More lockdowns are coming. Danielle Smith says she’s the resistance.
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Summary
A leadership race is underway in Alberta, and a lot of people are raising their hands for that candidacy, including former Alberta PC Party Leader Danielle Smith. What s wrong with Premier Jason Kenney? What needs to happen in Alberta next? And what s Danielle Smith going to do about it?
Transcript
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Thanks so much for joining us for the latest episode of Full Comment.
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If you haven't already, please consider subscribing.
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Not just to select the next leader of the United Conservative Party, but to select the next premier.
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A lot of people are raising their hands for that candidacy.
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Someone who is very well known in Alberta and has trod.
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What I think is a very interesting, and what some people may say is a controversial, path in Alberta politics.
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Smith worked in media and at think tanks earlier in her career.
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Then became leader of the Wild Rose Party from 2009 to 2014.
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Until, as leader, she crossed the floor to join the Alberta PC Party, then in government.
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After the PCs were out and the NDP came to power, Smith left politics and became a well-known radio host.
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What was wrong with Premier Jason Kenney's leadership?
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And what's Danielle Smith going to do about it?
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And you know, I mentioned how you went on to do a radio show host gig, of course.
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And I was pleased to join that program a few times.
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But what I didn't mention in the intro, and one thing I think is very cool, is...
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When I went through university, I put myself through by being a server.
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First at a seafood restaurant called Cannery Row in Calgary, and then out in Vancouver at the Shark Club.
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And so we always thought, gee, wouldn't it be fun to get back in that industry again?
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So there was an old railway dining car in High River.
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It had initially been commissioned by CN Rail as a passenger car.
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It was converted to a dining car to support Expo in Montreal.
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But after 30 years of wear and tear, we were fearful.
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If someone didn't step in and save it, that it was headed for the junkyards.
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We stepped in, did a massive renovation, which is probably a topic for a whole other podcast.
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So our specialty, if you ever happen to be in High River, is an eggs benedict.
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And I can say, without a single tone of bias, that ours is the best.
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So you'll have to come next time you're in Alberta.
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And not to romanticize things too much, but I always, I talk about the story.
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I write about too much in my columns on the Roman general, Cincinnatus, and how he was tending his farm as a private citizen.
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And then they came by and they said, we need you to lead us in war.
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And then he said, okay, I'm going back to the farm.
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So I like the idea of you're at the restaurant and then you go, and now I'm going to become premier.
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You know, it's funny you should say that because maybe I've been so influenced by Ayn Rand, who you, as you may know, I feel like we're kind of living the end times of Ayn Rand when all the entrepreneurs of the world go on strike because of onerous government regulation.
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But there is one character, I think it's Hugh Acton, a professor who ends up going and retires and his strike was to retire from his professorship and then go in and make sandwiches at a diner.
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My husband normally has me do the dishes from time to time.
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He'll let me come out front, but we've got a strict rule.
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Now, normally my opening question, I have a leadership candidate or running for mayor or whatever.
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But now I've got to say, because you're saying we're having a great time talking about the restaurant and you're saying it was kind of a dream to do all this.
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And you're telling these anecdotes and, you know, you're laughing about everything.
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You know, I was at the front line of the ups and downs and the opening and closure and the restrictions and having frontline staff having to enforce them for the last couple of years.
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And so I've, I've experienced firsthand what that uncertainty is like for a small business owner.
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And I've seen as well, talk to tons of customers and people about the damage that the last two years have caused.
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And I just feel like if there is going to be an outbreak of freedom anywhere in this country, it's going to be in Alberta.
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I was gravely disappointed in the, in the last round of shutdowns and the demonization of those who've made the, a different medical choice.
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Uh, they were called extremists and bigots and lunatics and there are none of that.
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I mean, most of it is just moms and dads who are really worried about what we're creating for, uh, for their kids as a future and really worried about their kids losing ground in education, really worried about the mental health of their children.
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And so I wanted to make sure I could be a voice for that group and try to properly represent them as we go into the next respiratory virus season.
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Um, and then there's also the whole issue of autonomy.
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I mean, Justin Trudeau has trampled all over the constitution.
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It's like we have operated without one for the last two years, but in particular, the invasion of provincial jurisdiction and the micromanaging of every single thing we do.
