CALGARY — The former director of communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes Premier Danielle Smith’s handling of the Alberta independence movement has left her vulnerable as the trade war between Canada and the United States escalates.On a recent episode of Curse of Politics: The Herle Burly Political Panel podcast, Kory Teneycke argued Alberta and Saskatchewan should join the other provinces in taking a tougher stance against US President Donald Trump, who announced last week that his country will be imposing 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods..Host David Herle, who was an advisor to former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, brought up the point that Ottawa should be willing to use its own economic leverage in trade talks, including potash and energy exports, echoing Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s comments last week when he said, Canada needs “to negotiate through strength, not weakness, and we need to throw everything on the table.”"You can't go into a fight with somebody where only they use the leverage they have," Teneycke told the panel."I think there's a benefit for not just [Saskatchewan Premier Scott] Moe but Smith as well in terms of actually standing up for Canada and being a part of the fight and linking arms with other premiers and the prime minister and pushing back against Trump."Teneycke added that Alberta’s premier faced a more complicated political situation because of the October referendum, which includes a question on independence."Smith's in a more difficult position because of the referendum coming up and, you know, the overlap between Alberta separatists and Albertans who want to join the United States is pretty f**ing high, and that's a problem," he said."And the fact that she cares about that to the degree she does is a problem. It's not an irrational concern when you look at what her support base is, but man, is it disappointing as a Canadian who believes in the country moving forward.".His comments come as Smith has repeatedly argued in recent months that decades of federal policies on energy, immigration and firearms have fuelled support for Alberta independence, but has also maintained that recent progress with Ottawa on major energy infrastructure — such as the crude oil pipeline proposal to the BC coast that was recently submitted to the federal Major Projects Office (MPO) — offers a path to address many of those grievances without leaving Confederation.She has also publicly stated she supports a strong Alberta within a unified Canada and has said she would be voting against the government starting a process towards independence in the October referendum.Teneycke went on to tell the other panellists that the Americans' strategy wasn’t just about “dividing the country” but also about “trying to interfere in the Alberta referendum.”"The US would love to see Alberta separate because they'd like to have the Puerto Rico of the North with lots of energy resources and no political power,” he said.“For any of the Albertans out there who want to play that game, go talk to your friends in South Dakota about how much political influence you have when you’re the 51st state. It’s not going to be pretty.”
