When Danielle Smith tried explaining Poilievre to Americans, Canadians heard it too

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith came into the federal election campaign hoping her words would leave an imprint.

Well, maybe not like this.

She wanted her points about oil and gas regulation, and her demands on pipeline approvals, to influence the conversation. Less so her weeks-old remarks to a Trump-friendly media outlet about a strategic Washington "pause" on tariffs to avoid boosting Liberal fortunes, and that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was "in sync" with the direction of Donald Trump.

After her interview with Breitbart News surfaced on the eve of campaign launch, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was most forceful in denouncing Smith's talk of advising Trump administration officials to pause tariff plans "so we can get through an election" and ideally elect Poilievre to deal with the U.S. president.

"Shameful," Singh termed it.

"If you're loyal to this country, if you care about Canadians, you say, 'Stop the tariffs. Don't hurt Canadian workers. Don't hurt Canadian families. Don't hurt Quebecers,'" Singh said while on the stump in Montreal.

But this would overlook the fact that Smith has repeatedly argued against tariffs for the benefit of Canadian workers and families, in her province's lucrative oil sector and in other industries.

She even did so in the same Breitbart interview on March 8: "We really should maintain this tariff-free relationship between our two countries. Our industries are so integrated. And it's good for both partners."

Alberta's premier has been arguing in U.S. media interviews about the folly of tariffs for months. What was different about the Breitbart interview — to a more niche conservative audience than CNBC, CNN or Fox Business — was that she added electoral calculations to her bundle of arguments.

And told the pro-Trump crowd they'll like what they see with Poilievre.

Smith was, let's remember, a media pundit in her past career(s) — known to workshop or test-drive different ideas or theories live on air. Rhetorical spaghetti flung on the wall.

Had the remarks been publicized when she made them, in early March before Mark Carney was elected Liberal leader, they could have landed less explosively. But they surfaced just as the prime minister was calling the election.

Smith has pushed back against the interpretation of her own comments, saying her pitch for a campaign-long moratorium on U.S. tariffs was "exactly the opposite" of the foreign interference some critics suggested it was. However, it was her comment that Poilievre is more "in sync" with the U.S. tariffer-in-chief that federal politicians have weaponized. 

Carney wondered at a campaign event who Canadians want to deal with Trump: "Someone who, to quote Danielle Smith, is in sync with him, or is it someone who's going to stand up for Canadians?"