Danielle Smith and Ben Shapiro discuss Canada electing ‘solid allies’ to Trump at Florida event

 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and conservative influencer Ben Shapiro discussed how to help Canada elect “solid allies” to the Trump administration during a private gala in south Florida, according to audio of the event obtained by DeSmog and Canada’s National Observer.

“There was a massive conservative movement that's happening in Canada,” Shapiro said during the 25-minute conversation 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.”

Against a backdrop of American flags, 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.”

The event comes during an unprecedented surge of Canadian patriotism resulting from Trump imposing costly economic tariffs and threatening to annex the country, saying in mid-March that “Canada only works as a state.”

Smith was at the center of a political uproar just days into the federal election when she appeared supportive of the Trump administration in a resurfaced interview with Breitbart News.

Recorded in early March before Mark Carney became Liberal leader, Smith told the rightwing U.S. media outlet that “the perspective that Pierre [Poilievre] would bring would be very much in sync with, I think…the new direction in America.” She added that “I think we’d have a really great relationship for the period of time they’re both in,” apparently referring to Trump. 

At the event, hosted at a resort and conference center in Boca Raton, Smith and Shapiro joked about Trump annexing Canada.

“I know that the premier is taking some flack in her hometown, in all of her hometown neighborhoods, for even being on stage with me, because I made the unfortunate error of making a joke about our soon-to-be 51st state,” Shapiro said.

“I come in peace,” Smith said to loud applause.

Smith praises US rejection of net-zero

The Alberta premier made the case to the well-heeled room, whose participants paid $1,500 and up for tickets to the event, that the U.S. should avoid implementing tariffs on Canada, its closest trading partner, especially around oil and gas.

“I feel like the Americans have a lot bigger fish to fry,” she said.

She used the opportunity to praise U.S. efforts to turn away from 2050 climate targets. “There is an ideology, as you know, of those who believe we have to hit net zero as quickly as possible. Mark Carney has been behind the net-zero banking move.”

Smith claimed that “you can't run the world on solar and wind and batteries. And so now is the time really for us to see a switch. I think America's been the first to make that switch.” In February, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called net-zero climate targets “sinister.”

On X, Smith described her conversation with Shapiro as “a meaningful fireside chat to discuss the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade dispute and the benefits of having a tariff-free relationship between our two countries.”

She added that, “I will always stand up for the best interests of Albertans and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to share our message with hundreds of Americans tonight and millions more via social media in the weeks to come.”

Other speakers at the event included Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the group Moms for Liberty, which has been at the forefront of efforts to get books with LGBTQ content and other themes it deems offensive banned from school libraries.

Justice is a close ally of Trump, posting a photo with him in the Oval Office on X in February and writing that “It’s an honor to stand with a President who will Fight Fight Fight for every American!”

Shapiro called Canada ‘a silly country’

Shapiro, like other prominent U.S. Trump supporters including Elon Musk and the billionaire Bill Ackman, has endorsed Poilievre for prime minister. In a 9-minute YouTube video entitled “Pierre Poilievre is for the people,” Shapiro said that the Conservative leader is “a tremendous politician.” 

Though Shapiro posted in March on Facebook that Trump’s tariffs on Canada are “not a wise move,” he previously spent months appearing to defend the policy and making inflammatory comments supporting Trump’s threatened annexation.

Shapiro said on a December podcast that “Trump has basically proposed that we annex Canada, and I feel like they will greet us as liberators at this point, because Justin Trudeau is just absolutely the worst.”

Shapiro added that “It’s a silly country that makes maple syrup, hockey and annoying prime ministers,” stating that “we can annex it and then just call it an outlying territory or something like Puerto Rico, but of the North.” 

Smith disregarded calls to cancel the event with Shapiro, saying “the way you actually influence the decision on tariffs is you talk to American influencers."

She’s meanwhile declined to condemn an effort by a group of Albertans including former Medicine Hat Conservative MP LaVar Payne advocating for Alberta statehood within the U.S. as part of a “delegation to Washington.” Smith has suggested a referendum on statehood would be an appropriate way to deal with separatist sentiment.

“If there is support for independence, that process is the proper avenue for citizens to bring it forward for all Albertans to have a say on,” Smith has said.

Smith helps raises over $1 million for PragerU

The fundraising goal for the East Coast Gala with Premier Smith was $1 million, but organizers announced during the event they had quickly surpassed that goal.

The money is not going toward an actual university. PragerU was founded by conservative talk-radio host Dennis Prager as a way to fight against what it claimed was a “liberal bias” in schoolrooms across America. Prager did not attend the event because of an ongoing health issue, his son said.

These days it’s a leading producer of conservative digital content, packaging rightwing ideology into videos that PragerU claims have received almost 10 billion views across YouTube and other platforms.

Those videos frequently dismiss the urgency of climate change, with one recent video narrated by former University of Alabama assistant professor Matthew Wielicki stating that “The fear that fuels the ‘climate crisis’ is simply not justified by the data.”

The U.S. conservative media watchdog group Media Matters has described Weilicki as “a budding star in the climate denial community.”

Shapiro’s outlet The Daily Wire is also a major spreader of climate crisis denial, with watchdog groups such as the Center for Countering Digital Hate previously naming it a top 10 U.S. disseminator of climate disinformation.

Both conservative organizations have received millions of dollars from Dan and Farris Wilks, Texas brothers who became billionaires after selling their fracking company Frac Tech in 2011. The Wilks gave more than $6.5 million to PragerU in 2013. Prager, the group’s founder, told VICE News in 2022 that “their contribution essentially enabled PragerU to expand more rapidly.”

Shortly after, Farris Wilks provided nearly $5 million in seed funding to help launch Shapiro’s The Daily Wire. Wilks remains a co-owner of the outlet, which last year reported over 15 million followers across its social media handles.

This special investigation between Canada’s National Observer and DeSmog was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action and TRACE Foundation.