Juno News - Alberta takes Trudeau to court over use of Emergencies Act

00:00:01.000 Welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show.

00:00:05.000 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:10.000 We are coming to you live from Ottawa at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference.

00:00:15.000 This is the Andrew Lawton Show.

00:00:18.000 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:22.000 Hello everyone, welcome to the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:00:25.000 We are live from the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

00:00:31.000 I've been at this conference many times before, although not in several years.

00:00:34.000 Like everything else, COVID has killed in-person conferences for the last few years.

00:00:39.000 So this is big. I was talking to Troy Lanigan earlier, who's the president of the Canada Strong and Free Network.

00:00:44.000 The outgoing president, as you'll learn in a moment.

00:00:47.000 And he was saying that this is the best attended conference yet.

00:00:51.000 So lots of people from all over the country are here and talking about a great number of things that are connecting to the Conservative movement.

00:00:57.000 And I say movement to specify this isn't a capital-C Conservative affair in totality.

00:01:03.000 Now there is obviously a huge presence here among Conservative members of Parliament and also Conservative leadership candidates.

00:01:09.000 Notably the debate that was held last night, co-moderated by Candace Malcolm, my colleague at True North.

00:01:15.000 And also Jamil Javani, who's the incoming president of the Canada Strong and Free Network.

00:01:20.000 And if you didn't catch the debate yet, I would encourage you to watch it.

00:01:23.000 Because it was truly fantastic how a lot of issues that you don't normally hear about when the mainstream media is framing the narrative were front and centre.

00:01:33.000 And specifically the convoy, not the Freedom Convoy as this, you know, radical white supremacist neo-Nazi hate fest or the Russian-backed insurrection.

00:01:42.000 But the convoy as a reflection of Canadian frustration with the status quo in Canada, with vaccine mandates, with vaccine passports.

00:01:51.000 And it was interesting seeing how, in this debate, the Freedom Convoy, there was a one-upsmanship about it.

00:01:57.000 Of, no, I supported it first. No, I supported it first.

00:02:00.000 Leslie Lewis and Pierre Polyev, notably, were going back and forth on who was the greatest of the truck whisperers, so to speak.

00:02:06.000 And I think that was a tremendously important point.

00:02:08.000 Because this was a convoy that, as many of you watching this show know, resonated with a lot of Canadians.

00:02:14.000 Not just conventionally conservative Canadians.

00:02:17.000 And that's why it's been so important, I think, to see this really in a position where Pierre Polyev was comparatively loose-lipped about how supportive he was.

00:02:26.000 And I mean that in a good way, saying, yeah, I support the truckers.

00:02:29.000 My position hasn't changed. That's what I stand for.

00:02:32.000 So I know there's going to be a lot of stuff about the debate in the days ahead.

00:02:35.000 And we've also done some interviews with a few of the leadership candidates that we'll share with you in the days ahead.

00:02:40.000 But first, I wanted to put the spotlight on the conference itself.

00:02:44.000 You know, almost a thousand people from across the country gathered here today to discuss the state and future of the conservative movement.

00:02:51.000 I have to talk about this at first with Troy Lanigan.

00:02:54.000 Troy Lanigan, outgoing president of the Canada Strong and Free Network.

00:02:57.000 Good to talk to you.

00:02:58.000 Good to be here.

00:02:59.000 So let's start with the elephant in the room.

00:03:00.000 Are you happy to never have to put another one of these on?

00:03:02.000 They are a lot of work leading up to it.

00:03:05.000 But it's certainly rewarding once you're at the event and it's happening and seeing everybody and, boy, the energy in that room last night.

00:03:12.000 And just, you know, looking out on stage when I introduced everyone and seeing that room packed makes all the work worthwhile.

00:03:18.000 Very rewarding.

00:03:19.000 Yeah. I mean, I know the conference and previously the Manning Conference, its former iteration, has always prided itself on being the conservative movement conference, not a conservative party conference.

00:03:28.000 But in a leadership race, which the Conservative Party of Canada is in the midst of right now, there's always a lot more of a focus on the intersection of those two and the conservative movement and the conservative party.

00:03:40.000 You actually got to set the tone by having the first debate here.

00:03:43.000 What was your thought on that?

