Full transcript of “Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Donald Trump’s tariff threat – November 26, 2024”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 [Music] well with her thoughts on all of this we're now happy to be welcomed back to the program the Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Premier thank you for making the time my pleasure nice to see you Michael and you uh listen you know I was reading some of the earlier comment that you you gave on the the the the Tweet or I guess the the post that was put out by the incoming president on Truth social because you describe his concerns about drugs and illegal migrants as being legitimate so I'm wondering if you could build on that CU I think for many Canadians when when they hear concerns about illegal drugs illegal migrants they think for the United States it's mainly an issue coming from Mexico but from what you know of what's Happening along our shared border just what is coming from Canada into the United States well look we've got a very serious opioid and fenal crisis in our
0:47 Province it's uh we're seeing record numbers of deaths in had for a number of years and we know that there are components coming in from British Columbia and the United States and then going back out the other way again uh we we've got to address that issue not only for our own people but now of course because the the Americans have identified that too we we also see that with the open borders policy that the that the federal government has had for the last couple of years I mean 1.8 million people came into Canada in 20123 and and the Americans have seen a doubling of the number of contacts at the Canadian border so they're beginning to see that uh uh illegal migrants are using Canada as a staging area to get into the United States we we have to to take the the Americans concerns at face value address them if we're going to be
1:34 able to get on to talk about our mutual interests on trade but is this 25% tariff uh threat Justified or do you see it as basically a negotiating tactic well look I mean I I uh I take the the US president the incoming president seriously he's he's very clear about the things that are irritating to him when it comes to his relationship with Canada he's irritated by CA China using U increasingly Mexico but in the past it's been Canada as a staging area to to to get cheap products into the United States and Hollow manufacturing sector he's been very frustrated by immigration he's been frustrated by fenel he has been frustrated by the fact that Canada isn't pulling its weight in meeting its 2% uh NATO defense spending
2:19 Target so I would say that that those things that if that's what what he is leading with saying that the condition of having fruitful trade negoti negotiations means solving these things is it's up to us to pressure the federal government to solve these things M what would that tariff that kind of tariff do to the alberty economy though oh devastating I mean I think every one of us realizes how devastating it would be because it's not just the tariffs you also have a federal government that is piling on on a variety of different policies that make life more expensive the the carbon taxes anticipated to go up to 61 cents per per per liter when it comes to gasoline and Diesel that that'll make every everything Mo so much more expensive than the United States the the capital gains tax changes so if
3:05 you've got businesses making decisions about where they're going to invest to be able to get access to a favorable Market we're going to see all of those dollars heading heading south and so I'm I'm very concerned about the 25% uh tariff not just on on oil and gas but on our our Agri food products on our forestry Products on our increasingly robust manufacturing sector we we have to take this seriously have to address these things that are causing the trade tension now we we we did hear from Pierre PV today he he had a news conference here in Ottawa and I I want to play a part of what he had to say for you and for people at home take a listen to this prime minister has to put aside partisanship and in the spirit of Team Canada cancel his energy cap which would
3:52 see Alberta and Saskatchewan produce 35% less energy at a time when we need need those jobs it is our biggest industry and our biggest export now uh for Canadians who who are are perhaps more concerned about greenhouse gases that statement might be a bit jarring but but I'm wondering what your reaction is to what we heard from Mr PV also how you think uh removing the emissions cap would perhaps help Canada Forge a working relationship with the incoming Trump Administration well look Pier PV is absolutely right we we know that the emissions cap being proposed is so aggressive on such a t short time frame the only way to reach it is by shutting in production we we think um at least a million barrels per day by 2030 and and
4:38 two million barrels per day by 2035 you you can't go to the Americans and say hey we're Your solution to energy security at the same time back home you're you're crushing the very industry that is going to provide that that security so I would say that the one of the first things that that Trudeau should do if he wants to demonstrate uh good faith if he wants to demonstrate it is a team Canada approach and he understands how important energy Security is to the Americans and energy affordability is to the Americans that he would take that off the table one other thing that the the incoming president has said is that he wants um gasoline and diesel prices to go down that he certainly won't be able to do that if he has a 25% tariff to to oil uh to and to and even to Natural Gas we we want to make sure that that is
5:25 communicated well so that we can use that as a as a point of negotiation but but I don't think that we get to that discussion until we address the things that are causing the irritation to the Americans in the first place I I think we've got to take the the Trump administration at face value when they say they want a more secure border they want to stop the fentanyl they want to stop the illegal migration they want us to meet our our 2% NATO commitment those are the things we've got to deal with first now it just so happens and and I I I realized this was planned before uh Mr Trump took to truth social last night but just so happens you introduced a motion today to push back on those emission caps from Ottawa and it's going to happen before that National phone call tomorrow do you think that kind of legislative approach is going to have an impact on the kind of team Canada spirit that the prime minister is asking
6:10 for well look I mean we have to defend the interests of albertans and8 1220 billion dollar worth of our oil and gas product goes across the border into the United States is is the Lion Share of our crossb relationship with the Americans we've got a some four million barrels per day of production that is going down to the US it's a heavy oil and so it can be used to uh to produce a number of products it's the the main thing that their refineries need in uh in the Gulf Coast it allows for them to rely on us rather than rely on Venezuela or Iran for their product they need it for the Strategic petroleum Reserve we think that it's a responsible thing to do to send the message to to Trudeau that there's there's no point in
6:56 going forward with a within an emissions cap that is going to result in production loss not only now because of our relationship with the United States but it's it's unconstitutional and we're prepared to assert that we're certainly not going to put Alberta's interests aside in having negotiations as as part of the team what I would ask is for Trudeau to put his terrible policy aside in uh in in taking a team Canada approach and that is that's what I'll be I'll be talking to him about when we all meet as a group tomorrow you know uh we were all on Halifax for the the the Council of the Federation when the first when the premier were one by one saying there was not enough consultation with Ottawa you're now going to have this consultation do you think given the the challenges of the first Trump Administration this is the type of thing that needs to be uh formalized at an
7:42 annual biannual meeting of the first ministers well look we've been asking to have a formal first Minister's conference for some time because we've we've seen um as we've been watching what is happening in the United States we we've seen how how much the the federal government has neglected its area of strategic defense and strategic infrastructure if you look at the communes coming out of the premieres and remember we come from all party Stripes if you look at the the most recent Community case coming out it was very much focused on what our relationship might look like with the United States if there was a change of government we've been alive to this for some time and it's disappointing that the that the Prime Minister hasn't asked to to meet with us sooner I'm glad that Doug Ford is now at the Helm of the Council of the Federation and he's managed to to secure a meeting that we've been trying for for
8:28 some time and I hope that it's a productive one but it it is going to require um a little bit of soul searching on the part of the of Justin Trudeau to understand what he has done to create the circumstances that we find ourselves in make amends reverse course on some policies and get this relationship back on track Premier Daniel SPI and I have busy schedule today thank you very much for the time you bet thank you
