Jason Kenney is WRONG about Alberta Independence - Let me count the ways
Episode Stats
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Summary
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former cabinet minister Jason Kenney calls separatists a "fringe movement" and says he has a chance to "write wrongs" in Alberta. I think Kenney is deluding himself.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel. Great to have you along today. It is 6 a.m., May the 2nd.
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I've got my big blue mug of coffee Friday. Looking forward to the weekend, and I apologize if this
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becomes a little bit of a rant today. It may. I don't know. But I'm going to go off on Jason
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Kenney today, former Premier of Alberta, former Cabinet Minister under Stephen Harper, a number
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of different portfolios. Very well-accomplished man, but he ain't reading the room. Calls himself
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in Alberta and drives around in a pickup truck. He ain't getting it. He's not understanding
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what's going on here. He's been hanging out in Ottawa too long. You need to talk to the
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people out here. I did when I went out to Poliev's rally just before the election. Everybody
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I talked to, and I spoke to dozens of people, said, if the Liberals get in, it's over for
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Alberta. We need to get the hell out. And now, Kenney's wading into the separatist movement,
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calling us a fringe movement. Do you remember, I think it was Trudeau called us an unacceptable
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fringe a few years ago. Remember that? I didn't forget that. Why am I talking about this? Well,
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there's been a lot of articles right now. The elites out in Ottawa are starting to think maybe
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something's happening out here in Alberta because we're organizing, folks. Tomorrow there is an
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independence rally in Edmonton. I'm driving three hours from Calgary. If you live in the Edmonton
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area, anywhere within an hour, you need to be at the legislature from one to three. I'm emceeing the
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event. There'll be a number of speakers. I understand there'll be some agitators showing up as well,
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so we need to yell those nuts down too. They're all on the left. But let's just look at this
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article. You're seeing lots of this right now. Carney must prioritize quelling Western discontent.
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Lots of stories right now about the separatist movement and Alberta leaving, particularly after
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the other day, the new rules that Daniel Smith laid out saying how many signatures we need to get
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a referendum. So this article's here, but I want to bring this to your attention.
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Braid, former UCP Premier Jason Kenney refutes separatists, says Carney has a chance to write
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wrongs. He won't. He's not Trudeau 2.0. He's worse. I'm not going to read this whole article
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to you. I want to actually get to his ex-post because it's delusional because he didn't really
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go off right here like he did on his ex-post, which is just absolutely insane.
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So just quickly here, resentment and anxiety in Alberta, a very real thing. Kenney said in an
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interview, Alberta and the resource-producing parts of Western Canada have totally legitimate
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grievances about the direction of policy under the Trudeau government and totally legitimate
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anxieties about where it will go under Carney. But when it comes to separation, I think the so-called
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separatist movement in Alberta has never been a serious enterprise. It's always been a fringe
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movement that I think is counterproductive. Fringe. Fringe movement.
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Just keep thinking this, Mr. Kenney. I remember somebody else who didn't understand, didn't
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get it, didn't read the room when it came to the separatist movement. I remember 1995. Remember
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Mr. Kenney? Just keep thinking that way because John Chrétien thought it was a fringe movement
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in 95 when Quebec had a referendum. And I believe it was Jean Charest who came in at the last moment,
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made his name by saving the day. They came that close because people didn't understand
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the feelings of the people who lived in Quebec at the time. You, Mr. Kenney, are not understanding
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what's going on out here in Alberta and you call yourself a Westerner.
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Today's separatist movement nowhere near as organized as it was in those days, talking about
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the National Energy Program, 1980s. Albertans were even angrier then to a point that a rally
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packed 2,500 people in Edmonton's Jubilee Auditorium. I've mentioned it here many times.
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Back in 2019, I spoke to James Albers who was there as well. 1,100 people packed an auditorium
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in North Calgary. We're pissed off back then. How pissed off are they now? They want it out
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then. We want out now. Kearney's got an amazing opportunity to start with a clean slate, but
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he won't. Kearney has said he wants Canada to be an energy superpower. Well, he's kind
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of waffled on that. I think green energy superpower. He thinks he can put up windmills and solar
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panels across the country, put wires in between them, and power a country, the second largest
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country in the world. Not going to happen. A line borrowed from Stephen Harper. He said
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he wants to get oil and gas to global markets and advance major projects. Build, build, build.