00:03:45.000 Well, look, it is it is big C and it's small C.

00:03:48.000 It's mostly a movement based conference.

00:03:50.000 But obviously this year was a unique opportunity to do that debate.

00:03:53.000 So we were happy to be able to host it.

00:03:55.000 And look, it's good for the big C and small C to talk to each other and especially for the big C to understand there's this ecosystem out there of movement organizations from right across the country.

00:04:06.000 And those relationships we have, you know, this conference helps to establish and they're important relationships.

00:04:11.000 And obviously you had, I mean, just to deal with one of the glaring things, you had one candidate missing who then the next day Patrick Brown sent out an email basically kind of mocking the debate and saying it wasn't a real debate.

00:04:23.000 I mean, what was your sense of that?

00:04:25.000 Disappointing.

00:04:26.000 Yeah, I mean.

00:04:27.000 And he was invited.

00:04:28.000 He was invited.

00:04:29.000 He was absolutely invited and we wanted him to attend.

00:04:32.000 But I mean, I mean, this is the this is the movement conference in the country each year.

00:04:38.000 If you're running for conservative leader and five of the six five to six candidates are prepared to show up, you've probably missed the boat somewhere.

00:04:44.000 Explain to me where you think going out as president of the Canada Strong and Free Network with conservative movement in this country is because we've seen a lot of fracturing.

00:04:53.000 I know you're from B.C., but in Ontario, we've got a very dis, I shouldn't say very, but a marginally disunited conservative movement because you've got these spinoff parties.

00:05:02.000 Certainly at the federal level, we had the People's Party, which did a lot better in the last election than it did in the election prior.

00:05:08.000 So what's your general assessment looking from that 30,000 foot view perspective on where the movement is?

00:05:14.000 Look, I always go back and I'm dating myself.

00:05:16.000 But when I graduated university in 1990, there was the Fraser Institute.

00:05:20.000 There was the National Citizens Coalition.

00:05:22.000 There has been an explosion of an ecosystem of conservative, free market, libertarian groups across the country.

00:05:28.000 And I I've sort of lived through that and participated through it.

00:05:31.000 So and they are so important.

00:05:33.000 That ecosystem is so important to, you know, to developing policy and attitudes in the public, because that's where the real battles are.

00:05:41.000 It's where the public is at in sentiment and politicians and my view anyway, follow follow public sentiment.

00:05:48.000 And so that this ecosystem of organizations is so important.

00:05:52.000 And that has really exploded over the last 20 to 30 years in this country, importantly.

00:05:57.000 And it's represented here.

00:05:58.000 If you go down the halls, we've got, you know, we've sold all our exhibitor booths, so many different organizations represented here.

00:06:05.000 And that's exciting.

00:06:06.000 And this is the one event in Canada once a year that everyone gets together, whether you're socially conservative, whether you're more libertarian.

00:06:13.000 This is the broad cross section of the movement.

00:06:15.000 And I think also there's just a great point here about how all of these groups have come together after two years of not being able to have these sorts of conferences.

00:06:23.000 So I know they're I mean, a part of it is I think people would go to like a frozen food convention now, but you've also done a tremendous amount to really rebuild and energize a movement that, again, for the last couple of years, especially on the COVID issue, has been very challenging.

00:06:36.000 So, well, we've been we've been online the last couple of years.

00:06:39.000 Yeah. But, you know, I knew in my emails, in my texts and the phone conversation, I just sensed that there was a buzz.

00:06:45.000 You know, 700 is usually the maximum we've ever had at this event.

00:06:49.000 We sold 904 tickets last night.

00:06:51.000 So that is a reflection that everyone was just so ready to get together in person.

00:06:55.000 And you just sensed a real upbeat attitude and vibe last night.

00:07:00.000 And it continues on today in the hallways.

00:07:02.000 It's great.

00:07:03.000 So what's next for you?

00:07:04.000 I'll be staying with the Manning Foundation.

00:07:06.000 There's two organizations.

00:07:07.000 This is the former Manning Center that now Jamil is going to be taking over and leading at the Manning Foundation, which which has a set of activities and working with Preston.

00:07:16.000 So I'll be staying involved with that.

