Right groupie will not age well.
Smith is terribly naive to think that her abandoning the rest of Canada to fly down to Mar-a-Lago somehow gives her a special position in Trump's camp. Trump will use her to drive a wedge in Canadian unity and discard her once his goal is achieved. She is responding to a bully by obeying in advance, and all of Canada, including Alberta, are put at risk by her behaviour. Wonder if she used taxpayer $$ to buy her ticket to Trump's inauguration?
We still haven’t heard anything about increasing interprovincial trade yet. Regardless the tariffs outcome with Trump, Canada continues to strangle its own economy with internal trade barriers. To what benefit???
But..,but… last night two fire engines came down our street in full lights and sirens mode plus another one in the alley. You know what came to mind! How can the elephant in the room not be named?
Can someone please explain to me how an industry that only adds between 3 and 5% of Canada’s GDP would have “disastrous effects on Canada’s economy”?
Once again far too many people are giving the oil and gas industry in this country far too much credit for having a massive influence on our economy. It doesn’t! The only province in Canada that it would have a major impact on, is Alberta, because the oil and gas industry in Alberta makes up 21% of their economy.
As far as I’m concerned, Smith is working very hard to turn Alberta into Texas and is a traitor to the country of Canada.
As a 4th generation Albertan I have never been MORE DISAPPOINTED in our provincial politics ESPECIALLY THIS #UselessCronyCorruptpuppets that continues to deprive Albertans from the benefits from this supposed fossil fuel wealth BENEFITS; in fact Alberta is a HAVE NOT province, this ucp delivers Privilege to Cronies and IGNORES RESPONSIBILITIES to fully support Albertans Needs! OilGas royalities have been absconded by DSmith Tyrant BOSS for her personal EGO projects! Albertans RESTRICTED ucp Funding Means: Poor Public HealthCare, Poor Public Education , Highest Energy costs, Highest Insurance rates, Poor Seniors Care funding, Destroying Environment Protection agencies, Increasing FossilFuel Asset LIABILITIES for AB TAXPAYERS, DEBT LIABILITIES Due to UCP $4 BILLION tax $ PISS AWAY, Increasing Municipality DEBT due to FossilFuel producers Not HELD ACCOUNTABLE, ON and ON this CRISIS builds! UCP Ignorant, Arrogant, Pandering to FF GREED so DSmith Stand Up for Canada, LISTEN TO OTHER PREMIERS AND SUPPORT solutions including counter-vailing TARRIFS, limiting OG shipments, SHOW INTELLIGENCE, STAND TOGETHER FOR CANADIANS against a Tyrant Felon goldenshowerbully BRAT!
Danny is a bit like Donnie; the need to be in the news churn is of utmost importance. While Donnie seems to have a 'carte blanche' to do and say whatever the hell he pleases, I suspect Danny will not benefit from any such forebearance from Canadians. But her rural UCP acolytes will eat it up. They'll be the only ones.
Finally, if you ever see me in a photo standing with O'Leary and Trump with a sh*t-eating grin on my face, please track me down and shoot me; rabies is contagious.
Lots of Canadians are losing sleep over this. You've made some solid pro and con arguments for possible actions and consequences of those actions.
The bottom line for me is that Premier Smith should not have taken it upon herself to travel to Mar-a-lago to bend the knee and kiss the ring of the Orange king. She broke diplomatic lines of responsibility with her unprecedented move. She showed her hand as an alt-right Conservative separatist going to Mar-a-lago with the likes of Kevin O-Leary and Jordan Peterson.
In my opinion what former party leaders, present premiers and pundits across Canada are saying is the tone of how most Albertans and Canadians are thinking about Smith. She seems determined to undermine our social programs in Alberta, undermine our Canadian solidarity and undermine our negotiations with a monster who will be the crazy president of the USA too soon.
I lose sleep over how to stop Smith and her caucus from doing more damage to Alberta, and Canada.
