‘Reckless and irresponsible’: Liberals claim Alberta Premier Danielle Smith incited violence against politicians in sit down with Tucker Carlson

Premier Danielle Smith is under fire following a controversial event featuring former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Alberta


Joy Joshi
Writer, Yahoo News Canada
Fri, January 26, 2024 

Members of the Liberal Party are accusing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for using her time on stage with Tucker Carlson, a conservative American commentator who was fired by Fox News for his controversial and racist remarks, in the province to “increase political violence” against Canadian politicians.

Smith shared the stage with Carlson for 17 minutes at his sold-out event during which the former Fox News anchor asked the Alberta premier for her thoughts on Alberta’s natural resources sector and the green energy policy.

In her response, the premier took aim at the federal environmental policy while highlighting the recent cold snap that caused the provincial electric system operator to send multiple grid alerts asking Albertans to reduce power consumption in order to avoid rotating outages.

Additionally, she encouraged Carlson to use his influence to fight against Ottawa’s environmental policies by singling out a key political target, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

“I wish you would put Steven Guilbeault in your crosshairs,” Smith said.

“Is he an engineer?” replied Carlson.

Liberal MP’s Pablo Rodriguez, Steven Guilbeault and Randy Boissonnault criticized Premier Smith for her “beyond the pale” and “deplorable” comments.

“You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep,” Boissonnault told reporters.

“For Danielle Smith to bring the mouthpiece of the MAGA conservative far right to Edmonton centre, to spew hate about LGBTQ people is beyond the pale, it’s deplorable and we won’t stand for it.”

Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez joined his party member in calling out Smith for “attacking” the Canadian society as a whole and demanding Conservative Party leader to condemn the Alberta premier’s words.

“When statements like these are made. When there’s Quebec bashing. When Francophones are attacked. When society as a whole is attacked. We can’t remain silent and Mr Poilievre can’t remain silent. He must condemn these statements,” Rodriguez told reporters.

It's appalling to see Danielle Smith applauding Quebec bashing and asking Tucker Carlson to intimidate a Canadian elected official.

Pierre Poilievre's silence is even more shameful. If he doesn't denounce these remarks, he's endorsing them. pic.twitter.com/xyKME9DJR8

— Pablo Rodriguez (@pablorodriguez) January 25, 2024

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, who was mentioned by Smith in her exchange with Carlson in Alberta, told reporters he was personally targeted at the event.

“This increases political violence against everyone who runs for office in this country whether at the municipal, provincial or federal level.

“We can have differences of opinion, we can have strong disagreement but to incite violence against people who disagree with you. That’s not how things should be done in Canada,” Guilbeault said.

Addressing Russia’s war with Ukraine during a Liberal caucus meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also took a swipe at opposition leader Pierre Poilievre linking him to the controversial American, Conservatives don’t support Ukraine “to appease Putin apologists like Tucker Carlson.”

Why is Tucker Carlson in Canada? In his own words, to ‘liberate’ Canada

Before being fired by Fox News, Carlson spent years hosting what The New York Times described as “the most racist show in the history of cable news.”

He is known to have divided Americans further over the Black Lives Matter movement using his influence to warn them against the protesters while defending a man convicted of murdering a protester at a BLM rally.

Additionally, he also said that immigrants make the United States “poorer and dirtier.”

Carlson, who has been floated as a potential running mate by Donald Trump, was on a two-stop tour of Canada to help the MAGA (Make America Great Again) campaign transcend borders.

The American’s two events were scheduled in Calgary and Edmonton with 4,000 and 8,000 people attending respectively.

As he told Politico before his plane took off from the States, Carlson’s agenda was pretty clear from the get go – “I’m gonna go liberate Canada.”