Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is not the leading opposition in Canada, to Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government. Thus David Knight-Legg, tonight's guest on Hannaford. Knight-Legg is also exercised by the lack of respect Smith gets, especially from the Eastern media."I think the current negotiations between the prime minister and particularly Danielle Smith, who I see as the emerging counterpart on the political spectrum, even more so than Pierre Poilievre right now, that this is going to be structured around the admission that she is standing up for the industry that has the only hope of giving Canada economic momentum."."But here's what I find ironic. One of the best single advocacy strategies of the past three months in the US that has had the most good effect on the people I know, is the spade work done by Danielle Smith ... in making sure the Americans knew we were their friends. She has personally talked to nearly every member of that cabinet, making sure they knew the fact base around Canadian energy.""What I find unbelievable is that our mainstream media treated the advocacy work Danielle Smith did, as some sort of betrayal of the country because she was directly representing the industries that were under her purview, which happens to be energy. And these are the lion's share of the country's export GDP. She did a phenomenal job but got no credit for it."What about Carney's White House performance, then?"Look, he did what he had to do. Trump has control of those situations, he is a powerful man and he uses that power for tactical advantage. Now there's a lot of people in the Twitter universe, a lot of people saying, oh 'elbows down, kissing the ring, how embarrassing and what a contrast to the elbows up way he ran the campaign.' " ."Well, when you go into a meeting and Trump has got all the cards, you play it the way Carney played it. Be charming, emphasize the friendship. But when you see Mark Carney doing what Danielle Smith was doing, which I think is the right thing, that same eastern press that calls out Danielle Smith and gives him a free pass. And she doesn't get hailed for being somebody who stood up for the country."So, can Western Canadians expect Prime Minister Carney to take legislative steps to change the Liberal policy towards the energy industry?"Yes. Mr. Carney has been 'mugged by reality,' says Knight-Legg, formerly a strategic adviser to the Government of Alberta. "He has seen the books. Canada is a mess. He's about to lose the auto industry, that's gone and so is steel and aluminium. He needs money and energy in Alberta and Saskatchewan is the only thing there is.".And the planned June 2 meeting in Saskatoon? Is that an olive branch to the West?"He shouldn't wait that long to start building the relationship. He shouldn't wait until June.""He's got the summer to fix this."There's much more. Watch Hannaford tonight, at seven o clock.
