Alberta Premier Backs Poilievre at Conservative Congress, Omits Trump Criticism

Alberta Premier Backs Conservative Leader at Party Congress

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith publicly reaffirmed her support for Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre on Saturday, speaking before a crowd enthusiastic about his leadership. This came the day after Poilievre secured the confidence of party delegates.

“I am proud to work with [Pierre Poilievre] and to be a member of this party under his leadership. I am confident that he will lead the Conservatives to victory in the next election,” Smith stated, praising Poilievre’s vision for Canada.

Speaking in Calgary, Smith emphasized the core values uniting the provincial and federal Conservative parties. However, she recently eased rules for holding a citizen initiative referendum following momentum from the Alberta independence movement.

Smith addressed topics including firearms, justice, immigration, the environment, and transgender issues during her approximately ten-minute speech.

“As I have said many times, we must build pipelines to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south,” she said. Reactions were particularly strong to her comments regarding firearms policies and the participation of transgender women in women’s sports.

“Rather than confiscating firearms and punishing law-abiding gun owners – which we certainly won’t be doing in Alberta – the Conservatives…” she stated before being interrupted by applause from members. “Pierre also believes in protecting our women and girls and maintaining fairness, and safety. That’s something we’ve done right here in Alberta, because Pierre, myself and a majority of Canadians agree: biological men do not belong in women’s sports, period.”

Carney and Trump: Notable Absences from the Congress

The Alberta premier did not hold back criticism of the federal Liberal government under Justin Trudeau. “They imposed a production cap on our nation’s most strategic asset, the Alberta oil sands,” she told the Conservative delegates.

For ten years, we have seen a prime minister who has done everything he could to devastate the West and to drive away our investments and jobs while implementing radical activist policies that have intensified disorder and chaos.

She did not criticize policies under the current Prime Minister, a sign that relations between Ottawa and Alberta have improved since Mark Carney’s arrival, particularly with the energy agreement announced in November.

The name of former U.S. President Donald Trump was also absent from both Smith’s and Poilievre’s speeches.

Despite what was described as “a positive and hopeful speech,” former Alberta Conservative Premier Jason Kenney noted during an appearance on the program Les faits d’abord that “the only thing missing from Pierre Poilievre’s speech last night was Donald Trump.”

Kenney previously served as Alberta’s premier after being a Member of Parliament and cabinet minister under Stephen Harper.

Canadians are looking, particularly [in the era] of Donald Trump, for statesmen who can represent Canada strongly and prudently on international issues.

With threats of annexation and trade war from Trump, Kenney believes that “ignoring Donald Trump is not a strategy to respond to this threat which is a really essential question.”