The Swamp in Edmonton is trying to undermine Premier Danielle Smith with this latest expense scandal. I ll explain. Breaking news here in Alberta! Premier Daniel Smith is back from her trade mission in Mexico and she is speaking up on this issue over whether or not government officials should post their receipts online when they spend taxpayers' money. She was participating in the Alberta Next panel just outside of Edmonton last night and she was asked about this. Listen to this.
00:00:00.000I think the swamp in Edmonton is trying to undermine Premier Daniel Smith with this latest expense scandal.
00:00:08.420I'll explain. Today I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
00:00:30.000Breaking news here in Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith is back from her trade mission in Mexico and she is speaking up on this issue over whether or not government officials need to post their receipts online when they spend taxpayers' money.
00:00:46.880She was participating in the Alberta Next panel just outside of Edmonton last night and she was asked about this. Listen to this.
00:00:55.960I just want to ask you one quick thing about taxes and transparency.
00:01:00.000A lot of tax waste in the federal government. I just heard this week that we have removed the transparency on the internet for Alberta government for over $100. Could you please be responsible to taxpayers or explain why?
00:01:17.220I can't because I'm confused by that too. So we're going to be discussing that memo when we go to Cabinet on Tuesday.
00:01:25.440The issue that Cabinet discussed was that there are a number of my ministers who go to the same hotels when they're frequenting different municipalities and they just wanted the name of the hotel redacted just in case people were tracking them down.
00:01:43.560That was what the policy was supposed to be. It turned out to be something quite different.
00:01:47.080So we're going to see if we can maybe try to track down how that happened and do a reversal on that.
00:01:53.380So there you have it straight from Premier Daniel Smith. She said that she too was confused by this result.
00:02:00.320And frankly, that move on August 1st was super confusing.
00:02:04.700For people who don't know, up until August 1st, Alberta has had a very strong transparency rule when it comes to the government spending taxpayers' money using basically the taxpayer credit card.
00:02:17.820Meaning, if they pull out the taxpayer credit card and they spend more than $100, that receipt is proactively disclosed.
00:02:25.900It is posted on the internet for everybody to see.
00:02:29.660So that's really important because details on those receipts matter.
00:02:34.860It matters to taxpayers if their money is being spent on a Taco Tuesday special or a lobster steak dinner.
00:02:42.660It matters to taxpayers if their money is being used to rent a Toyota Corolla or a Corvette.
00:02:49.600Okay, so details on receipts matter and it has been the rule, standard operating procedure since 2012 in Alberta, thanks in part to the work from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation back then.
00:03:03.980It has been the rule since then that they have to proactively disclose it.
00:03:08.360And then this strange, quiet change was made on August 1st, just a few weeks ago.
00:03:16.380August 1st was the Friday before a long weekend.
00:03:19.720And somebody went into the policy and changed it and deleted the requirement to post receipts.
00:10:23.280I put out a video saying, no, Alberta has got some of the strongest transparency and accountability laws for taxpayers, like in North America.
00:15:32.640After seeing what I saw watching the Alberta Next live stream, I'm like, there are some people who probably shouldn't know where your local conservative politician is.
00:16:02.060Which, of course, the prime minister stayed in, and we had to wrench it out of him using FOI, and they released it when Joe Biden was visiting in town to try to create cover fire.
00:16:11.580So that answer coming from the premier was excellent because she said they are going to, quote, reverse it at the cabinet meeting, which is happening tomorrow, Tuesday.
00:16:23.400So this whole storm took up about a week.
00:16:28.460At the end of it, people were asking me, between us girls, I don't think the premier knew about this.
00:17:41.820And I'll give you a third reason why I think this had nothing to do with her.
00:17:45.040And that was the leak to the CBC at six o'clock in the morning.
00:17:48.200That was designed specifically to sabotage the premier.
00:17:52.100And you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to think that way.
00:17:57.060How did that information get out at 6am to unfriendly to the premier news source, except for somebody unfriendly to the premier sending it out the door?
00:19:56.560You know, if you know that someone is going to look at everything that you write down and claim back, you'll think twice before you write it down and claim it back every time.
00:20:18.480So we've had this level of exposure, this level of transparency for government spending, although we need to see the receipts, bring the receipts, folks, since 2012.
00:20:27.920Back then, Derek Fildebrandt was the Alberta director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
00:20:34.120And an MLA by the name of Thomas Lukasik had gone over to Europe and to Israel and somehow racked up like more than $20,000 in cell phone bills.
00:22:08.720It's so funny because I'll run after dinner and I'm like, oh, I'm digesting the news of the day plus my food.
00:22:15.700You know, the horrors of the internet.