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It's enough is enough. If we don't reestablish a more constructive relationship with the rest of Canada, then it's, it's not, we're going to be headed for some kind of constitutional reckoning.
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And I think we can be constructive in pushing Ottawa back in its lane.
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And those are the two things that I, that I thought was really important for me to get back in the, in the, in the, in the race for the leadership.
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Let's unpack both of those because I like you, I want to relitigate, uh, what happened the past two years.
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I want commissions inquiries. Well, I don't know if you want those, but I want those.
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And I'm saying that there were problems that we need to look at.
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I know a lot of people though, say it's the summer. I want to party.
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I want to forget about the last two years. And I totally get that.
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Why people wouldn't want to, they want to leave it all behind them, but you, you dropped a little breadcrumb there.
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The next respiratory virus season, we're hearing one or two hints, Teresa Tam, uh, here where I'm in Ontario,
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we're hearing it from some health leaders that, oh yeah, stuff's going to come back.
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People are gonna have to do stuff. I don't know what it is.
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I don't know if they're saying lockdowns, mask mandates, something.
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Are you saying that you want to get back into politics, not just to talk about what happened,
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but you believe it may happen again and you want to stop it?
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I'm certain that there will be voices that are calling for more restrictions and more lockdowns.
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And we need to get a balanced view of what worked and what didn't.
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Because I, I, it is my contention that lockdowns were not effective.
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If you look at the most lockdown jurisdictions on the planet, Belgium, Italy, New York, Quebec,
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I would put it to you that the, the provinces and regions that did the best,
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did the best at protecting their most vulnerable citizens.
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And those were the ones who were in long-term care with multiple pre-existing conditions.
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So if that's the key to making sure that we protect our citizens, that's what we need to do.
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We need to focus on making sure that those who are most vulnerable get their regular shots
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so that they have the ability to protect themselves with a new variant.
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So that we have to make sure that we're testing to make sure that people with fever are not going
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If people do get diagnosed and sick with COVID or influenza, that we have some early treatment
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Those are the kinds of things that would be effective measures.
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When we began this, we didn't know much about this virus, fair enough.
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But by the time we got into July and August, that was when we should have taken a different,
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And the fact that, that we have doctors, so disappointing doctors.
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And chief medical officers that are still trying to perpetuate this idea that everyone
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It's creating unnecessary fear and it's creating an unnecessary amount of public support for
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measures that simply don't work and cause so much harm to our, to our young people.
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It's interesting that Alberta did go into subsequent lockdowns because I credit Alberta and the Alberta
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Health Service with being, I think, the most open source with data.
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Alberta, the writing I did on comorbidity work, although Statistics Canada verified the Alberta
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figures did hold true nationally, but Alberta was the only one that released the info that
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told us that 75% of persons who died of COVID were struggling with not one, not two, but three
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And things like obesity are not considered a health condition.
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And it's like, wow, that really, you know, that could have helped us do a better response
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And I wonder, I mean, can you explain to me what went awry in Alberta and the UCP and the
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Kenney government such that that data maybe wasn't used in a more productive way?
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I, I strongly suspect that there's a lot of pressure that comes from the federal level of government.
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I don't know that we've ever, uh, we've ever admitted that, but when I, you, you, you don't
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see health jurisdictions locking, walking in lockstep so, uh, stridently as we did during
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this, if it's not being directed from the office of the, uh, of the public health officer at
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And I think that that's really what set the tone.
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So Tam calling Dina Hinshaw or Trudeau calling Kenney or.
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No, I think it would have been through the, through, through Teresa Tam and the public
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health office, um, because the, it, it seems to me, because I was trying to understand where
00:11:22.120
the clampdown on doctors who wanted to treat their patients came from.
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And it does seem like there was some kind of safety protocol that was issued by the public
00:11:30.420
health agency that then ended up spreading out through the public health agencies provincially
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and ended up dictating how our colleges started treating our frontline doctors and nurses and
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So this is part of the reason why we need to establish an Alberta sovereignty act is the
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first thing that I said I would do if I get elected, because we need to chart our own course.
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Healthcare is a provincial level of responsibility.
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We have the right to be able to determine the best healthcare protocols and practices for our
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And I don't feel that the, uh, the federal government made the right balance on this.
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I want to make sure that if Dr. Teresa Tam is saying that three jabs are going to be
00:12:08.800
mandatory that we have the opportunity to say, actually, no, we're not going to abide by that.
