Why would Danielle Smith vacation in the U.S as we fight a trade war with the U.S.?

Last week she travelled to Tennessee, Nashville in particular, for a vacation and to glean tips on how Calgary can become Nashville North, a country music hub that attracts people from around the world, just like the Calgary Stampede.

Mixing business and pleasure, she met with some officials in the tourism department as well as the head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. It seems like an odd choice of issues to focus on with less than two months until the Alberta separation referendum.

A sign of patriotism

You would think the least she could do was stay in Canada as a sign of patriotism and because she is supposedly a member of Team Canada — all the provinces and the federal government who support Prime Minister Carney’s abrupt abandonment of trade negotiations with the U.S.

But Smith says we should keep negotiating and show the Americans how nice we can be. As if that wouldn’t encourage President Donald Trump to walk all over us. And then she heads for Tennessee to take lessons on how to pump up Calgary’s music scene.

She has taken oil and natural gas off the negotiating table so it won’t be subject to an export tax like some premiers and pundits have suggested. It’s just too important to Alberta and the U.S. to use as a bargaining chip, she says. No, we wouldn’t want to do that. Neither would we put Saskatchewan’s potash exports at risk even though many U.S. farmers depend on it for fertilizer.

Why does Smith think it’s smart to telegraph her intentions even before any trade talks get going again? Surely you hold back and use your U.S.-bound oil as leverage.

A national Spark Insights poll, conducted online of 6,345 adults between Aug. 26-Sept. 1) found that 80 per cent of Canadians support an export tax on oil and potash among other items. And the numbers weren’t that different in Alberta — between 74 and 78 per cent.

So Smith is out of sync with most Albertans, not to mention Canadians. Other Conservative premiers, such as Doug Ford, have urged her to go along with the idea of an export tax but she has said a defiant “no.”

It seems Smith will do anything not to annoy Trump. When asked about Trump renaming Lake Ontario due to the failed negotiations she told Fox Business Network that Canadians were “confused” about it and simply wanted to continue talking. We weren’t confused; we were either damn mad or laughing at Trump’s stupidity.

Similar agenda to Trump

But this seeming affection for Trump on her part highlights how her agenda is similar to his. Just like Trump she is anti-courts, anti-education at all levels, anti-trans, anti-public health care and anti-social supports for the disadvantaged. But she isn’t against selling the Americans as much oil and gas as she can.

As the referendum is less than two months away Smith is going to find herself caught between Trump supporters and the separatists in her caucus and the majority of Albertans who want Canada to take a tough stand with the Americans. But Smith prefers diplomacy and believes it has given Alberta a win because it is relatively tariff free.

But she hasn’t said what she is willing to give up if Canada and the U.S. get back to the bargaining table. Does she agree we should do away with French labelling on products? That we should agree not to trade with certain countries? Would she agree to tariffs that would endanger Ontario’s auto industry?

Of course, Smith wouldn’t be at the bargaining table. But it would be interesting to know what she sees emerging out of more diplomacy, more sweet talk with the Americans.

Of course, she doesn’t have to say anything about that right now. She can just go on and on about restarting negotiations with the U.S. as if it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Only it isn’t and that gives her the freedom to talk it up anyway.