Alberta Canada Premier Danielle Smith Speaks Out – Explains Why PM Carney’s Threats Against US is Suicide for Canadian Economy (Video)

Premier Danielle Smith: Mr. Speaker, although I understand the need to respond strongly to these tariffs, I cannot think of a more disastrous policy decision than cutting off or taxing Alberta’s oil to the United States. Doing so would absolutely devastate the Canadian economy. It would not only extinguish the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Albertans, it would economically hobble our friends and neighbors in other provinces to the east. Let me explain why, and it’s important that this be understood by every Canadian.

The Honorable Member for Ottawa— If Canada were to put, let’s say, a 50% export tariff on the 4 million barrels of oil that we export daily to the United States, the United States would immediately respond with a 50 to 100% export tariff on oil and natural gas that they export to Ontario, along with millions of barrels of diesel fuel and gasoline that Ontario and Quebec import from the Midwest.

This would bring the economies of Ontario and Quebec to a grinding halt.

Meanwhile, all those refineries in the United States that currently use Alberta’s heavy oil would start looking to Venezuela for replacement heavy oil and reverse the pipelines northward to get it to Midwest refineries.

As a result, we would lose the United States as a customer entirely and likely forever. This would result in the loss of about half a million jobs at a minimum, mostly in Alberta, but also hundreds of thousands of jobs in Ontario and Quebec.

And if we cut off our oil entirely, what then? The same results, but even worse. The United States would, of course, respond and cut off all gasoline and diesel from their refineries to Ontario and Quebec, right as we turn into fall and winter. And unlike Canada, the United States has strategic oil reserves that Canada does not. So although their gasoline prices will increase, they will be able to keep them at relatively manageable prices, just as they have done through the Iran War.

And without strategic oil reserves, Canada has no way to supply Ontario and Quebec with the oil, natural gas, and fuels that they would need in a timely fashion. The Toronto Stock Exchange would nosedive, along with millions of Canadians’ investments, particularly our seniors, and small and medium and large energy companies across Canada would shutter and lay off their employees, unable to find a market for their product. There is a better way forward.

Tariffs and counter-tariffs are harmful. They disrupt businesses, threaten jobs, drive up inflation and strain the relationship between Canada and the United States.

Threatening to cut off or tax Alberta’s energy is not the answer. It would devastate Alberta’s economy, hurt… pic.twitter.com/KooW72ZZUc

— Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) August 26, 2026