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If she says that, uh, vaccination for children is going to be mandatory, we're going to say,
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no, we don't believe that we're going to do that.
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If she wants to start asking us to quarantine healthy citizens, we're going to say, no, we're not
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We don't, I don't want Alberta to be the enforcement arm of, um, a federal agency.
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That's kind of out of touch with, uh, the, um, the most recent data and out of touch with what it
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is that is, that is, that is desired in our province.
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So those are, and I'm, I don't think that that's an idle concern that the federal government did not
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There's a reason that language is being used already.
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We've stopped doing COVID updates and we've said that we're going to have an integrated approach to
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reporting on influenza and Corona viruses, the same way that we did the flu watch, which is your
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reset every year in, in August, you watch as it rises and as it falls and you give, uh, give
00:13:11.760
So we're going to start doing that, but already I'm hearing the same usual suspects in the medical
00:13:16.580
health profession saying, oh my goodness, we've got to be prepared for more lockdowns.
00:13:20.440
So there, there is obviously some kind of pressure coming.
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I suspect it's, it's coming through the, uh, the federal, uh, health agency and we just want to make
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sure that we assert for our burdens that we're going to put our liberties first.
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We're going to put the health and mental health of our, of our young people first.
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We're going to make sure that we don't lock down and close down hospitals so that we can ensure
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we're diagnosing patients with cancer, making sure that we're managing chronic conditions.
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There is so much legacy problem we are going to have going forward and dealing with ongoing
00:13:51.020
health issues because we didn't have the right balance.
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And we're not going to exacerbate that by making the same mistakes again, this time around.
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We'll be back with more with Daniel Smith in just a moment.
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00:14:15.980
Daniel, you mentioned that Alberta sovereignty act.
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That'll be one of the first things that you do.
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I know you're talking about it when it comes to not enforcing say federally required mandates
00:14:30.740
I know you also mentioned things like the carbon tax, but there have already been court
00:14:34.800
challenges around that and Alberta and Ontario and Saskatchewan lost those court challenges.
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What is the workability of an Alberta sovereignty act?
00:14:43.900
How do you actually go about and say to the feds, uh-uh, not doing it?
00:14:48.780
I haven't figured out how we get around the carbon tax yet, but I'm working on it.
00:14:53.440
But here's where I think it is more practical is if you look at the court decision or opinion
00:15:00.680
that came out of the Court of Appeal a few weeks ago on C-69.
00:15:06.300
But what it really is, is the No More Build Anything in the natural resource sector anywhere
00:15:11.140
in Alberta or the rest of the country without federal approval bill.
00:15:14.020
And that's not how our constitution was designed.
00:15:16.600
That's not what the Natural Resources Transfer Act was about.
00:15:19.060
It's not what Peter Lougheed fought for when he got our exclusive right to develop our resources
00:15:26.920
What it's supposed to mean, the way our country's supposed to work, how our founders originally
00:15:31.160
intended it, is that projects that are within provincial boundaries get provincial oversight
00:15:37.700
And the federal government has interfered every single step of the way.
00:15:41.640
When you look at how different Quebec is treated, as I've often said, I don't think Quebec is
00:15:45.740
sitting back cowering and worried the federal government is going to come in and kibosh their projects.
00:15:52.320
The federal government's sitting there worrying and cowering about Quebec.
00:15:58.860
So in the last number of years, for instance, asbestos was one of the deadly products that
00:16:10.000
Quebec was allowed to continue developing and mining asbestos for decades after that.
00:16:15.960
There was a massive cement plant that was approved that has more emissions than Energy East would
00:16:21.200
have, more emissions than Suncor would have, and bypassed the usual environmental approvals.
00:16:27.240
Montreal was dumping 2 billion gallons of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River.
00:16:34.700
Meanwhile, here in Alberta, we've got Suncor that has promised to reach a net zero target by 2050.
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And Environment Minister Stephen Gobeau says, I don't think I'm going to give you approval to expand that.
00:16:47.200
They also wanted to develop their mining operation.
00:16:49.780
They canceled it because of federal interference.
