In front of U.S. audience, Smith blames Trudeau-Carney ‘switcheroo’ for Liberal popularity

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, appearing alongside conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, told a Florida gala last week the federal Liberals’ upswing in public support can be attributed to a change in leadership.

“When I was down before, we were talking about the potential for a total wipe-out of the Liberal party. That’s how unpopular they had become,” Smith said, when asked whether she’s seeing an “upswing” in conservatism in Canada, after what Shapiro called “a long time in the wilderness for conservatives in Canada.”

“That’s why they booted their leader out in order to choose a new one,” Smith added, comparing the replacement of former prime minister Justin Trudeau with Liberal leader Mark Carney to the American Democrats replacing former U.S. president Joe Biden with former vice-president Kamala Harris as nominee in the last U.S. election. “And when you do a quick switcheroo on a brand-new face, sometimes it gives you a little bit of a surge. That’s the point that we’re at in Canada right now.

CTV News obtained a video of Smith’s conversation with Shapiro.

While the Conservatives were poised for a majority election win at the beginning of this year, Trudeau’s resignation, coupled with a surge in national pride facing Trump’s tariffs, have benefitted the Liberals.

The Liberals have opened up an eight-point advantage over the Conservatives in the latest Nanos Research tracking on Day 9 of the federal election campaign.

More broadly, when asked by Shapiro “what kind of radicalism (she’s) seeing from the (Canadian) government,” Smith said part of the reason Trudeau stepped down as prime minister — which received applause from the crowd — was because Liberal environmental policies led to the affordability crisis.

“People realized it, and they ended up giving Justin Trudeau the boot,” Smith said, also stating her disagreement with the federal Liberals when it comes to issues like safe drug supply, public safety, and preferred pronouns for transgender minors, to more applause from the crowd.

Shapiro talk follows controversial Breitbart interview

Smith’s remarks at the gala follow an interview she did with right-wing U.S. media outlet Breitbart, for which the premier came under fire earlier this month.

During that interview, Smith said she had pitched U.S. government officials on the idea of pausing the implementation of tariffs until the federal election is over, with the hopes of seeing Poilievre elected.

“The longer this (tariff) dispute goes on, politicians posture, and it seems to be benefiting the Liberals right now,” Smith told Breitbart. “So I would hope that we could put things on pause is what I’ve told administration officials.”

Smith’s office has denied she urged the White House to intervene in the federal election.

In that interview, Smith also suggested Poilievre would align with the Trump administration.

“If we do have Pierre as our prime minister, then I think there’s a number of things that we could do together,” Smith said. “Pierre believes in development, he believes in low-cost energy, he believes that we need to have low taxes, doesn’t believe in any of the woke stuff that we’ve seen taking over our politics for the last five years.”

Smith did not make that correlation while speaking with Shapiro in Florida.

Smith: ‘I come in peace’

Ahead of potential new tariffs this week, Smith also quipped to Shapiro about U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated annexation threats, joking that “friends should never move in together.”

The premier opened the conversation saying to the audience: “I come in peace.”

“Canada tends to be a little bit more progressive,” Smith said. “That would be like adding another California to your electoral system, and [you] would never have a Republican president in the White House again.”

“So I would just caution you that it’s probably best for us to just stay friends, and friends should never move in together,” she added.

Despite her light-hearted remark to the audience, Smith spoke largely to Shapiro — who referred to Canada as “an excellent ally to the United States” — about the negative impact tariffs would have on both sides of the border.

“(Canada) kind of looks at ourselves as your best friend and neighbour, and I think what you’re seeing is some hurt feelings,” she said. “I think we don’t understand why it is that this relationship is having the tension that it is right now.”

Smith also called the tariffs “unnecessary.”

“You see the impact on the stock market. You see the impact on businesses changing their investment decisions. You see the impact of consumers, and it’s just unnecessary,” Smith said.

Trump has dubbed April 2 “Liberation Day,” during which he pledges to roll out reciprocal tariffs to match duties that other countries impose on U.S. products.

A 25 per cent tariff on foreign-made vehicles is also expected to come into effect April 2, while a two-month reprieve on 25 per cent levies on all Canadian imports — which are related to border security — is set to expire that same day.

So far, Canada had responded to Trump’s tariffs by imposing a 25 per cent tariff on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods — including items like orange juice, wine and spirits — and the federal government has said those retaliatory measures will remain in place until the U.S. lifts all of its tariffs on Canadian products.

The U.S. has also since imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum, prompting Canada to push back with similar tariffs on an additional $30 billion worth of American steel and aluminum products, along with additional imported goods.

When it comes to retaliation, Smith has deviated from Canada’s other premiers by standing staunchly opposed to the imposition of export taxes on energy as a retaliatory measure in the trade war.

Smith has since defended her appearance at the Florida gala as a lobbying effort to prevent tariffs.

“Any work that we can do collectively to minimize, reduce or delay any tariffs is good for all of us,” Smith said on Saturday during her bi-weekly radio program ‘Your Province, Your Premier’ that airs on Corus Radio.