How an interview by Danielle Smith drove day one of the campaign

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OTTAWA — On March 8, the American right-wing news site Breitbart published an interview with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that barely made a ripple in Canada.

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In the interview, Smith blamed former prime minister Justin Trudeau for making Canada look weak in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort after the U.S. election in November. She also explained the vagaries of the Canadian parliamentary system to the American audience, describing how the new Liberal leader would become prime minister and succeed Trudeau.

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But near the end of the discussion, Smith made a comment that would come to dominate the first day of the election campaign on Sunday.

With the Liberals soaring in the polls after Trump’s tariff threats, Smith told Breitbart that she was pressing the Trump administration to put the tariffs “on pause” while Canadians went through an election because “it seems to be benefiting the Liberals.”

“…because of what we see as unjust and unfair tariffs, it’s actually caused an increase in the support for the Liberals. And so that’s what I fear, is that the longer this dispute goes on, politicians posture, and it seems to be benefiting the Liberals right now. So I would hope that we could put things on pause is what I’ve told administration officials. Let’s just put things on pause so we can get through an election,” said Smith.

Smith argued that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would be more “in sync” with the Trump administration, so the truce would benefit both sides.

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On Saturday, the eve of the writ drop, the interview resurfaced on social media. For Poilievre, who would rather focus his attacks on the record of the Liberal government, it was an unwelcome addition to the line of questioning from reporters on Sunday.

Poilievre didn’t directly address Smith’s U.S. interview, but he did reference previous comments from Trump about his preference for a Liberal leader in Canada.

“My response is that the president has said that he thinks it would be easier to deal with a Liberal, and with good reason, the Liberals have weakened our country,” said Poilievre, at his campaign launch event in Gatineau, Que.

Across the Ottawa River, outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Sunday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney requested that Governor General Mary Simon dissolve Parliament, sending Canadians to the polls April 28.

Mark Carney kicks off election campaign in Ottawa with promise of a middle-class tax cut

At a press conference after his meeting with Simon, Carney was happy to receive a question about Smith’s comments, which allowed him to once again compare the Conservative leader to Trump. It has been a common line of attack from the Liberals against Poilievre.

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“With respect to the premier’s comments, I take note of her alignment of Mr. Poilievre with Mr. Trump, and would note that that’s one of the decisions that Canadians will have to make: whether they want a government that is unifying, that’s standing up for Canada and is taking focused action to build a better economy, or they want division and Americanism,” said Carney.

Sam Blackett, Smith’s press secretary, said on Sunday that the idea the premier was asking the U.S. to interfere in the Canadian election “is offensive and false.”

Opinion polls show that Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada are the top issue on the minds of Canadians. And there’s no sign that Trump’s outsized impact on Canadian politics will diminish because next week, on April 2, the president has promised to implement “reciprocal tariffs” on a slew of countries, including Canada.

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