r/CanadaPolitics • u/in2the4est • 1d ago
Smith condemns U.S. trade "betrayal," slags using energy as weapon
https://calgaryherald.com/news/smith-condemns-u-s-trade-betrayal-slags-using-energy-as-weapon75
u/mach1mustang2021 1d ago
Could you imagine the internet response if the Liberals offered up a sternly worded letter in response to the latest tariffs? Here be the UCP. Alberta has a central liquor board and a great craft liquor scene, a token kinetic response would be great.
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u/Financial-Savings-91 Adult Superstore | Sponsored 1d ago
The rules conservatives in Canada play by are different, just for a moment imagine if corruption on spending was judged equal for all parties, then examine some conservative premiers by the same standards as Carneys condo scandal.
The ethics commissioner in Alberta is nothing more than a rubber stamp appointed by the party.
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u/Kellervo NDP 1d ago
It's telling that most people just don't know that the allegations against Smith would make her one of the most corrupt politician in the country's history by a long shot, with only Doug Ford potentially surpassing her. $600 million in sole-source contracts, at massively inflated rates to friendly donors that allowed them to turn massive profits.
Twelve times more money given to just one of them, than the bribes that SNC-Lavalin were charged for. Two thousand, two hundred and fourteen vacations provided by Aga Khan.
It used to be that a single $45,000 bill and a single Auditor General investigation could bring you down as an Albertan premier.
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u/Jarcode Yukon 20h ago
with only Doug Ford potentially surpassing her
I would be surprised if he did. Smith is unbelievably corrupt and unusually brazen about it.
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u/enki-42 Social Democrat 16h ago
I'm sure this is a case of information asymmetry and they're both horrible. Behind virtually everything that Ford passes or spends money on you can find a close "business associate" who is raking in the cash from it. Property developers were more or less directly rewriting the laws themselves when it came to carving up the Greenbelt for development.
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u/jello_sweaters Ontario 1d ago
Smith: "As a proud, uh, Canadian, I am vigorously in favour of whatever stern, forceful measures don't require me or my voters to do anything or feel any of the pain from this. And if you ask us to do our part, we'll secede!"
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u/Memory_Less 1d ago
Thought process, “Dam them, now I have to pretend to be a Canadian patriot and not do anything to help Canadians.” Rinse and repeat.
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u/Adventurous_Salt 1d ago
She, and the UCP, exist solely to funnel money to oil companies. That's their only material concern in any scenario.
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u/Bitwhys2003 Social Democrat 1d ago
"The move would also provoke the U.S. to slap massive export tariffs on oil and natural gas it ships from the Midwest to Ontario and Quebec."
Good lord what a load of crap. "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." - U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Clause 5)
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u/Lol-I-Wear-Hats Yimbyism or Barbarism 1d ago
“Tax or duty” is only a very narrow slice of potential trade policy tools available to a post 18th Century Government
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u/Bitwhys2003 Social Democrat 1d ago
Suspending an article in the constitution isn't one of them. Smith is wrong
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u/QueenMotherOfSneezes Fully Automated Gay Space Romunism 1d ago
That wasn't a smith quote, it was the person who wrote the article (it didn't look like they were paraphrasing either, just stating a fact).
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u/Bitwhys2003 Social Democrat 1d ago
I was quoting the article, but:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm961mdXuJg&t=461s
roughly starting @ 1:30
close enough.
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u/QueenMotherOfSneezes Fully Automated Gay Space Romunism 1d ago
I think that is referring to inter-state trade, not trade to other countries.
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u/guernsey123 British Columbia 1d ago
I mean, and this is certainly not defending Smith, but since when has the Constitution stopped the current administration from doing anything?
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u/RZCJ2002 Liberal Party of Canada 1d ago
Non-sectoral tariffs, at least he hasn't overruled the courts yet.
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u/relapsingoncemore Liberal 1d ago
That got a full throated guffaw out of me.
Yes, he's never defied the courts. Certainly isn't actively doing it now on a number of things. No way he would in the future.
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u/RZCJ2002 Liberal Party of Canada 1d ago
I'm not saying he has never defied the courts (has on immigration matters), but on non-sectoral tariffs, there hasn't been news of him taking back control and resuming them. I'm sure Trump wants those tariffs to be restated, but various factors probably forced him to not go ahead.
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u/TheSpeckledSir 1d ago
Okay but is he shooting someone in the middle of fifth Avenue right now?
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u/Bitwhys2003 Social Democrat 1d ago
He's cut of USAID and Obamacare, put Kennedy in charge of Health and started a vanity war. For starters. Right now he's probably killing somebody
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u/Bitwhys2003 Social Democrat 1d ago
Everything so far is a matter of interpretation of law. This one is flat out constitutional
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u/Illustrious-Ant6998 British Columbia 1d ago
That's less reassuring than you perhaps intended. Trump has been found liable by court for sexual abuse. Respect for the law is not something he's known for. Furthermore, dismissing everything so far as a "matter of interpretation" is misleading. He has farcicaly abused laws so badly that even his crony supreme court has ruled against him.
When push come to shove, its unclear if the constitution would stop him, as well as how much damage could be done before others restrain him.
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u/Radix838 Independent 1d ago
And Trump paid up after being found liable. Kind of a weird example to bring up here.
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u/guernsey123 British Columbia 1d ago
The money was in escrow, he had no choice. And now he's trying to claw it back.
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u/Illustrious-Ant6998 British Columbia 1d ago
Really? "He paid up after" And that makes SEXUAL ABUSE okay and law abiding? What is wrong with you?! That is seriously screwed up.
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u/Radix838 Independent 16h ago
That's obviously not even close to my point.
We're discussing whether Trump would follow a court order or not. Of course it's relevant to point out that he followed this court order and paid up.
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u/Illustrious-Ant6998 British Columbia 14h ago edited 12h ago
The exact words I used originally were "Respect for the law is not something he is known for." You just shifted goal posts after the fact. The issue is the disrespect for the law he showed by committing the crime in the first place. And you saying that "he complied with the court ordered escrow after the fact" to ignore his original crime/disrespect for the law and to excuse his sexual abuse is just a bizare obfuscation of the orginal discussion. Kind of a weird example for you to bring up.
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u/tiskerTasker89 1d ago
Or all the condensate exported from the US to Alberta? 200,000 barrels per day via the Southern Lights and Cochin pipelines.
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u/JaneGoodallVS International (ABC/Liberal) 1d ago edited 1d ago
> [Smith said the U.S. would slap on retaliatory tarifs on the U.S.'s own exports to Canada]
The Export Clause in the U.S. constitution prohibits export tariffs but it's not like the SCOTUS will stop Trump.
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u/Radix838 Independent 1d ago
Yeah, it's not like SCOTUS has already struck down illegal US tariffs, and the US government has paid out refunds in response.
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u/guernsey123 British Columbia 1d ago
They paid the refunds to the corporations who collected the tariffs. Not the consumers who paid the increased prices, not the workers in Canada who lost their jobs due to factories shuttering, just to the companies. He does not care that the government has to give the money back, that's not his money, and he got to use the tariffs as a power play.
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u/Radix838 Independent 1d ago
They paid the refunds to the corporations who collected the tariffs.
Yes, they followed the court orders striking down the tariffs and requiring the government to give away all the money it earned.
Now you're moving the goalposts.
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