'Not helpful': Danielle Smith criticized after partisan rhetoric comments

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce event on June 13, 2024. (CTV News)

Critics say Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is guilty of using the dangerous rhetoric she's accusing "progressive" politicians of exhausting.

Smith has been drawing criticism around comments she made about the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

She suggested Monday, that one specific group of Canadian politicians is being labeled incorrectly by their colleagues across the aisle.

"The way in which conservative politicians have been characterized is outrageous, and I think it led to the culture we've seen in the U.S.," Smith said to reporters.

"Have you not looked at the headlines about how Pierre Poilievre is described as 'dangerous'? How the Leader of the Opposition in Alberta has described me as 'dangerous'? When you start using that kind of rhetoric, it ends up creating an elevated risk for all of us."

Smith was later pushed on if she thought the "rhetoric" was coming from both sides of the political spectrum. She didn't directly answer the question.

"I was surprised that the premier made that argument," University of Calgary professor of political science Lisa Young said.

"Certainly, if we look at some of Smith's own rhetoric when it comes to progressive politicians, and particularly toward the Trudeau government, arguably she is as much guilty of this -- if not more -- than the progressives who she's talking about."

Smith has been heavily criticized in the past for jabs she has taken at Ottawa.

Earlier this year, she told former television personality Tucker Carlson that he should put Canada's environment minister in his "crosshairs."

She's also repeatedly accused the feds of trying to sabotage certain Alberta policies -- saying at one point that both Justin and Pierre Elliot Trudeau wanted to destroy the province.

Young acknowledges the vitriol doesn't just come from one side, despite what the premier wants to tell Albertans.

"We've got a really polarized political situation in Alberta right now," she said.

"It was not helpful for the premier to point fingers at progressives, in the sense that if you want to take down the temperature, the way to do that is to say ‘we all need to do better.'"