Alberta premier Danielle Smith meets with Trump at impromptu Mar-a-Lago visit

CTV National News: Addressing tariff threat Alberta Premier Danielle Smith paid a visit to Donald Trump in Florida. Jeremie Charron reports.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump Saturday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Smith posted an update on social media Sunday, including photos of herself with Trump and Dragon’s Den star Kevin O’Leary.

“We had a friendly and constructive conversation,” Smith said, “during which I emphasized the mutual importance of the U.S. – Canadian energy relationship, and specifically, how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by energy exports from Alberta.”

Smith added that she also spoke with a number of “key allies” of the incoming administration and was encouraged to hear their support for a “strong energy and security relationship with Canada.”

“The United States and Canada are both proud and independent nations with one of the most important security alliances on earth,” she added, “and the largest economic partnership in history. We need to preserve our independence while we grow this critical partnership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come.”

There was no immediate word from Trump on social media.

A number of Canadian premiers, including Smith and Ontario premier Doug Ford, have been reaching out to push back against Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods in recent days, leading up to Trump taking over as president on January 20.

They’ve been joined by a number of former Canadian prime ministers, including Stephen Harper and Jean Chretien.

In a recent interview, Chretien said he didn’t take Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state seriously.

“I don’t take that seriously, because I don’t think it will happen,” Chrétien said. “It’s not in the interest of America not to have a good neighbour like Canada, north.”

“And for Mr. Trump, he does not realize that if Canada had been part of the U.S. a few weeks ago, he would have never become president, because the Canadians would not have voted for him,” he added.

O’Leary, who is part of a group hoping to launch a massive AI data centre in northern Alberta, posted a photo of himself with Trump and the Alberta premier on his X account as well.

O’Leary has provoked controversy by saying the concept of the U.S. and Canada merging into one country is “very interesting.”

“Let me tell you why a Canada-U.S. economic union makes sense,” he said on X on Jan. 9. “Our economies are already intertwined, so why not take it further? Merging currencies, streamlining immigration – it’s a win-win. And trust me, Canadians are ready to ditch those Trudeau pesos for U.S. dollars.”

‘Non-starter’: Trudeau

Sunday in an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC, Prime Minister Trudeau said Trump’s offer to make Canada the 51st state is a “non-starter.”

“The 51st state, that’s not going to happen,” Trudeau said.

“It’s just a non-starter. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian,” said Trudeau, who taped the appearance while in the United States to attend Thursday’s funeral for former president Jimmy Carter.

“But people are now talking about that, as opposed to talking about, for example, what the impact (would be) of 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the United States, on energy, whether it’s oil and gas or electricity.”

With files from CTV’s Spencer Van Dyk andThe Canadian Press