00:16:52.360
I met with the nuclear representatives because there's the first rollout of small modular nuclear
00:16:57.720
reactors are likely to be in our oil sands here, which would allow us to develop our oil sands with
00:17:04.740
They said, well, we probably won't be able to get approval until sometime in the 2030s because of this
00:17:09.980
new bill, Bill C-69, which prevents us from making decisions to adopt small modular reactors if
00:17:16.840
they're more than 200 megawatts in power and heat being generated.
00:17:20.880
When I look at this, I'm shaking my head thinking we are in a responsible environmental jurisdiction.
00:17:26.840
We have our companies who want to be at the forefront of that.
00:17:29.120
This is what the federal government says is a priority.
00:17:32.260
They're constantly talking about a climate emergency, and yet they're standing in our
00:17:36.040
way every step of the way in a way they absolutely would not do in Quebec.
00:17:40.360
So we just want to be treated the same way as Quebec.
00:17:42.560
We want to be treated the way the Constitution has been written and the way our founders intended
00:17:47.200
And if they're not going to leave us alone, we're just going to push them back in their lane
00:17:52.560
And as I've said, we won't have a constitutional crisis if they just give us the respect that we
00:17:58.420
And so we're going to, but to change the relationship, we're the ones who have to change.
00:18:02.980
We're the ones who have to draw the line in the sand because it's not acceptable anymore.
00:18:08.060
So that's why we need to act and we need to act quickly.
00:18:11.980
I want to talk about 2014, you leaving the Wild Rose Party as leader crossing the floor,
00:18:17.420
It was eight years ago, but I think politics is a world where people like to hold a lot of grudges.
00:18:22.020
And I know back then things people said, and some people still saying them now.
00:18:29.020
Daniel Smith practically handed the win to Rachel Notley and the NDP because of doing that.
00:18:33.560
What do you say to the voices who have continued to say that?
00:18:38.580
There's no question that it was probably the worst political decision any politician's ever
00:18:54.540
I mean, he didn't cause the problems in Alberta.
00:18:59.820
And so I think we were premature in having a conversation about unity and how to work together.
00:19:05.600
And we certainly went about doing it the wrong way.
00:19:08.380
And both of us received the punishment for that, and rightly so.
00:19:13.320
But I think when I look at where we're at now, I think we now see that the NDP are strong.
00:19:24.620
And if we split on the right, then we're going to end up seeing another Rachel Notley government.
00:19:30.100
So when I was looking at the lay of the land, we were seeing so many different parties split
00:19:33.860
off because of the issues I was talking about here.
00:19:36.460
We have Paul Himans gone back to the Wild Rose Independence Party.
00:19:39.940
We had two MLAs who were talking about starting their own parties after they got kicked out of
00:19:45.160
We have a Buffalo project and a Buffalo party that got all of the signatures to run candidates.
00:19:50.760
There's a group called the Alberta Prosperity Project that is thinking of running candidates
00:19:56.560
And when I looked at the lay of that land, I thought, my goodness, if we do not address
00:20:00.800
autonomy, address issues of liberty, we're going to see this conservative libertarian movement
00:20:08.100
And it will mean that Rachel Notley will win next time.
00:20:10.740
So I thought I could be an agent of unity, having been somebody who tried to bring unity to
00:20:17.720
I was cheering Jason Kenney and Brian Jean along as they did it the right way.
00:20:22.260
And I don't want to see this party split apart.
00:20:24.940
I think it's part of the reason Brian Jean jumped back in again.
00:20:27.500
He also doesn't want to see, after all the hard work he put in, this party split apart.
00:20:32.220
So I hope people see that I'm trying to be constructive on this.
00:20:36.880
I didn't run away when I had my political failure.
00:20:42.380
Some days were pretty rough in those first three months.
00:20:44.640
I can tell you that, but I think people understand that I've always put Alberta first and I'm
00:20:49.140
going to continue to have a voice advocating for good policy one way or the other.
00:20:53.160
And this just seems like the best time for me to make my voice heard and to try to be
00:20:57.460
that constructive leader who can bring this party together, but also change the relationship
00:21:03.860
As Wild Rose leader, you definitely described yourself as libertarian, big free speech advocate,
00:21:09.040
but there were also people in the party who were more social conservative.
00:21:12.120
I know you've said the fit wasn't always that great.
00:21:15.580
I always valued your commitment to free speech.
