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My fellow Albertans

Sadly, the United States President, Donald Trump, has decided to place a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods sold to the U.S. with the exception of energy products which will be tariffed at 10%.

These tariffs are unjustified and a clear breach of the North American free trade agreement signed by President Trump during his first term.

This economic attack on our country, combined with Mr. Trump’s continued talk of using economic force to facilitate the annexation of our country, has broken trust between our two nations in a profound way.

It is a betrayal of a deep and abiding friendship.

Albertans have bonds of family, friendship and business with Americans that span well over 100 years of shared history.

We have always appreciated and shared the American ideals of entrepreneurship, free markets and civil liberties. Albertans, like so many Americans, also feel a strong sense of identity and are fiercely independent, as our fellow Canadians are well aware.

But let there be no mistake - as independent as we are - Albertans are also loyal Canadians.

Thousands of Albertans have lost their lives fighting alongside our fellow Canadians to secure and protect our freedoms and country.

And we will not cast those freedoms and loyalties aside in response to a threat of economic pressure from a foreign government - even a historically friendly one.

Albertans will decide  our own destiny - free of coercion from any government.

So today, I am announcing the following measures in response to the actions of the U.S. President.

First, I have directed my cabinet to alter our procurement practices to ensure the Government of Alberta, along with our agencies, school boards, Crown corporations and all Alberta municipalities, purchase all needed goods and services from Alberta companies, from Canadian companies and from countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement that is being honoured.

Second, no further purchases of U.S. alcohol or new VLTs will be permitted through the AGLC until further notice. We’ll just have to drink a bit more BC wine and Alberta craft beer and spirits! And that’s just fine with us.

Third, I am directing my government to assist our grocers and other retailers with labelling all Canadian products in our stores, and ask them to voluntarily purchase their stock from vendors in Alberta, Canada or countries we share free trade agreements with. Our government will augment these efforts with a substantial advertising campaign to assist Albertans to more easily access information about where various products on store shelves are from.

Fourth, my government will enter into free trade and mobility agreements with every province willing to do so. The goal is to have no exceptions. Just free trade and free movement of Canadian workers right across our country.

I also want to point out that Canada has secret weapon in this trade conflict with the United States

A “Trump card” so to speak.

And it is located directly under my feet.

It’s called Alberta energy.

You see Alberta happens to have one of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas on the planet.

It’s significantly larger - and far more accessible - than the quickly declining oil and gas reserves located in the United States.

Whether the U.S. President wishes to admit it or not - the United States not only needs our oil and gas today, they are going to need it more and more with each passing year once they notice their declining domestic reserves and production are wholly insufficient to keep up with the energy demands of U.S. consumers and industry — let alone having anything left over to export as they do today.

We in Alberta would love to increase the amount of oil and gas we send south to our neighbours to help solve that problem for them. Currently they buy $100 billion dollars a year of highly discounted oil from Alberta - which tens of thousands of US workers and refineries then upgrade into $300 billion dollars of value to sell around the world. We have made a lot of Americans very wealthy.

It’s in both of our countries’ best interests to double the amount of Canadian crude moving south. It means more Canadian jobs - and even more American jobs. It means lower fuel prices for consumers and more U.S. and Canadian influence around the world.

In fact, we have been approached with several new pipeline proposals to take more Alberta oil to the United States given the U.S. President’s stated goal of U.S. energy dominance.

Stated simply - the U.S. cannot be anything approaching energy dominant without Canada supplying the oil and gas. It’s just a fact.

The Alberta Government wants to facilitate and partner with U.S. companies - and even the U.S. Government - to achieve their energy goals. We really would. It is the ultimate win-win scenario for both of our countries and our citizens.

But how can Alberta actively partner to expand pipeline access to the U.S. when its President has just slapped a 10% tariff on our energy products and is devastating all our other industries in our country with a 25% tariff - in violation of an agreement that same President signed in his first term?

The answer is…we can’t. And we won’t.

So until our U.S. friends come back to reality, we will focus our efforts and financial means to export one of the largest oil and gas deposits in the world elsewhere.

We will look to our own nation’s west, east and north coasts, and partner with industry, provinces, First Nations and our federal government to build multiple oil and gas pipelines to all of our coasts for the purpose of dramatically increasing Canadian energy sold to Asia and Europe.

And as soon as the U.S. government is prepared to respect our country and treat us as allies and partners again, we will welcome the opportunity to partner with them to achieve North American energy dominance.

Of course, for this strategy to work for Alberta, we will need to see a significant attitude adjustment from many of our fellow Canadian political leaders with respect to the importance of unlocking and exporting Canadian energy around the world. But I’m confident Canadians want exactly that right now - and will elect politicians that share that view regardless of who they may have supported previously.

Alberta is counting on it.

No nation on earth has more resource wealth per person than Canada. We have the potential to be an energy and economic juggernaut, able to punch well above our weight class in virtually anything - from energy to manufacturing to technology to military defence.

As Canadians, if we are going to survive this dispute with our neighbours in the short term and win in the long term, we must commit to this strategy. No more excuses. It’s time to start building pipe, developing resources and constructing new ports on every coast…without further delay.

And as for existing Alberta oil and gas sent to the U.S., Alberta does not and will not support cutting off or taxing Canadian companies on existing energy exports to the United States for two key reasons.

First, doing so will hurt Canadians far worse than Americans should the U.S. retaliate in kind - which they will. This U.S. retaliation would most especially hurt those in Ontario and Quebec which still rely on importing fuel from the U.S. largely due to the cancellation of the Energy East pipeline project. Until we have Energy East, cutting off or taxing Alberta crude going south is utterly self-defeating.

But also importantly, U.S. polls are showing that these Trump tariffs - especially against Canada - are not at all popular with the American public. And that unpopularity is growing and will continue to grow daily as these self-destructive tariffs drive up the cost of food, fuel, housing, vehicles and almost everything else for American consumers.

Cutting off energy entirely would make Canada the bad guy for Americans. We don’t want that. We want the Americans to blame their struggles on the actual source of their problems - that being the Trump tariffs.

So instead, every Canadian leader should be engaging with the American people, their Governors and members of congress, to use their power and influence to reverse the tariffs.

To that end, I’ll be travelling to Houston at the end of this week, to continue that push.

After all, the friendship and bonds between the United States and Canada are far deeper and more lasting than any one person or goal. And as upset as we are, our quarrel should never be with the American people.

They are our friends and family.

Finally my fellow Albertans

I’m not going to sugarcoat things. The road ahead is very bumpy. If these tariffs continue for months or longer, there will be significant job losses. There will be higher inflation and lost opportunity. And there will be large budget deficits as our government seeks to cushion the blow for Albertans, while ensuring we continue to provide the public services and infrastructure that you and your families rely on.

But let me also say there is not a shred of doubt in my mind that we will prevail.

We are a strong and free people. We stick together and help one another when things get tough.

We are relentlessly innovative and find ways to overcome virtually any challenge placed before us.

We always find a way. And we will do so again.

And oddly enough, this crisis may ultimately result in our province and country becoming more unified, prosperous and powerful than ever before.

May Alberta and Canada forever be, strong and free.

Thank-you.