REGINA - Opposition New Democrats have taken aim at Premier Scott Moe for voicing support for the advocacy efforts of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Moe was asked about Smith’s trip to the USA this week for a Florida event at PragerU alongside conservative host Ben Shapiro, a trip that has come under heavy criticism from her political opponents.
When asked about that, Moe called Smith “one of the strongest advocates we have in Canada right now on what the path forward looks like and what the North American trading environment should look like, despite all of the rhetoric that’s happening.”
“I go back to Jean Chretien’s statement where you can’t be smart when you’re angry. We do need to be smart as Canadians right now, and I know there’s a lot of anger and substantial anger for good reason, but we need to be smart, we need to take care of ourselves in everything we do as leaders. And Premier Smith, I think, certainly has taken probably a similar approach that we have as well here, is using the contacts that she has wherever it might be, to advocate and to educate on just how integrated our economy is.”
Moe said he commends not only Premier Smith but “all Premiers that do their best to engage with the contacts we have.”
But his comments did not sit well with Sally Housser, the NDP critic for energy and resources, at a media event Friday at the legislature.
Housser accused Moe of supporting efforts by Smith, as she characterized it, to convince President Donald Trump to interfere in the Canadian election.
“He’s soft on Donald Trump. He supports Danielle Smith, and yesterday and speaking with you members of the media he endorsed Danielle Smith’s attempt to get Donald Trump to metal in our federal election. He commended Danielle Smith for buddying up to Donald Trump and begging him to just pause tariffs - pause, not cancel, not reverse, pause - in hopes of getting the election result she wanted...
“….Is this the same message that Premier Moe took to Washington himself? Did he ask Donald Trump to put his thumb on the scale of our Canadian federal election?”
Housser added Moe “needs to apologize and withdraw his support for this action by Danielle Smith. He needs to come clean with the people of Saskatchewan what exactly he told Trump and his people. There is so much at stake right now for Saskatchewan and its future, and there is absolutely no room for treasonous acts or election interference.”