00:22:17.060I'm trying to get that out of my mind and digest it.
00:22:19.480And my best distraction is a serial killer because I feel like I can understand that more than what's happening in the world.
00:22:28.900I use true crime, especially past true crime, because they can't get me anymore because the person who did it was dead or, you know, because they're in the United States.
00:22:37.760So they're actually in jail, which is kind of novel.
00:23:47.320So I need all of, like, the rebel team and Sheila's team and all the tax fighters who are listening to send a firm, but I mean it, polite email to the premier.
00:24:06.140If people put the pressure on her and do it in the most, you know, cheeky way that you did, because you were, like, really driving the change to get them to change back on the expense disclosures.
00:24:20.140But you did it in a, it doesn't even have to be friendly.
00:30:31.020The next time something pops up that you need to send an email on or make a phone call or come to a rally or come to a pub night, do something that's a fellowship, we'll let you know.
00:30:57.080So I'm actually filling in for Candace Malcolm over on the Candace Malcolm Show over on Juno, which is, of course, an independent media organization from Rebel, but we always wind up at the same conferences.
00:31:07.860And if we go back to our origin story at Sun News Network, it all kind of bloomed from there.
00:31:13.840So on Mondays and this week, I'm filling in three times.
00:31:17.240Mondays, I'm filling in for Candace, and we're bringing in all of your favorite cast of characters, lots of great guests.
00:31:22.400And in fact, on tomorrow, we're going to be talking about freedom and the ability to maybe walk through the woods and especially freedom of expression, because there's a brand new kids book coming out teaching kids about freedom of expression.
00:31:33.460And on Wednesday, we're going to do a, inspired by you, our own gun show.
00:33:33.820Put gun show letters in the subject line.
00:33:35.900So I know why you're emailing me because boy, do I ever get a lot of emails like so many.
00:33:41.380And it becomes difficult to sort them all.
00:33:44.680So if you could help me by putting that in the subject line, it helps me get to you.
00:33:49.860Now, today's viewer feedback comes from a regular rebel news supporter, regular writer to the mailbag, and just someone who's a feedback I appreciate very much.
00:34:04.620He's got a very unique perspective, and that is Bruce.
00:34:09.280Bruce Atchison from beautiful downtown Radway, Alberta.
00:34:12.480And he writes to me, and I wanted to take Bruce's comments because I have an update to something he says here.
00:34:22.300And he's writing to me on last week's show that I hosted with my friend and Rebel News Tuesday, Wednesday, plus election coverage, live stream co-host Lise Merle in Regina, Saskatchewan.
00:34:38.160Now, one of Lise's focuses, as far as journalism, but also in the world, is the intersection, to use the language of the left, of transgenderism versus parents' rights versus the safety and security of children.
00:34:55.020And we were talking about the recent court decision in Regina, in Saskatchewan, to allow the federally funded activists' challenge of the parents' bill of rights to go forward, which is insane because the law is protected by the notwithstanding clause, which shrouds it from any challenge.
00:35:21.300It says, notwithstanding the constitution, the law remains operational, which means it is constitutional because that is in the constitution.
00:35:31.360But it protects the law from legal challenges and overturning.
00:35:34.500And so if you don't like it, you vote out the government that did it, but you can't overturn the law.
00:35:38.920And yet the busybody activists want the law ruled unconstitutional but operational as an end runaround consequences for teachers who don't follow the law, which says that you just can't transition kids behind parents' backs.
00:35:55.600So if the law is unconstitutional but operational, can you really hold a teacher to account for doing something that they would be morally objectionable to?
00:36:10.140So they can say, oh, I didn't tell little Johnny's mom or dad that Johnny became Jane because, I mean, you can't ask me to do something unconstitutional and you can't punish me for doing something unconstitutional.
00:36:22.780You see, this is their way of getting around the consequences of following the law in Saskatchewan and involving parents as first and best educators in their children's lives.
00:36:33.600It's revolting, but this is what we get with our activist courts and Bruce writes in to say, hi, Sheila, I'm giving my reply to the show here because Rebel News now charges for comments.
00:36:43.600We fix, we had a problem with the website, should be fixed, Bruce.
00:36:48.000So you should be able to get in there and email me directly if you're still having a problem and I'll get somebody higher up in the food chain than me to help you with those things.
00:36:56.640So we had a little problem, should be fixed, you should be good to go.
00:36:59.580But I always like seeing your emails in my inbox anyway.
00:37:01.860Leftists want to pervert children and turn them from their parents.
00:37:06.660The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany did this through youth clubs and indoctrination in schools.
00:37:11.440Yeah, now it's the, what do they call it?
00:37:15.060I call them just, yeah, sexual clubs at school.