Alberta’s Smith says Prime Minister Carney speaking Trump’s ‘love language’

TORONTO – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is lauding Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ability to speak the language of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Addressing the BMO US-Canada summit in Toronto, Smith said Wednesday Trump’s “playbook” means he doesn’t respond well to appeals for help or to stop hurting his northern neighbour.

“That is not his love language,” she said, drawing a chuckle from the crowd.

The premier said Trump prefers to hear about what Canada can offer to help make America “even greater,” by providing more energy, critical minerals and natural gas — and that’s been her approach.

“That is the love language of Donald Trump and I’m beginning to see that Prime Minister Carney is speaking in those terms,” said Smith.

“I never thought ‘elbows up’ was going to get us to a deal with this particular president, and I think that (Carney’s) beginning to see that the relationship, and putting some of some of the credits in the bank account is going to get us a lot further.”

Carney met with the president Tuesday but left Washington without a deal to lift U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

While 35 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada don’t apply to those that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, the steel, aluminum, automobile and copper industries are being hit hard by the trade levies.

To appease the American president, Carney dropped many of Ottawa’s retaliatory tariffs, paused Canada’s digital services tax, introduced border security legislation and moved to ramp up defence spending.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said progress was made this week and the two sides are working to land sector-specific deals on steel, aluminum and energy.

Smith said Wednesday, “we should be cheering the prime minister on” to continue building relationships south of the border.

She said part of the reason she had to travel so much to the United States earlier this year was because she didn’t trust former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government to lobby for Alberta’s energy.

She has made Alberta’s longstanding fight with Ottawa over rules and jurisdiction a cornerstone of her United Conservative government’s policies.

She has blamed the federal Liberals for strangling investment in Alberta’s energy industry with bad policies for a decade, and for months has demanded Ottawa get rid of or modify its “nine bad laws,” including the west coast tanker ban and a federal emissions cap.

More recently, her government volunteered to act as a proponent and plan for a West Coast pipeline project in hopes Carney will pave the way with policy changes and private industry will step up to invest.

Smith has characterized the project’s approval as a test of Canadian unity and said separatist sentiment in Alberta will only grow should her nine demands be ignored.

“Does Canada work or doesn’t it? That’s the turning point that we have right now,” she reiterated Wednesday.

Following a September meeting with Carney, Smith said she was more optimistic than ever that the concerns of Albertans were finally being heard.

At the time, she said she understands why Albertans might feel the rug has been pulled out from them several times before, but she’s committed to diplomacy.

“I found more common ground with the prime minister when I met with him yesterday than I have in any meeting with a prime minister,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2025.

— By Lisa Johnson in Edmonton, with files from Ian Bickis in Toronto and Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington