00:00:38My first full-time job, CFCO Radio, Chatham, Ontario.
00:00:42But in my later years, I was a radio host.
00:00:45I did play some music, but for the most part, I interviewed people, a lot of people.
00:00:49But the last 10 years of my career were my favorite.
00:00:52And I interviewed people from across the political spectrum, from Jack Layton to Stephen Harper with people like Ken Dryden when he was a liberal senator.
00:01:01I spoke with Dalton McGinty. I spoke with Elizabeth May. And yes, I even spoke with Justin Trudeau.
00:01:08But I was always very, very concerned about integrity and credibility when I did my interviews.
00:01:44it was steeped in environmentalism and climate change. And I brought him on because he was the
00:01:50guy that was introducing this. And he was the guy that was the expert on this because he was the guy
00:01:55that could provide the information for my audience. But that's not the way things are anymore in the
00:01:59media. They are spreading propaganda and government misinformation. And I would say to you during the
00:02:05referendum campaign that the federal government is going to be seeding these stories with a lot
00:02:10of media organizations. You need to be careful. We're going to talk about interference in the
00:02:15upcoming referendum, but from the standpoint of the media, which is paid for for the most part by
00:02:20you, the taxpayer and the federal government, or at least it's being kept alive by the federal
00:02:27government without seed money from you, a lot of these media organizations would die. And as far
00:02:34as I'm concerned, that's what should happen because I'll go back to a saying I've said many times
00:02:39before, George Bernard Shaw, the politician that robs Peter to pay Paul will always have a friend
00:02:46in Paul, and the media is Paul. And the government gives these people money, so they're always going
00:02:54to be friendly with the government. It's the only thing keeping them alive. So we're going to look
00:02:58at a video here. Now, just before I get to the video, I am concerned about interference in this
00:03:03election in this referendum. I'm concerned about foreign interference in this referendum. I'm
00:03:10serious about that, but not from our side. I'm concerned about it from the other side. You know,
00:03:16our side, we're following the rules. There are a number of what are known as third-party
00:03:21advertisers. They had to register with Elections Alberta, and they have to regularly report where
00:03:29they're getting their money. And they can only raise so much money, and people can only donate
00:03:33so much money. And these people are doing this on a regular basis. If they don't, they get fined.
00:03:39And I know from my side, which is part of the independence movement, I don't think I've ever
00:03:44seen a Russian trying to infiltrate the independence movement. I've never seen an
00:03:48American coming in here from the Trump administration trying to influence our
00:03:52movement. Never seen that. I've had people come to me who were from Russia who said they want out
00:03:57of Canada because they're seeing Canada turn the way the country they used to live in, which was
00:04:02communist, they're seeing Canada and they're seeing the telltale signs that Canada is going
00:04:06in the wrong direction. And the reason why many of us in the independence movement want out of
00:04:12Canada is because of mismanagement by the government. And that would be the liberal
00:04:16government. It's got nothing to do with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a big part of what's going
00:04:20on in Canada. That's for sure. I'm not happy that we've got tariffs coming in, but this is all caused
00:04:26by the liberal government. This isn't being influenced by the Russians. This isn't being
00:04:31influenced by the communist Chinese. This isn't being influenced by the Trump administration.