Since when has solidarity existed in Canada? Wedge politics may win elections, but it leaves the country exposed at times like this
There have always been differences of opinion between individuals within each party, between the federal parties, between the provincial parties of each province, and between the provincial governments and federal governments but in the end there has always been a consensus in the end, a sense of a united front. This is the first time I've seen a premier refuse to even join discussions with other premiers and the Prime Minister. It's the first time a premier has said NO to a consensus and refused to engage in further discussion.
I suppose if you really believe she is going to facilitate a separation of Alberta from the rest of Canada or help to make Alberta a 51st state you would see her actions as those of a strong, determined woman. I suppose if you believe either of the above moves would be advantageous for Alberta you'd also feel what she's doing is great. I don't believe Smith can do that in the next 3 years if ever since the majority of Albertans are opposed to both.
Want to bet her polling numbers go up?
"She broke diplomatic lines of responsibility ..."
So ..... just who was actively putting Alberta's (or even Canada's) case forward? Pretty much no one.
Why is it that so many folks consider someone who is not demonstrably left of center to be "alt-right" or "extreme right", hmmm?
You lose sleep - and I do lament that for you - but I sleep well in the thought that she is working hard to protect Alberta. As always, we are allowed to have different opinions.
Ken Schultz: Danielle Smith isn't the Prime Minister. She's the premier of Alberta. She was out of bounds, and she is a hypocrite for telling the federal government to stay in their lane, and she doesn't do so herself.
Anon, at the time that she went to Mar-a-lago, the feds had retreated from the scene and were not obviously trying to protect Alberta's main industry. In fact, they were and are planning to sacrifice us in order to provide refuge for Ontario's auto industry.
So, if you want to call her a name for protecting her province while the feds were not obviously trying to protect us, then have at it.
Evidently, you didn't know that Trudeau made the same pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and made many of the same arguments she did before she did. The result was that Trump ridiculed him and started talking about annexing Canada.
Why she expected any different response from Trump for offering to throw the rest of Canada under the bus is beyond me.
Trudeau, as our PM had the diplomatic right to go to Mar-a-lago for discussions with Donald Trump. In fact, it's considered part of a PM's job. Trump hated him before any visit Trudeau made. Trump hates everyone, & if you think he, Musk & whoever else met with Smith didn't ROFLAO after she left you really don't know MAGAs. Smith's an embarrassment & a sellout.
Sharon Siba: Danielle Smith left with her tail between her legs, at our expense.
Oh, I am quite aware the the Face Painter also went to Mar-a-Lago.
So, if the Face Painter could go and be praised for his failure, why is it that Danielle Smith receives such approbation for also trying to sway the orange man?
I'm not answering to someone who is too juvenile to call our Prime Minister by his name. Nothing I could say would change the mind of someone like that. Whether you want to hear it or not, Danielle Smith is treasonous!
The curious thing is that you identified immediately the subject of my descriptive phrase. You are completely correct insofar as I will never change my mind about that particular individual.
In fact, the way that the Face Painter and his father before him have done their utmost to destroy Alberta's energy industry makes them treasonous in my mind.
As for my premier, Danielle Smith, I see that you have made up your mind and are unable to change it.
So, let us politely agree: pot meet kettle.
Until Danielle Smith does anything to show us she is for Team Canada first, then Team Alberta and Team Trump/USA isn't even on her list of potential contenders, yes, my mind is made up just like a growing number of Albertans. Tata, my kool-aid drinking neighbour.
I identified who you were referring too because thar reference is so exhausted from overuse. I suppose you believe you're the clever one who thought that up? 🤣 Stand in line. There's dozens more poor souls who can't debate without using derogatory names for anyone they don't like or disagree with. Your poor tired brains can't come up with originals anymore. What will you all do now that there's no more Trudeau? 🤣
Who praised him for his failure? I sure didn't.
I thought they were both dumb to try it--anybody who has watched Trump should know that he's a bully who enjoys humiliating anyone who submits to him--, but, even if Dani couldn't figure that out on her own, she should have learned from what it got Trudeau.
I suggest you check the dictionary for the meaning of "approbation."
If Trudeau had not gone to have talks with Trump all of the haters would have said he was too chicken to face Trump. He, as the Prime Minister of Canada, has every right to go there and have talks about tariffs and any other topics he chooses. In fact, that is part of his job.
