Alberta Premier Danielle Smith comes under fire for comments about chemtrails

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says her recent comments about chemtrails don't mean she believes the United States government is spraying them in the province.

“The premier was simply sharing what she has heard from some folks over the summer on this issue,” Smith’s spokesperson Savannah Johannsen said Tuesday in a statement.

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"She was not saying that she believed the U.S. government was using chemtrails in Alberta."

Johannsen added: “The premier has heard concerns from many Albertans about this topic. In response, the provincial government looked into the issue and found no evidence of chemtrails occurring in Alberta.”

Smith faced criticism after she spoke about chemtrails this past weekend at a United Conservative Party town hall in Edmonton.

During the town hall, in response to an audience member’s concerns about chemtrail spraying over Edmonton, Smith said, “The best I have been able to do is talk to the woman who is responsible for controlling the airspace, and she says no one is allowed to go up and spray anything in the air.”

When the crowd hooted and booed, Smith said, “That’s what she’s told me.”

Smith added, “The other person told me that if anyone is doing it, it’s the U.S. Department of Defense.”

Smith said if the U.S. is hitting Alberta with chemtrails, her hands are somewhat tied as a regional leader in Canada.

“I have some limitations in what I can do in my job,” she said. “I don’t know that I would have much power if that is the case, if the U.S. Department of Defense is spraying us.”

She said she does what she can to investigate chemtrail allegations – checking with airports, the private sector and within her government — but so far no evidence has turned up that it is occurring.

“I’m kind of dead-ended here,” she told the town hall. “If you have some special lead that you want to give me afterwards, please let me know and I’ll track it down.”

The U.S. Department of Defense, in a request for comment, referred the issue to the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or Norad.

A spokesman for Norad, in an email, said, "Norad and U.S. Northern Command are not conducting any flight activities in Canada that involve the spraying of chemicals.”

White streaks of condensation can be visible in the sky after planes fly by. Some people have claimed the streaks are chemicals purposely sprayed by unknown entities for nefarious purposes.

Experts, including health law professor Timothy Caulfield, have dismissed it as a baseless conspiracy theory.

Caulfield, with the University of Alberta, said Smith is doing the public a disservice.

"In this age of misinformation, in this age where conspiracy theories are having a detrimental impact on democracies around the world, it's just horrifying to see a political leader not simply and explicitly correct the conspiracy theory," Caulfield said in an interview.

"It's maddening."

Caulfield said that over the years, many different forms of the chemtrails conspiracy theory have popped up, but each form usually points to powerful groups of people or organizations trying control the population.

He said Smith had an opportunity to quell real fears some may have about chemtrails but instead added fuel to the fire.

"That gives permission, gives room for, legitimizes (and) normalizes, something that is a ridiculous conspiracy theory," Caulfield said.

In Ottawa, Edmonton Liberal MP and cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault said Smith needs to focus.

"I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Premier Smith is using her office to peddle conspiracy theories," he said. "We’ve got a lot of issues in Alberta right now in a growing province.

"We simply need the premier to do her job, and talking about chemtrails simply doesn’t do the work."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.