Danielle Smith slams Trudeau for calling Albertans fools during unannounced visit to province

Trudeau ‘managed to call Albertans fools’ and ‘condemned anyone supportive of parental involvement in their child’s education’ during an interview with a left-wing podcaster in Alberta, Smith said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for calling Albertans “fools” during his unannounced visit to the province.

On February 21, Smith condemned Trudeau for coming uninvited to Edmonton, Alberta, to meet with podcaster Ryan Jespersen, where he labelled Smith as a “right-wing politician” over her new pro-family policies and condemned Alberta’s oil and gas industry.

“Today, Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau spoke with Alberta media during which he managed to call Albertans fools, claimed the carbon tax was saving Alberta families thousands of dollars, and condemned anyone supportive of parental involvement in their child’s education,” Smith wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We know that Albertans do not take his absurd claims seriously; however it is sad to see this Prime Minister, like his father before him, try to use Alberta as a punching bag to win votes in other parts of the country,” she added.

Today, Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau spoke with Alberta media during which he managed to call Albertans fools, claimed the carbon tax was saving Alberta families thousands of dollars, and condemned anyone supportive of parental involvement in their child’s education.

We…

— Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) February 21, 2024

Trudeau condemns Smith but seems too scared to meet with her

During his interview with Jespersen, Trudeau claimed Albertans “are getting fooled by right-wing politicians,” including Smith.

He also claimed that the “traditional” oil sands and energy companies are “ripping off” their workers by opposing his radical “climate change” policies that would cripple the oil and energy sector.

“If the Alberta government gets out of its ideological opposition to doing things that are good for workers, good for the planet — maybe not good for classic oil sands companies,” he ranted.

“This is the dynamic that quite frankly Albertans are getting fooled by right-wing politicians… right-wing ideology is getting in the way of Alberta’s success right now,” he continued. “It’s not a plot by Eastern b–stards.”

However, research has projected that Canadians will pay nearly $500 million in sales taxes to fund Trudeau’s carbon tax in 2024. Trudeau’s carbon tax, framed as a way to reduce carbon emissions, has cost Canadians hundreds more annually despite rebates.

However, some western provinces have declared they will not follow the regulations but instead will focus on the well-being of Canadians.

Both Alberta and Saskatchewan have repeatedly promised to place the interests of their people above the Trudeau government’s “unconstitutional” demands while consistently reminding the federal government that their infrastructures and economies depend upon oil, gas, and coal.

“We will never allow these regulations to be implemented here, full stop,” Smith recently declared. “If they become the law of the land, they would crush Albertans’ finances, and they would also cause dramatic increases in electricity bills for families and businesses across Canada.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has likewise promised to fight back against Trudeau’s new regulations, saying recently that “Trudeau’s net-zero electricity regulations are unaffordable, unrealistic and unconstitutional.”

“They will drive electricity rates through the roof and leave Saskatchewan with an unreliable power supply. Our government will not let the federal government do that to the Saskatchewan people,” he charged.

However, instead of discussing his policies with Smith, Trudeau did not announce his trip to Alberta, apparently preferring to meet with Canadians who agree with him than having to defend his position.

“Instead of attacking our province, Mr. Trudeau could have informed our government about his visit to Alberta and extended an invitation to meet with me to discuss our amazing energy sector and workers, Alberta green technologies that are changing the world, removing red tape for struggling child care operators, or the housing and affordability challenges,” Smith declared.

“Next time the Prime Minister visits Alberta, I hope he calls my office to arrange a meeting as he did with the Premiers of Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba. I await his call,” she added.

Trudeau misses the days before alternative media

During the interview, Trudeau lamented the rise of alternative media, saying that he preferred when Canadians were only told one narrative, notably by outlets that are government-funded.

“There is out there a deliberate undermining of mainstream media,” he claimed. “There are the conspiracy theorists.”

According to Trudeau, when CTV, CBC, and Global News “were our only sources of news [they] used to project across our country at least a common understanding of things.”

Trudeau lauded Jespersen’s podcast as a source of independent media, apparently preferring interviews where he isn’t asked difficult questions regarding his policies but rather allowed to rant against Alberta and Conservatives.

While Trudeau longs for the days before the rise of independent media outlets, new research has revealed that only one-third of Canadians trust mainstream media outlets.

Additionally, according to a recent study by Canada’s Public Health Agency, less than a third of Canadians displayed “high trust” in the federal government, with “large media organizations” as well as celebrities getting even lower scores.

Large mainstream media outlets and “journalists” working for them scored a “high trust” rating of only 18 percent, with celebrities receiving only an eight percent “trust” rating.

Related Topics:#ClareMarieMerkowsky #DanielleSmith #JustinTrudeau #LifeSiteNews #TrudeauAlberta feature

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Alberta

Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.