Alberta's Current and Former Premiers Split Publicly Over Energy Leverage

Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney said oil, gas and potash export taxes 'need to be on the table' as leverage against Washington and pressed Conservative MPs to publicly blame Trump for starting the trade war. Current Premier Danielle Smith rejected an energy export tax, warning 'no one wins a trade war' and that a 50% export tariff on the roughly 4 million barrels of oil Canada sells the US daily would risk losing the American customer 'entirely, if not forever,' costing jobs across Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Smith cited $1.5 billion of Alberta exports facing US tariffs against $4.8 billion of Alberta goods exposed to Canada's own C$27.6 billion retaliation package, and called for 'doubling down' on diplomacy instead of further escalation.