00:04:35This is the way I have felt for years, long before Donald Trump. Well, you know what? I guess Donald
00:04:42Trump was the president when I first got interested in the independence movement, but it was all the
00:04:47people that lost their jobs at my wife's company that got me interested in the independence
00:04:52movement. It was because of Justin Trudeau. It happened just after 2015. Nothing to do with
00:04:57Donald Trump. It had to do with the liberal government. And this is the difference between me
00:05:02and the people on the other side. They see the liberal government and Mark Carney as their
00:05:06savior sticking up for Canada against the evil Trump. I see the evil Trump taking advantage of
00:05:12Canada because of the mismanagement of the liberal government and people who vote for the liberal
00:05:16government. So let's take a look at this. So this is what I did. Here's, here, let me put this on
00:05:20the screen right now before I forget. I sent this out about a week ago. I'm concerned about
00:05:24referendum interference, I wrote CSIS because of this guy right here, Thomas Lukasik, and his
00:05:30Forever Canadian campaign. Who is funding Forever Canadian? This is important, folks. We do not know
00:05:39where his money is coming from because he has been told he does not have to report to Elections
00:05:45Alberta. He is a registered third-party advertiser, but he can just wash his hands of this because
00:05:50he's not advocating for his side. He's not campaigning for option one on question 10 in
00:05:57the referendum, which is absolute BS. And we know it. Shame on Gordon McClure. Shame on Elections
00:06:02Alberta for allowing this to happen. We do not know where Thomas Lukasik is getting his money
00:06:08and how much. Is it coming from Russia? Is it coming from China? Is it coming from the United
00:06:20States, you elbows-up Donald Trump-hating Canadians. Do you know? I'm sure there are0.87
00:06:27actors in the United States that would love to see Alberta continuing to sell its oil at cut
00:06:32rates to the United States of America, because if we get our independence, we'll likely be able to
00:06:36negotiate a better deal and sell our oil to other countries at a higher price. We don't know where
00:06:43he's getting his money or where the money goes. Could be going anywhere, folks. So I'm concerned
00:06:47about referendum interference. Now, it's a long preamble, I'm sorry, to talk about this video
00:06:56right here. I mean, this is misinformation, folks. I don't know who the guy is on the screen
00:07:02at Alberta primetime. Looks like a perfectly nice guy. You know, his editor or somebody in the
00:07:07newsroom said, hey, we got a message in. The government's worried about interference in the
00:07:12Alberta independence, get a couple of experts on. Experts. Wear a mask, stand on a dot. You know
00:07:18those kind of experts? So this is the experts he brought on, folks. Now listen to the credentials
00:07:22of the first woman. She apparently went to a seminar. Now she's on talking about interference1.00
00:07:29because she goes on social media. I don't know how much I'm going to play this. I don't want
00:07:33this video to go on forever. I'm going to play just the start of it. And then I'm going to have
00:07:37the comments of the second guy, who's a political analyst, whatever the hell that means, who smears
00:07:43the independence movement as MAGA-loving, far-right, influenced by Russia, like he's living in the
00:07:50Biden administration. Where's this guy from? And shame on the guy on the screen right here for
00:07:55bringing these people on. Remember, credibility and integrity are important. This is...
00:08:00okay sorry let's watch a little bit of this and i might just add it a little bit and jump ahead
00:08:10because i really can't take it this is here we go here we go i'm now for tonight's politics panel
00:08:17and joining us this evening lise gotel professor of women's and gender studies at the university of
00:08:23she's a professor of women and gender studies and she's on this panel talking about interference
00:08:35in the referendum and john santos is a political analyst good evening to you both and let's begin
00:08:43with uh talk shifting toward concern over the potential for foreign interference with the
00:08:48Alberta referendum now just over two months away. Lise, we heard from criminologist Kelly
00:08:53Sundberg off the top this evening. Where does concern over foreign interference land on your
00:08:58radar? Well, you know, I spent a lot of time on social media and I think I'm already starting
00:09:06to see this. The threat is really real. You know, it's real, folks, because I spent a lot of time
00:09:17on social media this is a freaking joke i'm not going to play much more of this of russia they
00:09:25don't have anything uh uh uh uh uh she has no take into account the the the desire of some0.58
00:09:33american political actors to amplify um divisions in in canada and to weaken canadian democracy so
00:09:42So, yeah, I mean, the threat is very real in terms of what Professor Sundberg was saying to us.
00:09:52You know, he was really counseling us to be vigilant about the information that we're consuming, especially online, and I agree with that.
00:10:01But I also think that because of this very real threat, the federal government and the provincial government should be investing some real resources in preventing foreign interference.