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Those things are all music to my ears. Do you know who Mark Kearney is, Mr. Kenney? Do you
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have any idea who he is? Millions of people the other night voted for the Liberal Party because
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of 51st State. They don't know who Mark Kearney is either. He's one of the biggest climate
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zealots on the planet. He's one of the leaders of the net zero movement in the world. Let me
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refresh your memory, Mr. Kenney. We can't meet our ultimate objectives, which is to get to
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net zero emissions. We can't get there unless we do not just have a cap on emissions, but
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those emissions are brought effectively to zero. Now, so far, carbon prices have been applied
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sparingly. They've been set far too low. And Mr. Kenney, Daniel Smith has been very clear
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what Ottawa has to do to make nice with Alberta. Laying out all of the rules and all the things
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that have to be done in order for Alberta to be satisfied. And from what I understand,
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and from what I've heard from Mr. Kearney, he's committed to none of them.
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And so I, at the very beginning of the campaign, said whoever got elected, I would expect them
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to address the nine offensive pieces of legislation and policy that prevent us from being able
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to exercise our constitutional jurisdiction to develop our resources. We want to see a
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guaranteed access to economic corridors that include pipelines to get to new markets. We
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want the repealing of Bill C-69 so that we do not have an unending process for approvals
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that essentially means no more pipelines can be built. We need to lift the tanker ban off the
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B.C. coast. We need to eliminate the oil and gas emissions cap that has been proposed,
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which is a production cap. We need to scrap the so-called clean electricity regulations.
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We need to end the treatment of plastics as toxic. We need to abandon the net zero car mandate. We need
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to return oversight of the industrial carbon tax fully to provincial jurisdiction. And we need to
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halt the federal censorship of energy companies. So let's go to Kenny's ex-post. Albertans have good
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reason to be deeply frustrated with Ottawa. He talks about the $20 billion we pay to the rest of the
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country each and every year. We're running deficits here in Alberta. If we could keep the $20 billion
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we'd be rich, but we can't. And there's other grievances, by the way, to the Easterners who think
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we're just having a temper tantrum out here. Let's go down to here. In these and other fights, Alberta wins
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when we make alliances with other provinces and patiently make the case to our fellow Canadians. Well,
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how long do we have to be patient? 40 years? Takes us back to the National Energy Programme.
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Just look at the recent polling showing that supermajorities support both oil and gas pipelines
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in every province. Yeah, and Carney is going to hitch his wagon to the Bloc Québécois. And just the other
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day, the leader of the Bloc Québécois said this. And the fact that there's no future for oil and gas,
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at least in Quebec and probably everywhere. Let's go back to Kenny's ex-post. He then goes into his
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resume for some reason. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish here by doing this. Perhaps
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he wants to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada or something, like Doug Ford in Ontario
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and Tim Houston out in Nova Scotia. That'll be the day. Because I want to say this, while I join most
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Albertans in being disappointed with Monday's election results, let's hold PM Carney to his words
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about making Canada a global energy superpower, deregulating to build big projects, including
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pipelines, which we can't do. But if we turn inward into a pointless debate on the charade of
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separation, we'll reverse that momentum, never make a threat you can't keep. Well, we're not making a
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threat, Mr. Kenny. It's a promise. There's going to be a vote on separation out here. Despite our
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frustrations, the vast majority of Albertans are and always will be proud Canadians. We know that
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Canada isn't perfect, but it's our home and native land. So there's your faux Canadian patriotism.
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Elbows up, Mr. Kenny. Elbows up. And then we go down here and he goes to a place which
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I wish people would not go here. Okay. We can't make any changes now because of something that
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happened decades ago. We honor those who went before us, including thousands of Albertans who
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died in the defense of Canada and who lie below gravestones marked forever by the maple leaf.
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Well, I honor those people. I go to Remembrance Day ceremonies, Mr. Kenny. But we can't make a
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change in Alberta because people died decades ago for their country. Is that what you're telling me?
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People always do this. And then he goes on to say, we're Alberta proud. We'll always be part of the
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true North, strong and free. No, we're going to leave.
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Back in the Second World War, Canadian soldiers fought against tyranny. Thomas Jefferson said,
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when the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government,
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there is tyranny. Alberta fears the federal government. It's tyrannical and we want it to
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stop. You make a military reference. Let me make another military reference for you.
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Mr. Kenny, Admiral Yamamoto, after the attack on Pearl Harbor said, I will quote it exactly.
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I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.
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Well, Ottawa has awoken a sleeping giant and Alberta now has a terrible resolve and we're going
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to be successful. It won't be very long. Alberta is going to have a vote on separation, on its
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independence. Thanks very much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please
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give me a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, ring the bell for notifications, close to 30,000
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subscribers here right now. A B at the Alberta legislature tomorrow, one to three. I will see you
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there for an independence rally and I'll see you in the next one.