The U.S. podcaster and Trump supporter Ben Shapiro, who has joked that Canada is “a silly country” that should be annexed, is among the American influencers that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith considers to be “allies” to Canada.

The premier’s remarks came during her speech to a conservative audience at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference in Ottawa.

In her conversation with Postmedia columnist Brian Lilley — which covered the oil and gas industry, tariffs, and precarious Canada-US relations — Smith doubled down on her controversial speaking appearance last month with Shapiro, telling today’s audience she will continue to build connections with “the influencers in the United States, the ones that we know are allies, like Ben Shapiro.”

Asked about the backlash she’s received for her ongoing attempts to court far-right U.S. figures — including social media posts calling her a “traitor” — Smith brushed off the criticism, instead emphasizing her belief in “good cop” diplomacy. 

“We find our friends and allies in the United States who will make the argument to Americans in a way that we can’t, and then hopefully be able to change parts of the mindset that are in the administration,” she said. “When [Shapiro] goes on his platform and he says the tariffs are a terrible thing, that has a lot of weight to it.”

Sponsored by Koch Inc.

Shapiro, who co-founded conservative media outlet The Daily Wire along with Texas fracking billionaire Farris Wilks, backed Trump in the recent U.S. election. Along with several other prominent U.S. conservatives, he has recently voiced criticism of the tariffs, calling them “wrong-headed” and “really problematic.”

Speaking about the recent tariffs that the U.S. has levied against Canada, including a 25 percent tariff on automobiles, Smith was optimistic that the two countries’ relationship would overcome this “skirmish.” 

“Sometimes when you have the kind of integrated economies we do, there’s going to be irritants,” she said. “But if you don’t keep the lines of communication open, then I think it has the potential to really get out of control.”

Smith’s appearance at the Canada Strong and Free conference appeared to be highly anticipated, with the packed room cheering and filming as she entered. This year’s conference was sponsored by oil companies including Koch Inc., Imperial Oil, Tourmaline Oil, Suncor, Valero, Cenovus and TC Energy as well as companies including TD Bank, Mastercard, Meta and the rightwing social media platform Rumble.

The Canada Strong and Free Network is a think tank representing Canada’s conservative movement. Its previous president was Jamil Jivani, now a Conservative MP who’s a close ally to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and is considered good friends with U.S. vice-president JD Vance.

PragerU’s Connection to Smith

Smith came under fire last month for speaking with Shapiro at a fundraiser in Florida for PragerU, an organization that produces conservative videos aimed at young people.

Smith’s chief of staff Rob Anderson justified the trip as an act of political diplomacy.

“The premier of Alberta going into the lion’s den to try and convince U.S. decision makers to cancel or even delay tariffs for as long as possible until our country is in a better position to defend ourselves with a strong leader is not only noble — it’s as Albertan and Canadian as it gets,” he wrote on X at the time.

The CEO of PragerU, Marissa Streit, offered a somewhat different interpretation of the event, whose location was kept secret from the public and which was closed to the media.

According to audio obtained by DeSmog and Canada’s National Observer, Streit explained that it was Smith’s press secretary Sam Blackett who’d originally proposed the premier’s inclusion in the event.

“He said, ‘I want to let you know that I’m from Canada,’” Streit recalled during a speech at the fundraiser. “‘And I want to let you know that I learned conservatism through PragerU.’ And so this is happening thanks to Sam.”

Blackett didn’t respond to questions about that exchange from DeSmog.

‘Solid Allies’ to Trump

During the panel discussion in Florida, Smith and Shapiro talked about how to support Canada in electing “solid allies” to the Trump administration and joked about the threatened tariffs, with Smith at one point saying “I come in peace.”

“There was a massive conservative movement that’s happening in Canada,” Shapiro said during the event with Smith. “I think the obstacles to that need to be removed. It is better for the United States to have actual solid allies running in Canada than to have some of the schmucks that have been running Canada over the past few years.”

Smith replied, “I think the president recognizes especially the importance of oil and gas,” adding that “We already ship about 4.3 million barrels a day of oil to the United States. We’ll keep it coming.”

Smith was at the center of a political uproar early into the federal election when she appeared supportive of the Trump administration.

Speaking with the rightwing U.S. outlet Breitbart News, she explained that “the perspective that Pierre [Poilievre] would bring would be very much in sync with, I think…the new direction in America.”

“I think we’d have a really great relationship for the period of time they’re both in,” she added, seemingly referring to Trump.