I agree, but I think he went about it in the wrong way.
"Should Alberta seek an exemption from the Trump tariffs for oil and gas?"
Con: Given that the climate clock is ticking and we've failed to do much to slow it down, anything that reduces our production of GHGs is worth considering. Tariffs may have a silver lining.
Some will say that if we don't produce the hydrocarbons someone else will. But anything that forces us to reduce Albert's production and transition, at least partly, off of O & G is worth considering.
No. Allowing Trump to get away with placing tariffs on Alberta's oil is not the way to go to lower ghg. That's capitulating to a monster who is being ultra protectionist.
We already sell our crude to the USA at low prices. They refne it and then resell it at a much higher amount. That is the reason USA has been buying our oil. It's cheap.
We have to fight those tariffs tooth and nail, not just as a province, but as a country. There are only a few ways to do that.. offset the tariffs or shut off the taps. It's a gamble but this is a game to Trump, a game where he thinks winner takes all.
Some say Trump is bluffing when he says he will take Canada, not by force, but by ruining us economically. I don't put anything past Trump anymore. How many times have Americans been unprepared for Trump's next move? Who believed he would even be re-elected once Harris threw her hat in the ring and they were neck in neck? No one was more surprised than the Democrats when Trump won. We must be prepared for the worst and stop underestimating that narcissist.
As far as ghg emissions is concerned, there is a better way to achieve net zero in Alberta. Keep sending strong messages to this UCP government that we want responsible actions against global warming prevention. The UCP is lying to Albertans, telling us there's a cap on oil production when it is really a cap on emissions.
Because Smith and the UCP are lying about that and a lot of other important issues we need to send a even stronger message when we vote in the next Alberta election by defeating them, by voting for a party that will be responsible when it comes to our energy sector, and everything else.
In the meantime let's show Trump and the world a united Canadian front. Believe me, everyone is watching.
I think the media and commentators could be doing a much better job communicating that there is no “good” outcomes available, for us or the USA. So much of the discussion is framed as if there’s going to be a winner and a loser. That one country is going to come out of this on top
That’s fundamentally not true. Trump’s tariff proposals are insane and ungrounded in reality. As soon as they go into effect, everyone ends up worse off. Us, the USA, lots of other jurisdictions that will be caught in the fall-out. Everyone will be worse off.
This needs to be covered as the deliberate self-inflicted destruction that it is, rather than some political negotiation
A good outcome could be that tariffs force Canada to live up to its NATO commitments and possibly free Canadians from the Laurentian Oligarchs. Negotiations with Trump should be viewed as cover to move away from protection of the dairy, poultry, telecom, commercial airline, media and financial service industries. The key will be to secure as much as possible in return such as a long term free-trade agreement that includes softwood lumber.
Unfortunately, I think this will actually entrench our protectionism, at least on essential industries. After all, hard to make a case that it’s secure to put our food supply and telecom under the control of American companies. If they were under USA jurisdiction right now, do you think Trump would hesitate for a moment to cut them off?
Why are dairy and poultry considered essential to the food supply while grains, beef, potatoes etc. are not? Supply management not only restricts foreign competition, it discourages new domestic suppliers.
Because the dairy cartel is concentrated in Quebec. Trudeau is happy to make Canadians pay outrageous prices for dairy because that makes Quebec farmers happy.
There are also federal "cabotage" laws, which prevent foreign airlines from carrying passengers between Canadian cities. This law exists mostly to protect Air Canada, also based in Quebec.
Trump, as much as he is personally obnoxious, raised the dairy issue with Trudeau in his first term and was rebuffed.
So it's a bit rich that after Trudeau pounding the oil industry for a decade, Alberta is being called out for not being a team player. Trudeau caused Canada's dependence on the US to buy our oil and gas by delaying, cancelling or changing regulations to prevent LNG and pipeline construction throughout his decade in office.
https://freditorial.substack.com/p/a-loathsome-lightweights-limp-legacy
Functionality? Because we produce so damn much of them that there’s no realistic world where we’re not producing and exporting a huge surplus’s.