00:21:17.800
I think people roll their eyes when candidates get fired for, oh, here's something they put
00:21:24.060
It's like, oh my God, we just had an election in Ontario and some of the stuff was just ridiculous.
00:21:30.100
You had a few incidents back during, well, it's 10 years ago now, that some people would
00:21:35.240
say is one of the reasons why you did not become premier back then in 2012 when you guys
00:21:39.820
were really high in the polls with the Wild Rose, people who were saying some homophobic
00:21:44.420
things, some candidates, very sort of aggressive social remarks.
00:21:48.400
And you said, look, I'm not in the business of, you know, these aren't my views.
00:21:51.480
It's not the party's views, but I'm not axing people for these comments.
00:21:54.880
And then later you said, maybe we should reevaluate that policy.
00:21:57.820
Now, when we talk about cancel culture more and more now, I am not defending or delving
00:22:02.780
into the deep of what these candidates even said.
00:22:07.180
How would you confront those sorts of issues as UCP leader?
00:22:12.460
There's a lot of learning that I think a lot of conservative parties have had based on our
00:22:20.260
And I've taken a cue from how other leaders subsequently have dealt with controversial candidates.
00:22:26.240
I mean, I believe in free speech, free expression, free advocacy.
00:22:31.200
I don't believe that cancel culture is, it's not sustainable.
00:22:36.440
It's not good for society to have people feel like their voice can't be heard because then
00:22:40.860
it just pushes voices to the fringes and we become more polarized.
00:22:43.700
So I want to do what I can to reverse that so we can have a more constructive conversation
00:22:50.820
Because soon there's going to be no one left to look through all of our Facebook posts.
00:22:54.900
Or we'll all be going to the podcast that we agree with and not hearing anything from
00:23:04.120
All that being said, politics is a team sport and we're not like America.
00:23:09.240
In America, you can be a leader and run independently and it doesn't matter who's running with you
00:23:13.600
because you can get elected without the team being behind you.
00:23:16.600
And so that's why I think that there's a lot more tolerance for a range of views in the U.S.
00:23:21.800
But in Canada, one person can tear down the entire team and prevent you from being able to win.
00:23:27.920
So I think the balance that we saw, and I think it was Erin O'Toole who did this as well as Jason
00:23:34.920
Kenney, is that if you have a candidate who's controversial or being destructive, you have
00:23:45.260
So if I could do it over again and that candidate made the statements they did, I probably would
00:23:50.680
call an emergency meeting of our candidates and just hear everybody out and then have a vote.
00:23:55.780
If this person stays on the ballot and wins, will they sit with caucus?
00:24:00.980
Because I think in that situation, if I had been more responsive and allowed my candidates
00:24:05.940
and my team to weigh in, I suspect that that's how it would have been resolved.
00:24:09.460
And so I think that that's the right balance because I do want to make sure that the candidates
00:24:13.680
that get elected, and you don't want to interfere too much as a leader in what's going on at
00:24:20.380
But I think the balance is make sure you send us a good candidate that's going to be a
00:24:23.780
good member of the team, otherwise the team is not going to be able to support them.
00:24:27.540
That's, I think, probably the way you try to deal with those issues.
00:24:31.180
Not everybody's a great candidate for office, and I think people have to be a little self-reflective.
00:24:36.420
If they feel so stridently about one or two issues, maybe advocacy is their place.
00:24:43.520
But you have to be able to ensure that once you get elected, you're not going to tear the
00:24:47.140
team down and you're going to represent all your constituents.
00:24:49.260
I think that's maybe the nuance that has happened over the last 10 years, is I've watched other
00:24:53.720
leaders deal with these issues in a different way.
00:24:56.960
Danielle, you referenced some emerging splinter groups in Alberta, or at least splinter sentiments
00:25:03.220
So perhaps the party name United Conservative Party is, at least in the interim, a bit of a
00:25:10.540
What is the party that you are now vying to lead?
00:25:14.280
You know, it's funny, because Jason Kenney, I'd known for a very long time, and I thought
00:25:19.820
he was going to be a three-term premier, as beloved as Ralph Klein, and that I was going
00:25:29.760
And the work that he has done on representing Alberta and our energy sector, not only to the
00:25:35.960
rest of the country, but also internationally, has been stellar.
00:25:39.160
He's done a terrific job of attracting new investment into Alberta.
