Danielle Smith just shut down the craziest idea in Canada's trade war
It remains to be seen why private assets — be they liquor or pipelines — are suddenly being seen as weapons for any politician to wield against Donald Trump.
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Article by Rebel News staff
Tonight, on The Ezra Levant Show: Since when can politicians order companies to shut themselves down to blackmail Donald Trump?
A CTV News story set off a media pile-on this week, sparking outrage that a store in Ontario was "still selling U.S. liquor."
Not that there is any law against doing so; the government-run Liquor Control Board of Ontario had simply pulled American product off its own shelves as a tit-for-tat with Washington. The whole episode is reminiscent of COVID mania: the same mob mentality, the same refusal to tolerate a dissenting view — including the view that Canadians might be getting misled by Mark Carney.
Underneath it all is the idea that the liquor store owner isn't an individual who gets to run his own business, but that Canadians belong to the state and must serve whatever political fashion is in vogue.
Then there's a recent story out of the New York Times that Carney offered to revive the Keystone XL pipeline in exchange for U.S. concessions. It begs the question of why Carney would need to be "bribed" into a private-sector project with zero tax dollars in it — one that would move 800,000 barrels a day to Texas refineries, was killed by Barack Obama, and never restarted under Justin Trudeau, whose economic adviser at the time was Carney himself.
Maybe Carney resents the project because he has no stake in it and can't take credit for it. Maybe it's the same reason Minister Evan Solomon touts small AI investments but has stayed silent on Meta's $13-billion data centre.
In both cases, it remains to be seen why private assets — be they pipelines or bourbon — that are completely lawful, satisfying all regulations, are suddenly being seen as weapons for any politician to wield.
It's yet another failure for both Carney and Doug Ford, who each promised a trade deal and delivered neither.
And now even Jason Kenney, former Alberta premier and ex-head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is calling to turn off the taps to the U.S. — a de facto nationalization of the oil industry, no different in principle than Pierre Trudeau and Energy Minister Marc Lalonde and the National Energy Program. Kenney, who isn't elected and doesn't run an oil company, is undermining both Smith's authority and Alberta's reputation for respecting the rule of law and the sanctity of contract. But why? Is he angling to retake the premiership, undercutting Pierre Poilievre, or simply cashing a lobbying cheque?
Who knows where we would be if Danielle Smith wasn't around to be the grown-up in the room, pushing back as she did during today's press conference.
But all of us need to push back, because every part of our political society now, from the media to industry leaders to politicians, is acting as if we all must become political weapons in this insane cult-of-personality attack on Trump.
COMMENTS
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James Jones commented 2026-08-27 00:21:22 -0400 FlagWell said Ezra! -
Lance Humphries commented 2026-08-26 23:44:02 -0400 FlagIt’s not a deep-seated hatred of oil per se’ Cory. Carney is a Globalist. A Marxist. A deep-seated hatred of the West is more accurate, and he intends to destroy the country!! And one can’t bring in big dollars AND destroy the country at the same time. He’ll only make exceptions if he makes money off it himself.
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Annette Mort commented 2026-08-26 23:22:34 -0400 FlagWhy did you speed up Premier Smith’s speech? That made her sound like manic and over-strident; not an accurate representation of the measured manner with which she delivered her message. You called her the “adult in the room” and then portrayed her as less-than-serious. Weird decision, Rebel News. {{shakes head}}
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Lance Humphries commented 2026-08-26 23:21:06 -0400 FlagRemember Carney said recently he wasn’t going to use oil as a bargaining chip?
https://www.moneycontrol.com/world/canada-won-t-use-oil-as-leverage-in-us-tariff-talks-says-mark-carney-article-13987841.html -
Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-08-26 21:38:58 -0400Maybe Kenney’s trying to get even with the UCP for having fired him.
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-08-26 21:27:26 -0400Obama once said in a State of the Union Address, “If you own a business, you didn’t build it.” That seems to be the attitude of Ottawa towards Alberta and its resources.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2026-08-26 20:47:14 -0400 FlagDanielle Smith is right to a point. But if the PM does pull the stunt of defacto-nationalizing Alberta’s oil, the swift retaliation would make Carney back down. Remember the streaming tax? And Alberta independence would be assured.
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