That’s not true of milk and eggs, partly because historically they didn’t travel well so there was no incentive to significantly overproduce what your region could use.
But these days that’s less true. And with the huge domestic subsidies the USA provides their producers, and the size of their markets”, they’d absolutely eliminate our domestic supply. All it would take would be a couple years where they overproduce, and dump the excess on us below production cost.
Then we’re vulnerable to things like the infant formula shortage they had just a couple years ago. Their domestic supply chain crashed, and they ended up halting all their exports. It was a disaster for countries that relied on them. We were totally unaffected
There’s lots of things where self-sufficiency isn’t a huge deal. Staple food isn’t one of them. A country not being in control of the means to feed its own citizens is an existential threat. Same goes for transport, and telecom.
Right now, if Donald Trump had the literal option to starve us out, do you think he’d hesitate? What sort of negotiating position would we be in then?
The US subsidizes more ag than just dairy and poultry yet the Canadian vegetable and beef industries survive? Supply Management only exists to protect Laurentian interests.
If self-sufficiency were the true motivation, would you support limited foreign imports but eliminating domestic quotas to open up domestic competition?
Oil and gas exports were never targetted specifically.
But the auto industry was. No need for Dani to flap around the continent when she should be supporting Canada.
I think Premier Smith's action of not signing the Premier's communique points to her being controlled by her political & financial supporters within the oil and gas industry. As David Yager told me in a phone conversation with him just over a year ago, it was his group of oil and gas insiders that put Smith into power and they expect some favors for that support. At the time we were talking about the inactive oil and gas well fiasco that we have in Alberta & he was saying that the taxpayers would be needed to solve that problem because there's an insolvency and financial crises within the juniors produce's sector of the patch. Alberta's democracy has been taken over by corporations, and Smith will throw all of Alberta and the rest of Canada under a bus just to stay in power. Is she a traitor? Will, if the shoe fits..........
I thought TBA but Smith in the Premier's chair, but O&G makes an equally scary bogeyman.
David Yager is an oil and gas insider who has been connected to Smith going back to the Wildrose days. He was a mover and shaker within the Wildrose party back then, and is very experienced in co-opting our political system for his needs. TBA is another group that did have some power within the UCP but that has been somewhat more subdued since its main leader David Parker has had a falling out with certain elements of the party, including Smith. She apparently has told Parker that he should seek help for his anger issues.
Your first two sentences are very relevant. We pride ourselves on our election spending limits vis á vis the US. But have we left a huge opportunity for money directed to unannounced leadership candidates or advertising campaigns outside the writ period. After all, candidates for the last CPC and the current LPC campaigns needed loads of bucks to enter.
Don, it is my understanding that contributions to the leadership campaigns you reference are subject to the Elections Canada rules.
Thanks. Could a citizen purchase billboard space to advocate for Candidate X today?
As near as I understand the law (I am a retired accountant not a constitutional lawyer), I expect that the cost of that billboard might be subject to expenditure limits under Elections Canada rules.
My memory is that the maximum amount that any individual can contribute to any campaign is $1,750. I further expect that a campaign against candidate X would be construed by EC as a campaign FOR the other candidate(s) and therefore subject to the expense limitation.
Non Voters constitute the biggest party!
My read is that this will indeed become a proxy battle over unity, that has indeed been simmering; probably since Rachel Notely was elected, which challenged many Albertans' identity of the province. Given the firewall letter and everything that has happened since then, notably Alberta's attempt to carve everything that it can out of federal/national participation, will it accelerate some of the UCP's internal agenda by linking things like CPP/APP into the conversation? This could be very messy.
I believe the fact is that in Canada, we have fairly clearly defined separaion of powers. Sections 91 and 92 of the BNA Act (1867) define the powers of the Federal and Provincial governments. I think I heard of another Act or maybe the same one, that puts INTERNATIONAL TRADE under the scope of the Federal Government. There was a time when, Klein, was setting up trade offices in foreign nations, Washington D.C. and was duly repremanded and found out such offices have only a PR function, not an actual embassy function. Smith is pushing the button. What we need is a Federal leadership that will enforce the Canadian Constitution, and put her squarely in her place. The real damage that Smith causes with her MapleMAGA moves is that it puts the citizens of Alberta in the crosshairs of other Canadians. She has to be put in her place as a Premier and not a US Governor.
