With the cat out of the bag, Danielle Smith’s alleged gifts from foreign governments prompt sharp questions

As was famously said by the renowned expert on domestic safety and social order, Tweety Bird: “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!”

And this is not just any puddy tat, as it turns out. It is a politically significant puddy tat made out of gold!

I speak of the graven image of a feline that was brought to the attention of the Alberta Legislature by Naheed Nenshi during Question Period on Thursday. Speaking in the House, where he enjoys absolute privilege, the leader of the Opposition asked Premier Danielle Smith about a “giant golden cat,” among other gifts he said she had accepted from foreign governments. 

It was not clear from Mr. Nenshi’s question whether Ms. Smith is supposed to have accepted the cat for herself or on behalf of the province of Alberta, when or where this took place, or what foreign government it was supposed to have come from. His implication, though, was clearly that it was a gift for her. Needless to say, if the cat weighs a couple of pounds or more, with gold fetching around $6,000 Cdn per troy ounce, it’d be worth a fortune. 

To put this in context, let’s give the floor for a moment to Mr. Nenshi, with the assistance of Thursday’s edition of Alberta Hansard: “Alberta taxpayers spent $65,000 so that the Premier could accept hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than a house, from a foreign government. This was not hockey tickets. It wasn’t even luxury watches as gifts. It would be, if true, the largest kickback any politician in Canadian history has ever received, worth more than a house in Alberta, and of course this doesn’t include other undisclosed gifts from foreign governments, including a giant golden cat. Will the Premier disclose all gifts she has received from foreign governments?” (Emphasis added.)

In her response, the premier did not disclose what gifts she has received from foreign governments or whether a golden cat, solid or hollow, giant or otherwise, might be among them. Nor did she address Mr. Nenshi’s allegation said golden cat was not properly disclosed. 

She said: “… Whenever we have any kind of protocol exchange, I always report that to the Ethics Commissioner, and then the Ethics Commissioner indicates whether or not we have to receive it on behalf of the government of Alberta, whether we have to disclose this. We have very clear rules about that. I’ve had my meeting this year with the Ethics Commissioner. This particular trip we had a number of exchanges with him in advance so that he understood that we were doing the kind of trip that we often do in Alberta in hosting people to see our oil sands, and he signed off on the trip. That’s the reason why it was disclosed. It was disclosed in the appropriate way to the appropriate entity.” 

This is not very informative. It focuses on Ms. Smith’s trip to Saudi Arabia last fall, during which she controversially accepted flights from a member of the Saudi royal family while in the region.

Social media, naturally, has been abuzz with rumours, some quite elaborate, about the golden cat, which is often said to have been received in 2023. None of these claims have been proved or confirmed.

One of Ms. Smith’s political opponents on the right – Alberta Republican Party Leader Cameron Davies – tweeted: “I have personally seen this golden cat. It exists.” 

Or, as Tweety would have put it: “I did taw a puddy tat!” 

“Its about 10-12” tall,” Mr. Davies continued in a subsequent tweet, eschewing the use of apostrophes. “Came in a pretty cool black carry box, red silk lined and has a few gemstones on the base and a plaque with the Saudi princes name on it too.” 

A photo soon reappeared in several places on social media, showing Ms. Smith’s mid-December meeting with Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas at what looks like the Alberta Government’s McDougall Centre. In the background, slightly out of focus, sits an object that could be gold, and could be a cat. 

Whether or not it’s the cat referenced by Mr. Nenshi, I’m afraid I can’t tell you. If it is, though, the government might want to review security at the 119-year-old building in downtown Calgary. 

Since Mr. Nenshi’s arresting public reference came in the midst of a series of questions about gifts and benefits received by Ms. Smith and her literal fellow travellers during recent visits to the petro-principalities of Middle East, my first thought when I heard a clip from the NDP leader’s question played on social media was: Someone gave the premier a golden calf? 

The last time that happened, as I recall, the story ended in tears – and serious indigestion.

Presumably the purpose of this object, however, is not to be worshipped – the leader of the MAGA movement’s well-known fascination with gold decor and the capitalist ideology of the United Conservative Party notwithstanding.

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, though, finding out whether or not Ms. Smith’s gifts are worth more than an Alberta house and who the golden cat was actually for is certainly in the public interest. Premier Smith has some explaining to do.