00:07:17.000 Secondstreet.org is another organization I'm involved with.

00:07:20.000 I'll be spending more time with that and some consulting work and different things.

00:07:23.000 I will be involved.

00:07:25.000 I'm a dedicated movement activist my whole life, and that won't change.

00:07:29.000 All right. Well, it's not political retirement then.

00:07:31.000 Troy, great to see you as always. Congratulations.

00:07:33.000 Thank you so much, Andrew.

00:07:35.000 I always love talking to Troy.

00:07:36.000 I mean, I know I love talking to Jamil as well, as evidenced by the fact that I am about to do exactly that.

00:07:41.000 But there is a very much a torch passing moment here as Troy steps back into his role now with the Manning Foundation and leaves this body here, the Canada Strong and Free Network,

00:07:51.000 formerly the Manning Center to do the work moving forward, including putting on this conference, which I'm assuming is no easy undertaking.

00:07:58.000 I've put together events and I know that something of this size takes a lot of time to put together.

00:08:03.000 One thing that I think really struck me about what Troy was saying there, and it goes back to the Patrick Brown issue.

00:08:09.000 Patrick Brown made a determination for whatever reason.

00:08:12.000 Maybe he was afraid of going to the debate.

00:08:13.000 Maybe he genuinely thinks he can get more votes selling memberships in Atlantic Canada, whatever the case is.

00:08:18.000 But he didn't want to be in a room with conservatives, with movement conservatives.

00:08:24.000 Is it that he doesn't want to take the questions?

00:08:26.000 Is it that he doesn't want to be in the audience?

00:08:28.000 Is it that he doesn't like the audience?

00:08:29.000 I don't know.

00:08:30.000 And I'm not going to speculate, but it was very interesting to see how he responded.

00:08:34.000 I'm going to read the email that I mentioned with Troy that came from Patrick Brown's team today.

00:08:39.000 He says, did you watch last night's debate?

00:08:42.000 Media are saying I won it last night.

00:08:44.000 That's because I was in Atlantic Canada growing our party where we need to win the next election.

00:08:48.000 The debate was a two hour shouting match full of interruptions, mistruths and over the top attacks designed to score cheap social media sound bites.

00:08:56.000 I'm sure Justin Trudeau loved every second of it, but I didn't and I doubt you did either.

00:09:01.000 Now, I've talked to a lot of people here who said they did like the debate.

00:09:04.000 And what they didn't like is Patrick Brown doing his Monday morning quarterbacking for a debate that he never participated in.

00:09:10.000 Now, as many of you know, I'm hosting a debate on May 30th that the Independent Press Gallery is putting together.

00:09:16.000 And Patrick Brown's been invited. He's not yet confirmed.

00:09:19.000 In fact, I should point out that Pierre Polyev has not yet confirmed either.

00:09:22.000 Neither has Scott Aitchison.

00:09:24.000 That's going to be coming up.

00:09:25.000 We want them to be there.

00:09:26.000 And the message has always been that if you are not prepared to sell your ideas to an audience of conservatives in a leadership race,

00:09:33.000 are you going to be willing to do that when you are in a general election?

00:09:37.000 And that was the big frustration with Aaron O'Toole.

00:09:39.000 A lot of people heard him say all the right things in the leadership race, talking to conservatives.

00:09:44.000 But when it came time for the general election was nowhere to be found.

00:09:47.000 Wasn't sitting down with independent media.

00:09:49.000 Wasn't talking about the flagship red meat conservative issues that defined his leadership campaign.

00:09:54.000 And a lot of people still remember that.

00:09:56.000 And I think the leadership race now is happening in the shadow of that.

00:10:00.000 I want to talk about this a little bit more.

00:10:02.000 We'll break down the debate and also talk about the future of the Canada Strong and Free Network with Jamil Javani.

00:10:08.000 Jamil, it is good to talk to you. Thanks for coming today.

00:10:10.000 Thanks, Andrew. Yeah, great to be with you.

00:10:12.000 And obviously this is a big moment.

00:10:14.000 The handoff from one president to the other of this organization.

00:10:17.000 But also, I think just the place of this conference itself right now in the conservative leadership race.

00:10:23.000 You and my colleague Candace Malcolm co-hosted that debate last night.

