Liberal ministers blast Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for hosting Tucker Carlson
CBC
Four of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet ministers appeared before reporters Thursday to condemn Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's decision to meet with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
They also took issue with some of the rhetoric Carlson used while speaking to a large crowd that gathered Wednesday to see the conservative commentator in conversation with Smith at Calgary's Telus Convention Centre.
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said he was disturbed by Smith's call for Carlson to put Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault in his "crosshairs."
Smith and Guilbeault have been at odds over the federal government's climate policies, which the premier has said are far too restrictive and are punishing Albertans who rely on fossil fuels.
During a conversation about the pitfalls of solar panels, Smith said to Carlson, "I wish you would put Steven Guilbeault in your crosshairs."
"He's an environmental zealot. He happens to be our environmental minister federally. He believes he has the expertise and knowledge to tell us in Alberta how to run our power grid," Smith added.
Tucker replied that he didn't want to know Guilbeault based on Smith's description.
Smith's comment was interpreted by Boissonnault as a call for violence, an attempt to "summon evil forces from the United States to try and take on one of our colleagues."
"I can tell you it's completely unacceptable for the premier of any province to say she wants to put a target on the back of any Canadian politician and my friend and colleague ... simply for doing his job," he said.
"You can have respectful discourse in this country, you can raise the issue, you can bang fists on the table at a fed-prov meeting — that's all legit. But you do not summon the dogs of MAGA conservatism to try and scare us and try to incite violence against politicians of any stripe," Boissonnault added, referring to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement started by former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Guilbeault said he felt "targeted" by Wednesday's Smith-Carlson fireside chat, which was focused on energy and recent power usage alerts in Alberta, when the electrical grid was severely strained by frigid temperatures.
"This increases political violence against everyone who runs for office in this country," he said.
Boissonnault also accused Carlson of "spewing hate speech about LGTBQ people'' — an apparent reference to Carlson's homophobic joke about Trudeau.
"I know that in Canada it is official policy that coming out of the closet is good — unless you're the prime minister," Carlson said Wednesday.
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