Alberta has residents, not citizens. Other than that, I agree with you 💯
If anything, Alberta is one of the only provinces that has a clear identity. It is more or less an island due to geographic isolation, lacks shared history and connects weakly to a Canadian economy built on Laurentian protectionism. Notley's election didn't change anything.
I can't think of any period in history where Alberta was on the same page as Ottawa expect for during the Diefenbaker and Harper years, and possibly some of the Mulroney years.
You might be running with a few assumptions here. Imagining that Alberta is the only province with a clear identity being one of them.
Thinking you're the exception....that you rock, and everybody who doesn't agree with everything you want or feel entitled to is 'on the other side' or just 'picking on Alberta" out of envy.............seems more like a delusion than an identity.
Yes...we've had the highest per capita income in Canada...but that's because of oil and gas.......we give ourselves airs sometimes....
But aside from the convoy driven right, I don't see much difference between us and the rest of Canada. Perhaps a bit tighter fists exist out here....certainly a determination not to understand confederation.........or the limits of provincial autonomy seems to flourish here. Mostly we give ourselves airs...overlooking the consequences of our fossil fuel driven exceptionality.
Diefenbaker, Harper and the Mulroney years........conservative years....were the only times we agreed with Ottawa??? None sense. We took to single payer health care very easily........and many Albertans will benefit from affordable daycare, dental care and relief on pharmaceuticals......just as will the rest of Canada.
You may be suffering from a wee right wing myopia.
Just an FYI here.. PET was PM in 1974 when the federal government set up AOSTRA using federal tax dollars and they also set up Research and Innovation support.
In Alberta in the 1960’s Albertans were sold equity to help open the Great Canadian Oil Sands Project. Not the Great “Albertan” Oil Sands project.
And over the years the Alberta governments have sunk billions into the Oil and Gas industry using tax dollars. Now the Alberta government does not track tax expenditures, research and development, support or direct expenditures associated with oil and gas development and they certainly go out of their way not to publish them!
Thanks for this...but what does AOSTRA stand for ? I've always been retarded when it comes to acronyms. Suspect many are, and that's why we use em.
It stands for Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority.
Does it still exist? Imagine...we worked against Keystone and the Northern Gateway........convinced by the science we couldn't keep ramping up fossil fuels...especially the unconventional ones.........but I never heard of this outfit.
Ingamarie: Due to volatility of oil prices, Alberta often has the highest rate of unemployment in the country.
Alberta was the holdout against a national healthcare system: Douglas versus Manning: The Ideological Battle over Medicare in Postwar Canada | Journal of Canadian Studies https://search.app/CPrUd3DTrtN8HmrH8
One more crime to lay at the feet of Preston....still, once you have single payer health care, the only way to get it back is to destroy the system from the top. Conservative ideologues still work hard to do that...........but it's not going to be easy. Turns out, medical bankruptsies aren't as popular as that hat Doug Ford is sporting.
It was Ernest Manning and he wasn't against single payer, he was against a national single payer scheme
Thank God he lost....I'd hate to have my medical system run by the current gaggle of nutbars........wanting to take back Alberta....from Albertans!
I didn't think it was possible for me to be more angry at Danielle Smith, but the treachery she's exhibited this week have done that.
Should the feds take a cut of exports off the table? No, they should not. At this point, when the incoming president is still musing aloud about actually taking territory (I prefer invasion and occupation to the more anodyne "annexation"), NOTHING should be off the table. Obviously, as you have pointed out, it would be economically devastating. But we're talking about the very real prospects of defending our sovereignty, not just our economy.