00:10:27.000 What were your thoughts on it looking back?

00:10:29.000 Well, you know, we wanted to give the candidates a chance to present their ideas and also show some contrast.

00:10:34.000 And I think they did that.

00:10:35.000 You know, they got into it.

00:10:36.000 Especially Sheree and Polyev, I think really showed a difference in at least in tone, style,

00:10:42.000 but also in how I think they would approach leading the party.

00:10:45.000 So I was happy with that.

00:10:47.000 I think the viewers got a better sense of who each of these individuals are who are asking to be prime minister one day, right?

00:10:54.000 And that's the hope of the debate is that the audience gets a sense of,

00:10:57.000 is this someone I trust to actually lead my country?

00:10:59.000 And, you know, there are times where a lot of folks might think,

00:11:02.000 oh, does that matter that much who the prime minister is?

00:11:05.000 With Justin Trudeau, I think we've seen it does matter, right?

00:11:08.000 You know, the prime minister can make a big difference.

00:11:10.000 And so I think it's an important thing to have a debate like this.

00:11:12.000 Yeah, and one thing, I've had this conversation with Candace previously as well.

00:11:15.000 A lot of these debates are really focused in ways that are predicated on left-wing premises,

00:11:22.000 or at least not conservative premises.

00:11:24.000 And they aren't always asking the questions that matter to conservatives who are voting in this leadership race.

00:11:29.000 Last night's debate I thought was a tremendous exception to that

00:11:32.000 because you were talking about the things that certainly I, as someone in conservative media knows,

00:11:36.000 are exactly what people are talking about.

00:11:38.000 You know, things like the convoy, things like oil and gas.

00:11:40.000 So going into that, I would hope that these politicians who have put on record very conservative positions

00:11:47.000 will not forget that they've put on record conservative positions,

00:11:50.000 as has happened in the past with leaders.

00:11:52.000 Yeah, it's a matter of fairness and democracy.

00:11:55.000 I think that people who, you know, pay for membership in a political party,

00:11:59.000 vote for a politician, they deserve to be represented.

00:12:02.000 And I think a lot of conservatives have gotten used to not being represented,

00:12:05.000 that somehow we vote for someone to be our leader.

00:12:08.000 And as what happened with Erin O'Toole, for example,

00:12:11.000 then that person just kind of becomes completely sort of mainstream liberal

00:12:16.000 the moment they want to appeal to a different set of voters.

00:12:19.000 And I just don't think that's fair.

00:12:20.000 And so I do hope, as you do, that conservatives who have given to this party their time,

00:12:26.000 their money, their hopes, their dreams for the country,

00:12:29.000 you know, that they actually get represented in this process.

00:12:32.000 I think that's a key part of democracy.

00:12:34.000 Looking at the Canada Strong and Free Network,

00:12:36.000 this is obviously an organization that's been through a branding change in the last few years.

00:12:40.000 Before that, it was the Manning Centre and then the Manning Networking Conference here.

00:12:44.000 Preston Manning, he's walking around.

00:12:46.000 He's still very much active and very much involved.

00:12:48.000 I've seen him like 17 times today.

00:12:50.000 But he is part of an older generation of the conservative movement

00:12:54.000 that might not resonate or be known or as well known to younger people.

00:12:58.000 You're coming in at the helm of this organization as a young person.

00:13:01.000 How do you keep the Canada Strong and Free Network

00:13:04.000 and the conservative movement relevant to that new generation?

00:13:09.000 Well, the key thing, I believe, is really, one, creating the intergenerational dialogue.

00:13:14.000 Because a lot of it is about the wisdom, the traditions of conservative politicians and leaders

00:13:20.000 being able to pass that on to younger people who are not going to get it through the schools.

00:13:24.000 They're not going to get it through mainstream media.

00:13:26.000 It really is going to come to generations learning to communicate with each other.

00:13:29.000 That's one of the great things about someone like Preston.

00:13:31.000 You know, he spends a lot of time with me.

00:13:33.000 He shares his stories of what happened, you know, in the 90s, what happened in the 80s.

00:13:37.000 And it's great for me to learn that.

00:13:39.000 And I want to create that same experience for a lot of other Canadians.

