Nelson: Alberta premier goes from zero to hero

Danielle Smith handed Justin Trudeau the playbook and, for once, Canada’s prime minister showed enough sense to follow it.

Yes, Alberta’s premier is quite the traitor to Canada, isn’t she? Of course, those who couldn’t wait to call her that are the usual chattering classes infesting our country: pontificating but never producing, content to endlessly huff and puff their way to eventual insignificance.

Meanwhile, as all manner of insults were hurled at Smith for ignoring the ballyhooed Team Canada approach in trying to stop a horrendous economic attack upon our country by its closest neighbour, she was busy working the room to find a solution.

That included travelling to Mar-a-Lago in Florida and meeting with President Donald Trump: hardly a pointless mission considering he was the person intent on placing tariffs upon all Canadian exports. For this, she was vilified. We were told Smith was just trying to join his administration or get herself an anchor job on Fox News.

Then, after chatting with Trump, Smith continued her diplomatic blitz, meeting with U.S. state governors and those closest to the newly installed president, relentlessly pushing Alberta and Canada’s case as to why tariffs would be a lose-lose proposition for both countries.

Most importantly, she discovered what Trump was really after — not an easy task considering the barrage of insults, threats and falsehoods that have been key to his negotiating tactics since he began dealing in New York real estate a lifetime ago.

Smith told us: It’s border safety and combating the inflow of fentanyl into the U.S. It didn’t matter if that seemed overblown to many Canadians, including the various participants in Team Canada, sitting on their hands or clutching their pearls back home. Show we’re serious about strengthening the border, Smith urged. Appoint a border czar to oversee this new get-tough strategy and make a big show of it. (Trump might profess to hate the media, but he’s addicted to watching cable news. So, Smith invited Fox News to Alberta to discuss how an RCMP Black Hawk helicopter is now on patrol for illegal border crossers.)

Meanwhile, the unrelenting nastiness from the rest of Canada continued.

Except, at the last moment, an astounding thing happened. Trudeau, the person Smith has fought tooth and nail while defending Alberta’s interests from his government’s constant overreach, took up the very playbook she had pushed. As the clock ticked down, he did what Alberta’s premier had urged: give Trump the win he wanted.

“Canada is making new commitments to appoint a fentanyl czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, and launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”

“Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together,” announced a relieved prime minister.

Of course, the tariff threat isn’t over. With Trump, nobody knows what might happen next, or what other demands he could make. But for now, at least, we’ve a month to show we’re on board with the strong border strategy.

And while it will indeed be seen as a win for this endlessly belligerent U.S. president, it’s hardly cause for national embarrassment.

Fentanyl has killed tens of thousands of people in both Canada and the U.S. during the past decade, so any sane person should support battling drug smuggling regardless of their attitude toward Trump.

Meanwhile, shoring up border security isn’t some one-way street. Given the crackdown on illegal immigrants underway in the U.S., we could soon see thousands of frightened folk rushing northward to escape into Canada. It happened under Trump’s first presidency, and today’s campaign is both tougher and wider.

So, Alberta’s premier has helped buy Canada some time by giving Trump his win. In doing so, she even provided Trudeau with one. But don’t hold your breath waiting for him — or the rest of Canada — to say thanks.

Chris Nelson is a regular columnist.