Note: The podcast was recorded and published on Nov. 10, 2021 before Ms. Smith became Alberta’s premier. On May 8th during the Alberta election campaign, this video became the source of controversy. The NDP promoted a snippet of the podcast in their social media channels and via press releases taking statements made by Ms. Smith out of context saying she compared vaccinated Albertans to Nazi supporters.
We are dismayed the NDP manipulated what was a fulsome discussion about important topics including energy policy, health care and the need for more dialog to cast a negative light on Ms. Smith. This is ironic given the title of the podcast.
We made a difficult decision to remove the video to prevent further attempts by third parties to manipulate and misconstrue comments in the video during the election; and have our web site and company in the cross fire of mud slinging that stretched out during the campaign. We do not feel the content was offensive albeit some topics discussed are deemed controversial largely due to the COVID experience. We are concerned about the trend toward censorship, cancel culture and sound bite politics which made this a hard decision. We had to live with the hate mail suggesting we were Nazis and the UCP forced us to take it down. Neither could be further from the truth.
But now that the election is over, we’ve republished the full video so anyone interested and with an open mind can listen to what was said and form their own opinion versus being told what they should think about Ms. Smith’s comments by the media and NDP.
—
You’re the leader of Canada deciding on how to improve lives of Canadians. You’re given four choices on where to focus. What’s the right answer?
- Rational energy policy.
- Ensure freedom of speech.
- Practical health care solutions.
- Mandate politicians be honest.
We’d pick all 4.
We hosted former politician, media professional and President of the Alberta Enterprise Group, Danielle Smith, to weigh in. She provided her take on:
- The fascinating evolution of our carbon economy
- How Canada’s energy sector can meet the Net Zero challenge
- Charting a sustainable path forward for our health care system in a world with COVID
- The changing political landscape with a spotlight on Alberta
- The failure of mainstream media and government to ensure diverse viewpoints are welcomed and protected
- And more….
Danielle’s experience within government and media; and her continued policy work offer her a unique view on not just challenges facing Western Canadians but also opportunities in front of us.