00:13:42.000 You know, millennials, Zoomers, people who are out there thinking,

00:13:45.000 I'm a conservative, I believe in some of these ideas,

00:13:47.000 but I don't know how to actually get plugged into this movement that's been around for decades.

00:13:52.000 So I think that's a big part of our challenge is how do we bring these different generations into the same room. 0.98

00:13:57.000 Today has been a good example of that.

00:13:59.000 I'm pretty happy with the generational diversity, but I think we can do a lot more and do a lot better

00:14:04.000 as we bring more people into different leadership roles.

00:14:07.000 So that's one thing I want to do that I'm excited about.

00:14:09.000 Another thing is just showing people how we apply conservative principles to solve problems of today's generation.

00:14:15.000 And the more we do that, whether it's things like housing, cost of living, parental rights, all sorts of different issues.

00:14:21.000 I think that's also how we speak to a younger generation and recognize that the problems are changing.

00:14:25.000 But the solutions might be the same.

00:14:27.000 Yeah, one thing that's always struck me is that there are a lot of people that are very,

00:14:31.000 I mean, you see this in different cultural communities as well.

00:14:33.000 And I'd say also age demographics, people who are very receptive to the conservative message,

00:14:37.000 but they can't get over that, you know, fact that conservative has been a bad word all their lives.

00:14:42.000 Or, you know, being conservative is not something you're allowed to be in certain lines of work,

00:14:47.000 in certain age groups, in certain religious and cultural communities.

00:14:50.000 So there is a branding exercise there.

00:14:52.000 But at the same time, I think how you message it is different from what you believe.

00:14:56.000 And I think oftentimes conservative politicians go for the easy road out of let's just change the beliefs,

00:15:01.000 or let's dilute the beliefs.

00:15:03.000 Yeah, and I think that's just dead wrong.

00:15:06.000 I mean, to be honest with you, I think one of the words that doesn't come up enough is authenticity.

00:15:11.000 And the more authentic conservatives are, the more open we are with our beliefs,

00:15:15.000 the better we're going to connect with people and the better our values and our message are going to resonate.

00:15:19.000 And I think that's what people want more than anything else.

00:15:21.000 So I would say, you know, the more we try to hide things or dilute things, water down, become liberal light,

00:15:27.000 or as I like to say, liberals with aspartame, I just, I don't think we're going to get anywhere.

00:15:32.000 I like that liberals aspartame. All right.

00:15:34.000 Well, you're no aspartame at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference moving forward.

00:15:37.000 Well, I know you've got to like start planning for the next conference,

00:15:39.000 which is probably a big part of your job.

00:15:41.000 But congratulations and great work in the debate as well.

00:15:43.000 Great. Appreciate it.

00:15:44.000 Thank you. Take care.

00:15:45.000 Thanks, Jamil. It's always a pleasure to talk to you.

00:15:47.000 Jamil and I, as I've said to other people, are like talk, corporate talk radio refugees.

00:15:52.000 We worked for different companies, but we both had a very similar issues, albeit for different reasons.

00:15:57.000 And he's been very forthright about his.

00:15:59.000 So I would encourage you to look up what Jamil has said about that.

00:16:02.000 In the meantime, I want to talk about the movement conservatism thing here,

00:16:05.000 because a lot of people in this country don't understand the difference between small C conservatism and big C conservatism.

00:16:12.000 And there's quite a significant difference because you can put a capital C on the most liberal policies imaginable,

00:16:18.000 but say, well, we're a conservative party. It's conservative.

00:16:21.000 You can put on, as I think Pierre Paulyev said about Jean Charest in the debate, anyone can put on a blue shirt.

00:16:27.000 Small C conservatism is ideological.

00:16:29.000 You can't hide from your philosophical identity of what you believe and what you're prepared to advocate for.

00:16:35.000 And I should say, I mean, the conservative movement more broadly includes, I would argue, the People's Party,

00:16:41.000 the Christian Heritage Party, some of the new upstart provincial parties we're seeing,

00:16:45.000 especially in Ontario, which is in the midst of a provincial election campaign now.

00:16:49.000 The conservative movement is bigger than a party.

00:16:52.000 And I would say it's essential to pull a party back to its roots.

