Alberta premier’s office receives unanimous negative feedback on Danielle Smith’s PragerU visit

Albertans, other Canadians, and Americans filled the inbox of Premier Danielle Smith with dozens of angry emails in the hours after her planned appearance at a fundraiser for a controversial U.S. content company was publicized.

Smith used taxpayer money to travel to Florida for the March 27 fundraising event for PragerU, where she spoke with conservative media personality Ben Shapiro, a co-founder of conservative website The Daily Wire and former editor of Breitbart News.

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The premier has defended the appearance as providing her with a platform to share Alberta’s priorities with an “active, engaged, and influential” audience and influencers popular among members of President Donald Trump’s administration.

PragerU announced Smith’s appearance on Feb. 27, though it didn’t gather attention in Alberta until over a week later.

‘Utterly betrayed’

In a 20-hour stretch spanning parts of March 8 and 9, Smith’s office received 159 emails on the trip, or about one every 7 1/2 minutes on average, which were unanimously opposed to the appearance and mostly centred on the changed dynamic between the U.S. and Canada due to Trump’s tariffs.

“Premier Smith’s decision to visit Florida at this critical time feels, to many of us, tone-deaf and deeply unpatriotic,” one email reads. “At a time when people are rallying behind their country and their province, this visit feels like an endorsement of the status quo with the United States.”

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“There is no excuse for this,” wrote another. “Where is the ‘elbows up, support Canada?’ You work for the Albertan people.”

Another emailer added, “As your constituent, I feel utterly betrayed.”

The messages came from all parts of the province as well as three identifying from Ontario and two from the U.S. They were acquired by Postmedia via a freedom of information request.

Others challenged Smith’s use of taxpayer money to cover costs for the trip, with several suggesting the money could have been spent better elsewhere, noting the province’s projected $5.2-billion deficit.

“I do not support my hard-earned money being spent on events hosted by a U.S. far-right media organization, especially when our province faces real economic and social challenges that require responsible governance.”

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‘Publicly debunked and factually incorrect’

Other emailers questioned Smith’s priorities.

“During her campaign, Ms. Smith accused Rachel Notley of forgetting that she worked for Albertans. Clearly, this accusation was a confession. It’s obvious that Ms. Smith only works for her own self-interest.”

Others took issue with Smith assisting PragerU in raising money. Despite its name, the organization is not an academic institution and has been criticized for discounting the impact of climate change, downplaying the harms of slavery, and making misleading claims about Canada’s health-care system.

“I also don’t understand why our premier is attending an event that is hosted by an organization focused on promoting American values when the United States is currently openly hostile to our country,” reads one such email.

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Another described the organization as “publicly debunked and factually incorrect” while promoting conspiracy theories and American exceptionalism.

“It is profoundly disappointing to know that our premier is spending time with these individuals who wouldn’t mind seeing our province turn into the 51st state and eliminate the Albertan identity.”

‘Exactly what we wanted to accomplish’

Smith noted that the day after her appearance at the PragerU event, Shapiro took to his popular podcast and reiterated his already-stated opposition to Trump’s tariffs.

“We share the same message on this tariff dispute: it is bad for Canada and it is bad for the U.S.,” Smith posted.

On her Corus radio show later that week, she said her Florida appearance produced “exactly what we wanted to accomplish.”

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“I think that this is going to be the way we move the dial, the way we convince Americans, one by one, and the influencers around the president that tariffs are bad for both economies, and we need to take a different approach.”

So far, Trump has not heeded those calls from Smith or Shapiro and, a week after the event, announced his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs that included a 25 per cent levy on Canadian goods that do not comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The following day, his previously announced 25 per cent tariff on automobiles began, prompting matching retaliatory tariffs from Canada.

American tariffs on automobile parts are set to come into effect by next week at the latest, and on Wednesday, Trump said he could increase both auto tariffs in the days to come.

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mblack@postmedia.com

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