And in that, it needs to be noted that the THREAT of an action can be far more powerful than the action itself. In that, the specific action of cutting energy exports should very much be a last resort, left to the end, widely communicated. Trump succeeds by destabilizing his opponents. No reason we should not play the same game. And I can think of nothing that would destabilize Trump that the idea that the gas pumps might run dry next week, or that the lights might not come on in New York tomorrow.
Suggesting that Alberta's heavy oil should be off the table.........and that the Federal government should make that decision, thus removing from Danielle the responsibility for insisting that, as usual, Alberta should be the 'exception', or else Alberta is being 'picked on by Ottawa' seem to me to be asking for Alberta's 'business as usual stance'.
As an Albertan, I'm sick to death of our so called 'exceptionality'...........its one more sign of an entitled citizenry allowed by its inherent superiority to be apolitical. Had we not kiboshed Pierre Trudeau's idea of a national oil strategy, we might still be the owners of a resource now reduced to mainly the tarsands. Sure, we call them the oilsands, but name changes are propaganda devices not the latest in scientific research.
Thanks to that Alberta sheik we're told to be nostalgic about, Petro Canada is dead, American corporations own most of what's left of our advantage..............and we've elected a Manning Institute protege to do Big Oil's work for them.
I'm 100% opposed to any part of Canada receiving a 'carve out' from these tariffs...in the long term, it will weaken Canada.........make it easier for Trump to jettison our plans to build EV's in the country that has the rare earth minerals aplenty.......exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions, and speed the day when Alberta's narrow minded 'advantage' takes us all to hot house earth.
Let's stand together as Canadians....do what hurts Trump's stupid ideas the most....and stop trying to forge deals with the devil. What's exceptional about Alberta, is it single handedly produces the largest %age of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. More than enough carve out for one little part of a mighty Federation.
Alberta stills owns most of the mineral rights within its territory, freehold landowners being the exception. The four largest producers are:
1) CRNL - Calgary HQ
2) Suncor - Calgary HQ
3) Cenovus - Calgary HQ
4) Imperial - Calgary HQ, but 70% owned by Exxon
As publicly traded companies, their shareholders can be of almost any nationality.
Being headquartered in Calgary doesn't mean they are Canadian companies? Or does it?
Ralph Klein saw to it that the oil in Alberta isn't ours anymore.
Does being HQ'd in the US make a company American?
I thought it would be fun to see what percentage of each of the four companies you mentioned was owned by Canadians. As a first approximation I asked MS Copilot "what percentage of [company name here] shares are owned by Canadians?"
The result are:
CNRL - no number returned
Suncor - approx 26.2%
Cenovus - no number returned
Imperial - approx. 7.3%
So having an office in Calgary doesn't mean much.
Reynold Reimer: Ralph Klein made sure that the oil in Alberta wouldn't be ours anymore.
Exactly. And neither does having an office HQ anywhere
So in essence, my first comment about us not owning our own resources was true........and your reply about where they had an office just obfuscation???
Thank you for this, I appreciate the effort that must have gone into trying to find the balance on all these issues; Lord knows I can't.
It's hard to know where to start with all this, but, so far anyway, here's my main take aways:
1. For Danielle Smith and the UCP a 'United' Canada is one that does whatever AB wants. Anything else will cause a 'national unity crisis'.
2. For the most consequential F/P/T Premiers meeting in years Danielle Smith can barely be bothered to interrupt her vacation, and literally video phones it in.
One can only imagine the UCP wailing and media outrage had Trudeau done that for this meeting.
3. Smith's audience for what ever she has to say is her UCP base, and the energy industry. That's why her statement said ' federal government officials "continue to publicly and privately float the idea of cutting off energy supply...'
Not, federal officials and 8 other provinces, which was the situation. As always, it's all 'Ottawa's' fault.
4. Facilitating Donald Trump's juvenile tactic of division doesn't bother her in the least. Wonder how she's going to react when Trump decides to humiliate her?
Because he will, he always does, she's a woman negotiating from a position of weakness, she may as well have a 'Kick Me' sign on her back.