00:25:42.640
And in embracing this net zero future, with not only the oil sands project saying they're
00:25:48.400
going to be net zero, but we also have a petrochemical plant, Dow Chemical, that's going
00:25:53.200
We've got a hydrogen economy building up with air products that's going to be net zero.
00:25:57.240
We've got major international investment coming in on the tech sector.
00:26:00.960
So all of that I want to preserve and celebrate.
00:26:03.320
I want to make sure that people understand that the core of what the UCP was about still
00:26:10.040
But the splinters that happened occurred because of the approach on COVID.
00:26:14.580
And I think the premier was doing a reasonably good job up until this last round.
00:26:18.780
He had said we weren't going to have vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, forced vaccination.
00:26:28.040
People were getting fired from their public sector jobs for not being vaccinated.
00:26:31.680
And I think that was a fundamental breaking point with a portion of the membership, which
00:26:37.280
And then the other issue was we got a very clear mandate from the people that they wanted
00:26:44.540
And unfortunately, the premier, maybe because of the circumstances he was in having to work
00:26:48.540
collaboratively with the federal government, he didn't act on that.
00:26:52.440
And so I think that was the other reason why people said, well, gee, we've done, we've been
00:26:57.440
You just got a mandate from the people in a referendum.
00:27:00.760
You just did a broad-based consultation on a fair deal, and these are the things we want
00:27:06.860
So I would say that as we start acting on those, we'll bring that part of the coalition
00:27:11.980
So I'm not as concerned about the long-term prospects for unity.
00:27:16.320
And I think it's more important than ever because the progressive vote under Rachel Notley
00:27:25.300
And so I think that a leadership process can be very, very healthy that way.
00:27:29.980
We've got a broad spectrum of candidates running.
00:27:32.640
I have a great admiration for everyone who's in the race.
00:27:35.680
I hope it can be a little more constructive than what we're seeing at the federal level,
00:27:39.120
which is getting a little bit nasty between candidates.
00:27:42.600
But if we can do all of that, I have no doubt that the party will be unified at the end of
00:27:47.880
Danielle, I was dismayed when I learned that you were leaving your radio program back a year
00:27:54.880
And I was so pleased that you were standing up against the COVID crazies.
00:27:59.220
You explained your rationale in a guest op-ed at nationalpost.com.
00:28:02.540
I'm leaving Twitter and radio because I've had enough of the mob.
00:28:06.540
Tell me a bit about that and then also reconcile it with the fact that I think you're jumping
00:28:15.660
A couple of things is I've noticed what's been so encouraging over the last year and a half
00:28:22.440
since I've left radio has been to see all of the robust conversation happening in the
00:28:29.480
I used to take the view when I was on mainstream media was, okay, I'll watch the alternative
00:28:34.620
and if something jumps over into the mainstream, I'll know that that's been validated and so
00:28:42.100
I'm finding that I read something in the mainstream media and I go to the alternative media to
00:28:51.860
I always felt like the mainstream media was supposed to be that voice of being fair and
00:28:59.960
And sadly, they weren't doing that in the last couple of years.
00:29:03.020
So the mob that I'm referring to goes to, it's funny because you probably remember this
00:29:08.640
I got involved in newspapers back in the 90s and we always had a letters page and the
00:29:15.660
letters were always very heavily curated and they were edited.
00:29:19.880
And so we had the general public say their piece, but it wasn't destructive.
00:29:27.740
Like you had to write a letter if you were angry at something you saw in the air and it would
00:29:32.540
Now with a print of a button, you can have thousands of people on Twitter get outraged
00:29:37.920
about one sentence, one radio host says in one program, and it can result in the loss
00:29:43.380
of their reputation and the loss of their career.
00:29:45.960
You've got also a lot of, I think there's a lot of skittishness on the part of advertisers
00:29:51.160
that they're terrified that they're going to have boycott campaigns against them.
00:29:55.380
And so any slight whiff of controversy and they're calling the bosses saying you got to
00:30:01.280
And that's not what talk radio is supposed to be and it's not what the opinion pages
00:30:06.940
So I think the only place we're actually getting the robust debate that we truly need is in
00:30:14.100
Podcasts like yours, Western Standard, Rebel Media and True North on the right, Canada Lens
00:30:22.020
And I'm hoping that that creates the environment that I always felt the media should do.
00:30:27.740
The media is such an important part of our democracy.
