Alberta Speaker picked as Washington envoy: sources
Premier Danielle Smith will send Speaker Nathan Cooper to Washington as the provincial representative, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats put the Canada-U.S. trade relationship at its most precarious state in years, CBC News has learned.
Cooper has never held a cabinet post or worked in international affairs, but has been legislature Speaker since the UCP formed government in 2019.
He will replace James Rajotte, the former Edmonton Conservative MP who was the D.C. envoy under former premier Jason Kenney and Smith for nearly five years before stepping aside after Trump's second inauguration.
The announcement will happen as soon as Wednesday, according to government sources. Cooper and the premiers' office could not be reached for comment.
Cooper takes on the Washington role at a fraught time for U.S.-Canada relations, thanks to Trump's tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum, as well as threats to apply them more broadly on Canadian goods and even filmmaking.
The trade tensions have prompted Smith to make several trips south of the border in recent months, to meet with U.S. politicians in an attempt to discourage tariffs and promote Alberta's oil and gas exports.
Rajotte, the now-former Washington envoy, accompanied the premier and her staff to Florida in January when she briefly met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago private club.
Alberta is one of several provinces with an appointed official representing it in Washington to advocate on trade and other issues. The office Cooper will take on is housed within the Canadian Embassy, steps from the Capitol building. It's the most high-profile post among the province's other U.S. offices in Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and Seattle.
The surprise appointment of Alberta's legislature referee to the critical U.S. post creates a vacancy in the Speaker's chair — MLAs will select a new one in the coming days.
It also creates a vacancy in the UCP-held rural seat of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
Along with Edmonton seats formerly held by New Democrat members Rachel Notley and Rod Loyola, the premier will have to call three byelections in the coming months.
Cooper's resignation to become an Alberta diplomat also comes on the heels of two former United Conservative members, Scott Sinclair and Peter Guthrie, being ousted from caucus and sitting as independents. This reduces the number of UCP MLAs in the 87-seat assembly to 46, at least temporarily.
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