Prime Minister Danielle Smith will send Nathan Cooper to Washington as a provincial representative, at a time when the tariff threats of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, put the commercial relationship of Canada-United States united in their most precarious state in years.
Cooper has never held a cabinet post or worked in international matters, but has been a speaker of the Legislature since the UCP formed the Government in 2019.
He will replace James Rajotte, the former conservative deputy of Edmonton, who was the envoy of DC under former Prime Minister Jason Kenney and Smith for almost five years before departing after the second inauguration of Trump.
The appointment, first reported Wednesday by CBC News, was later confirmed by Cooper and Prime Minister.
“In this evolving landscape, Alberta must maintain and build on our ties with US officials, and Nathan Cooper is the right choice to play this important role,” Smith said in a press release.
Cooper announced his new role in the Chamber of the Legislature, noting that his role as “main diplomat” prepared him well for the role he will play from June.
“I think we are in a critical moment in our province and our country with respect to how we interact with the world and with the United States of America,” he told the Assembly. “I think how we do that interaction is as important as what we do to interact.”
Cooper assumes Washington’s role in a tense moment for relations between the United States.
Commercial tensions have led Smith to make several trips to the south of the border in recent months, to meet with US politicians in an attempt to discourage rates and promote Alberta oil and gas exports.
Rajotte, Washington Washington’s envoy, now trained, accompanied Prime Minister and his staff to Florida in January when he briefly met Trump in his MAR-A-LAGO PRIVATE CLUB.
Alberta is one of several provinces with a designated official who represents him in Washington to advocate for trade and other issues. The Office Cooper will assume is located inside the Canadian embassy, steps from the Capitol building. It is the most high profile publication among the other US offices of the province in Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and Seattle.
West of the center45:01Alberta Trump Strategy
In a rare sample of bipartisan support, Smith’s press release included support quotes from two former NDP ministers, who now work in private policy consulting. “Mr. Cooper is highly respected for his wisdom, integrity and ability to find common land among the parties,” said former Minister of Economic Development Delodo Delive Bilous in the statement. “I can’t think of a better representative for Albertanes in Washington.”
Shannon Phillips, the former NDP Environment Minister, added that “Cooper will work hard for Albertans and a strong Canada.”
In his own statement, Alberta NDP leader, Naheed Neshi, accredited the “equity, humanity and deep respect of Cooper for the parliamentary tradition”, although Nenshi is not yet a MLA and never served in the assembly while Cooper presided over it.
The surprise appointment of the referee of Alberta’s legislature for the critical position of the United States creates a vacancy in the speaker’s chair. Mlas will select a new one on Tuesday, Cooper said.
His June departure for Washington also creates a vacancy in the rural seat of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
Together with the Edmonton seats before in the hands of the new Democratic members Rachel Notley and Rod Loyola, the prime minister will have to call three elections in the coming months.
Cooper’s resignation to become an Alberta diplomat occurs immediately after two former conservative members United, Scott Sinclair and Peter Guthrie, being expelled from Caucus and sitting as independent. This reduces the number of MLA UCP in the assembly of 87 seats to 46, at least temporarily.
Forty -four seats are required for a majority of the legislature in Alberta when there are no vacancies.
Cooper has used his six years as a speaker to help the legislature and its history be more accessible to Albertanes, often using social networks and videos to explain aspects of internal works and peculiarities of the Provincial House. He has broken down everything from the arcane procedure to the bell tower of the legislature and the traditional “tricorn” hat of three corners of the speaker.
“Sometimes, when we do not like the result of a choice, here in Alberta, in our country or worldwide, we are inclined to say things like our democracy is broken,” Cooper said in his exit speech before the camera.
“And I worry that it has a chilling impact on our democracy and our people. Honorable members, our democracy is important, is alive and well, is more accessible and open to an overwhelming majority of alberta today of what has been at any time in our history.”
Having served since 2019, when only the members of the NDP and the UCP were elected and third parties such as the Liberal and Alberta party were closed, Cooper has presided over a very divided legislature. In his speech of the final legislature, he emphasized that the two parties can have different opinions, but there are more than unites the MLA.
“We share a common sense of purpose,” Cooper said. “Defend our democracy, make Alberta the best place to live, work and raise a family.”
