Tucker Carlson speaks at the Turning Point Action conference, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in West Palm Beach, Fla. The divisive right-wing news commentator is to have a conversation with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in January, when he's scheduled to speak in Calgary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Lynne Sladky
CALGARY – A right-wing news commentator is to have a conversation with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in January when he’s scheduled to speak in Calgary.
Tucker Carlson, who was fired by Fox News in April, is to appear at the Telus Convention Centre on Jan. 24.
An itinerary posted on Carlson’s website says he will make remarks and have a conversation with Smith.
The premier’s office says in a statement that Smith participates in a variety of public and private events, and does interviews with people from across the political spectrum.
It adds that she doesn’t subscribe to every view of every interviewer or reporter.
Opposition NDP members of the legislature say the premier shouldn’t give time to such a divisive personality.
“Tucker Carlson is a pro-Putin white nationalist, so naturally Danielle Smith is scheduled to help him promote his event in Calgary in January,” finance critic Shannon Phillips wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
MLA David Shepard added that Carlson is a loud promoter of “great replacement theory” and other white nationalist ideas – “not someone the premier of a diverse province should be giving time, particularly at a time of rising antisemitism (and) Islamophobia,” he wrote on X.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2023.