00:16:57.000 And I think groups like formerly the Manning Centre and other advocacy groups as well,

00:17:02.000 like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, for example, are very important because you need an organization or a network on the right

00:17:09.000 to remind politicians of where they're supposed to be if they're ostensibly conservative politicians.

00:17:15.000 And remember, John O'Sullivan, who's a fantastic writer, he has what he's coined O'Sullivan's first law.

00:17:21.000 And he says, any institution that's not explicitly right-wing will over time become left-wing.

00:17:26.000 The implication there, and I think history bears this out, is that there's just this natural leftward drift in institutions.

00:17:32.000 And I would expand that to individuals in politics, too.

00:17:35.000 So if you don't have a group reminding them these are the roots, these are the philosophical foundations,

00:17:41.000 these are the things you've said previously when you were dancing around being a conservative,

00:17:45.000 then you're only going to allow those values to be abandoned.

00:17:49.000 So I think the conservative movement needs to be strong so that conservatism is reflected in political parties.

00:17:55.000 And obviously, the Conservative Party of Canada is the largest party that's trying to occupy this space.

00:18:01.000 So I don't want to break down the debate too much from last night.

00:18:04.000 I want to talk more broadly about this.

00:18:06.000 And one of the gentlemen who has done many of these conferences in the past

00:18:09.000 and has been an advocate for the conservative movement is Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

00:18:14.000 Premier, I know you've been to many of these conferences before.

00:18:17.000 Obviously, the conservative movement, the conservative party, well represented here,

00:18:21.000 and the intersection of those two with the leadership race.

00:18:24.000 What's your assessment?

00:18:25.000 I mean, moving outside of your role as Premier for a moment,

00:18:27.000 just with the state of the conservative movement in this country right now?

00:18:31.000 Well, I think it's a challenging moment for a number of reasons.

00:18:36.000 Obviously, three federal election losses have caused some demoralization and concern about the future.

00:18:43.000 But I'll tell you, I sense, despite that, a sense of optimism here.

00:18:49.000 Maybe it's just old friends reconnecting for the first time over at least two or three years.

00:18:54.000 And it's great to see so many folks.

00:18:57.000 I also think that we see a lot of interesting things happening at the provincial level.

00:19:01.000 I mean, there's seven centre-right provincial governments in this country.

00:19:05.000 I think some of them, I would argue ours, we're doing some very important conservative policy reforms and innovations.

00:19:12.000 I do think, though, COVID, let's be honest, COVID has divided a lot of conservatives.

00:19:18.000 Understandably, you know, these centre-right provincial governments had to bring in restrictions that none of us wanted to,

00:19:26.000 but we had to because of limited healthcare capacity.

00:19:28.000 And that's upset some conservatives and more on the libertarian side of the spectrum.

00:19:32.000 I hope we can put that behind us, learn some lessons and move forward.

00:19:35.000 When you look at the leadership race, and I'm not going to ask you to play the role of pundit here,

00:19:39.000 but just as Premier of Alberta in a field of candidates that doesn't have anyone that's really coming from the West,

00:19:45.000 do you feel that Western issues have been given the attention they need and deserve in this race?

00:19:50.000 Well, it's too early to say, this thing is going to go for a few more months.

00:19:55.000 I saw the debate last night here at the conference and there was, I thought, a fair bit of focus on Alberta in particular and energy issues.

00:20:04.000 I'd like to see that.

00:20:05.000 And I think all the candidates are saying the right things in terms of support in principle for oil and gas,

00:20:12.000 for natural resource development, for the West, respect for the West and its role in the Federation.

00:20:18.000 And I appreciate that.

00:20:21.000 So, you know, it would be nice to hear a little more detail from perhaps from some of the candidates.

00:20:27.000 But I think, you know, the Federal Conservative Party understands the central role of the West in the Federation,

00:20:34.000 the reasons for Western alienation and how Trudeau has damaged so deeply the resource industries that are so big in Western Canada.

00:20:41.000 Obviously, when it comes to provincial autonomy, one of the most forceful voices against the Federal Government's invocation of the Emergencies Act,

00:20:49.000 certainly as far as Premiers go, is yourself.