00:30:34.120
They're not supposed to just be a propaganda arm of government.
00:30:37.440
They're really supposed to be holding our institutions to account.
00:30:40.620
And I had a bit of a despair a year and a half ago that that wasn't happening.
00:30:45.360
Feel far much more enthusiasm towards the broader view of media these days because I'm seeing
00:30:53.540
And it gives me hope that we're actually going to return to some kind of fairness and
00:30:58.260
It was nice Netflix didn't cancel those comedy specials.
00:31:00.660
You know, the recent ones that they were angry about?
00:31:06.260
I mean, it's hard because I understand, especially in the cultural institutions, that they are very
00:31:11.960
But I read the statement that Netflix said, said, look, like we're in the entertainment business.
00:31:17.100
And if you're not able to watch something without having a meltdown, maybe this isn't the place
00:31:24.820
And I do hope that others take that to heart, that you don't have to agree with everything
00:31:30.900
But part of our practice in our Western liberal democracies is that we do allow that robust
00:31:40.260
And it's the only way that I think we end up eliminating the polarization we have in society.
00:31:44.960
And yet, Danielle, the things you're saying in terms of absolute defiance against people
00:31:50.140
pushing for COVID stuff that you anticipate coming up in respiratory virus season, Alberta
00:31:55.560
Sovereignty Act, which as long as Trudeau is still prime minister, there's going to be
00:32:07.740
As you know, I know how to take a punch and I know how to give a punch.
00:32:10.840
And the way I'm looking at this now is our biggest battle in Alberta to protect my people
00:32:15.660
and to protect our ability to generate wealth and be prosperous and to be the place that
00:32:20.560
we are is to make sure that Ottawa stays out of our lane, stays in its own areas of
00:32:36.600
I mean, if they gave us the same respect and treatment as Quebec, I think we would have
00:32:42.060
But I feel like they are not seeing everything that we're doing in Alberta.
00:32:45.620
I think there's an ideology that is represented among people like Stephen Galbault, the environment
00:32:53.800
minister, who is so extreme in his environmental views.
00:32:57.840
We've been told this story for the last 10 years that the entire planet was going to switch
00:33:05.140
I think that got blown under the water with Michael Moore's documentary, Planet of the
00:33:09.260
Humans and the Big Green Lies, which is another documentary where it became quite clear that
00:33:15.900
wind and solar use a lot of fossil fuels in their development.
00:33:22.900
The transportation to get all of those wind turbines to site use fossil fuels.
00:33:27.180
The crystalline silicon uses coal to be able to develop the solar panels.
00:33:31.400
So we have to have a broad perspective on what the environmental impact is of each of the
00:33:40.580
And Alberta is on this track of being net zero in all those products.
00:33:44.040
Net zero in steel, net zero in cement, net zero in transportation fuels as we switch to
00:33:49.200
Net zero by being able to capture and bury CO2 from our various development of hydrocarbons.
00:33:56.820
There's the ability for us to develop bitumen to asphalt, which we're all going to need because
00:34:01.920
we're all going to have to have roads to drive on, whether we're driving a combustion engine
00:34:08.440
We have 6,000 different construction materials and products that are made out of our conventional
00:34:15.320
So there is a different way to achieve the same ends.
00:34:17.780
And that's what I've been promoting, is that we can be in sync on meeting our international
00:34:23.300
commitments, but the way we meet them in Alberta is going to be very different than the way
00:34:27.720
we meet them in Quebec, which has the benefit of cheap hydropower that they get from a long
00:34:33.600
So that's the perspective that I think Ottawa is missing.
00:34:36.580
And if they need someone to educate them directly, I'm just the person to do it.
00:34:40.420
I've been talking about this now for six or seven years, and I'm prepared to have that
00:34:44.900
Danielle, if you don't win the leadership, are you still going to run as an MLA regardless?
00:34:48.680
Yes, I actually got asked if I would run locally as an MLA.
00:34:55.080
And then when I launched, I let people know that if the bigger job became open, I would
00:35:04.520
And as I said, I have great respect for the people who have put their name forward.
00:35:09.980
Danielle Smith, thanks so much for stopping by.
00:35:17.120
This episode was produced by Andre Proulx, with theme music by Bryce Hall.
00:35:24.000
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00:35:28.960
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