5. Way back in the 1980's when I was doing my undergrad in Poli Sci we used to talk about agency/regulatory capture and politicians looking for the money trough of lobbying after their political career was over. That government at times ruled in the interests of lobbyists was taken as a given, one of the things about the political economy model that really worked. But if you had told us that someday you would have a leader acting as though they were an energy lobbyist in power, we would have said you're nuts, and over simplifying some very complex relationships and structures. But here we are. She's not the first in AB to do that, Ralph Klein having industry people drafting legislation lowered that bar to the ground.
6. Doug 'Notwithstanding' Ford is seen to be a national leader and champion of Canadian solidarity. Just chew on that for a minute.
7. And yes, those pictures of the Premier of the country's wealthiest province posing like an Alt-Right groupie will not age well.
Smith is terribly naive to think that her abandoning the rest of Canada to fly down to Mar-a-Lago somehow gives her a special position in Trump's camp. Trump will use her to drive a wedge in Canadian unity and discard her once his goal is achieved. She is responding to a bully by obeying in advance, and all of Canada, including Alberta, are put at risk by her behaviour. Wonder if she used taxpayer $$ to buy her ticket to Trump's inauguration?
Trump will ignore a lame duck federal government. Smith and possibly Ford are the only outreach
We still haven’t heard anything about increasing interprovincial trade yet. Regardless the tariffs outcome with Trump, Canada continues to strangle its own economy with internal trade barriers. To what benefit???
… this coming from the woman that just days ago accused Trudeau of irresponsibility and selfishness.
I am an Albertan, but currently not proud to be one, and more than a little disappointed in Smith’s leadership.
More than that I. AM. CANADIAN.
Once again you offer an insightful, balanced picture of our situation. I can see why you are losing sleep...
But..,but… last night two fire engines came down our street in full lights and sirens mode plus another one in the alley. You know what came to mind! How can the elephant in the room not be named?
Can someone please explain to me how an industry that only adds between 3 and 5% of Canada’s GDP would have “disastrous effects on Canada’s economy”?
Once again far too many people are giving the oil and gas industry in this country far too much credit for having a massive influence on our economy. It doesn’t! The only province in Canada that it would have a major impact on, is Alberta, because the oil and gas industry in Alberta makes up 21% of their economy.
As far as I’m concerned, Smith is working very hard to turn Alberta into Texas and is a traitor to the country of Canada.
As a 4th generation Albertan I have never been MORE DISAPPOINTED in our provincial politics ESPECIALLY THIS #UselessCronyCorruptpuppets that continues to deprive Albertans from the benefits from this supposed fossil fuel wealth BENEFITS; in fact Alberta is a HAVE NOT province, this ucp delivers Privilege to Cronies and IGNORES RESPONSIBILITIES to fully support Albertans Needs! OilGas royalities have been absconded by DSmith Tyrant BOSS for her personal EGO projects! Albertans RESTRICTED ucp Funding Means: Poor Public HealthCare, Poor Public Education , Highest Energy costs, Highest Insurance rates, Poor Seniors Care funding, Destroying Environment Protection agencies, Increasing FossilFuel Asset LIABILITIES for AB TAXPAYERS, DEBT LIABILITIES Due to UCP $4 BILLION tax $ PISS AWAY, Increasing Municipality DEBT due to FossilFuel producers Not HELD ACCOUNTABLE, ON and ON this CRISIS builds! UCP Ignorant, Arrogant, Pandering to FF GREED so DSmith Stand Up for Canada, LISTEN TO OTHER PREMIERS AND SUPPORT solutions including counter-vailing TARRIFS, limiting OG shipments, SHOW INTELLIGENCE, STAND TOGETHER FOR CANADIANS against a Tyrant Felon goldenshowerbully BRAT!
brought to you by AUPE, UNA and ATA
Danny is a bit like Donnie; the need to be in the news churn is of utmost importance. While Donnie seems to have a 'carte blanche' to do and say whatever the hell he pleases, I suspect Danny will not benefit from any such forebearance from Canadians. But her rural UCP acolytes will eat it up. They'll be the only ones.
Finally, if you ever see me in a photo standing with O'Leary and Trump with a sh*t-eating grin on my face, please track me down and shoot me; rabies is contagious.