00:20:51.000 What's the status of that, of how you would like as Premier and Alberta as a government would like to push for accountability on that?

00:20:58.000 So we're the only government in Canada that is actually suing the Trudeau government for its invocation of the Emergencies Act through an application for intervener status

00:21:08.000 in the cases filed by the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

00:21:13.000 And we're doing so because, well, first of all, we think it was a massive overreach and an unnecessary violation of people's civil liberties.

00:21:20.000 But secondly, it was also an intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.

00:21:24.000 I said to Justin Trudeau when he consulted the Premiers on using it, I said, well, if you're going to do that, don't do it in Alberta.

00:21:31.000 Like, if you feel you need to, if the Premier of Ontario wants you to bring it in to deal with the situation in Ottawa,

00:21:36.000 I suppose that's between you and him. But we don't need this in Alberta.

00:21:39.000 In fact, he consulted us the day after the RCMP had dealt, had a tactical operation dealing with some potentially violent people at the Coutts border crossing.

00:21:49.000 And my point was that police operation was done and the situation was resolved using normal legal powers, normal policing.

00:22:01.000 We didn't need these extraordinary powers. We didn't need to freeze people's bank accounts arbitrarily in order to stop an illegal blockade at the border.

00:22:09.000 So we didn't need it. It was massive overreach. And normally policing, of course, is provincial jurisdiction.

00:22:14.000 I think it's an intervention into provincial jurisdiction as well. And we're always on guard against that.

00:22:20.000 I know you were a very clear opponent of the trucker vaccine mandate, which is still in effect.

00:22:25.000 At the debate last night, support for the convoy became something of a political football between some of the candidates.

00:22:31.000 How's your view on that? Because you were supportive of the truckers at first. Are you still?

00:22:35.000 Well, I was always in support. Of course, I'm in support of truckers and acknowledge the amazing things they've done to keep our economy rolling.

00:22:42.000 But specifically the truckers that protested in Ottawa.

00:22:44.000 I was supportive of their message, which was opposition to the pointless vaccine passport mandate to go into the U.S. and back.

00:22:52.000 And a lot of other messages. I don't support illegal blockades. And I believe that lawmakers should not support lawbreakers.

00:23:02.000 I don't think that's a contentious view. And I've always thought that people could have and should have made their point passionately through legal protest methods.

00:23:13.000 And I don't think that's a difficult nuance to say support much of the message, but not breaking the law and inconvenience others.

00:23:20.000 And, you know, I was just walking through the shopping mall here thinking about all of those small businesses and hundreds of workers who were put out of work for three weeks because of that protest.

00:23:29.000 So there were there were negative social and economic impacts on other people's rights. And I just hope people remember that in the future.

00:23:35.000 Premier, thank you. Thank you, Andrew.

00:23:37.000 That was Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Now, right now, I should point out he's in the midst of his leadership review.

00:23:42.000 I think ballots have to be in within a few days from now. So I don't think there's much campaigning taking place at this point.

00:23:48.000 But obviously, I appreciate him taking the time to chat. I didn't even know. No one knew he was going to be here.

00:23:53.000 Jason Kenney just walked into the main ballroom yesterday with former Ontario Premier Mike Harris.

00:23:57.000 And everyone was just like, oh, Jason Kenney here. Jason Kenney's here. He was watching the debate from the main ballroom.

00:24:02.000 So I'm glad he was able to take some time to join the Andrew Lawton Show again earlier today.

00:24:07.000 That does it for us. We'll have more content from the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference

00:24:11.000 in the days ahead, including some more analysis and also interviews with some of the leadership candidates.

00:24:16.000 We did invite all of them. That is coming up. But I do thank you very much for tuning in.

00:24:20.000 And to all of you who have been coming up to me and saying hello and getting pictures with me,

00:24:24.000 I don't know why, but I'm so appreciative that you're doing it. It's quite humbling.

00:24:27.000 And I've met a few people that have said they're only here because they heard about it on True North.

00:24:32.000 So we're so glad you've been doing that. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon.

00:24:35.000 Thank you. God bless and good day to you all.

00:24:37.000 You're listening to the Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to True North at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - May 07, 2022

Alberta takes Trudeau to court over use of Emergencies Act

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