Nenshi says Alberta premier’s efforts backfired on the federal Conservative party

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi says efforts by Premier Danielle Smith to diffuse a trade war with the United States backfired on the federal Conservative part

In the wake of a federal election that saw the Liberals form a minority government, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says it’s clear Premier Danielle Smith’s efforts to defuse a cross-border trade war backfired on the federal Conservative party.

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It comes a day after Smith dismissed a reporter’s question about whether she undermined Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s campaign, saying the vote solidified because of federal campaigning in the past two weeks.

“I don’t think I was in the media in the last two weeks,” she said, adding “I had no interest in being on the ballot at the federal level.”

Alberta New Democrats have long said Smith’s U.S. speaking appearances should be considered an in-kind donation to Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s election campaign.

On Wednesday, Nenshi told reporters that when Smith said she didn’t make election headlines in the last two weeks of the campaign, she was telling on herself.

“She actually said, ‘I got benched by Poilievre,’” said Nenshi.

Nenshi pointed to an early April rally in Edmonton, where Poilievre drew a large crowd alongside former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, but Smith did not appear.

He also pointed to Smith’s recent weeklong trip to South Korea and Japan to drum up trade ties, suggesting it was about butting out of the election campaign.

He said federal Conservatives ultimately squandered a 25-point lead and Poilievre lost his own seat, despite trying to pivot and distance himself from U.S. President Donald Trump.

“The damage was already done. And that damage - a lot of it - can be laid in the feet of Danielle Smith,” he said.

At the outset of the federal election campaign, Smith made headlines for her previous comments to American media that Poilievre was more “in sync” with Trump, and that she asked U.S. officials to hold off on tariffs in order to benefit her preferred party in the campaign — the Conservatives.

As anger against Trump became a rallying point across the country, Smith’s comments were weaponized by Carney’s Liberals, who released an attack ad quoting Smith’s words.

Smith doubled down in the Alberta legislature, saying she was being unjustly criticized for trying to stave off tariffs war with diplomacy and media appearances with right-wing influencers south of the border.

“We will not be pushed around and called traitors for merely having the courage to actually do something about our nation’s and province’s predicament,” she said at the time.

During the election, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his former campaign manager weren’t shy about publicly criticizing Poilievre’s campaign strategy, with the latter saying the party failed to adequately address the U.S. trade war.

Smith said Tuesday she tried to keep herself out of the fray.

“I know the media kept on trying to draw me in.”

While they didn’t win government, the Conservatives gained 24 seats in Monday’s election, and Liberals in Alberta were kept at bay with two seats in Alberta, the same number as before the election.

Nenshi said Conservatives didn’t pick up many of the seats they were hoping to flip, including in Atlantic Canada, Toronto and Manitoba. And he accused Smith of being unable to take responsibility.

“Now (Smith’s) blaming the media for forcing her to talk,” he said.

One of Smith’s former cabinet ministers, Peter Guthrie, has also been critical of the United Conservative government on the same front.

In a letter published last week, he accused Smith of using the federal election as an opportunity to raise her own national profile, possibly at the expense of the Conservative party and its leader.

Colin Aitchison, Western Canada director at Enterprise Canada and a former UCP press secretary, pushed back at the criticism.

He said comments made by Alberta’s premier might not have been appreciated in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, but they didn’t hinder Conservative growth.

“If she influenced the election, I don’t think the Conservatives would have had the gains they had.”

“The collapse of the other left-leaning parties and the (decline) of the Bloc Québécois are what led to the Liberal victory,” he said.

Aitchison added that it might have taken time for the Conservative campaign to get its footing, and many potential conservative voters would have seen Smith standing up for her province.

At the same time, Aitchison said political watchers often overestimate how much of an influence Alberta politicians have on the electorate outside the province.

“I don’t think voters went out thinking Pierre Poilievre is equal to Donald Trump.”

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, said he believes Smith, and the idea that Poilievre and Trump were in agreement, definitely played a role in the election campaign.

“She had a national impact,” said Bratt.

“You have to look at the early stages, the fact that the Conservatives gained ground in the last two weeks was at the time when Smith was gone,” he said.

Bratt said some of Smith’s initiatives in the U.S. were warranted, but when the premier appeared to tone down the rhetoric in Washington while attacking Liberals in Ottawa, it became problematic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press