Juno News - October 04, 2025


BC Conservatives fire Lindsay Shepherd for Expressing her Opinion


Episode Stats

Length

38 minutes

Words per Minute

178.19417

Word Count

6,860

Sentence Count

304

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

13


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Baseball is an insanely long season.
00:00:02.260 It's 162 games, I think.
00:00:04.540 All year round, right?
00:00:05.280 It's like you've got to just be hot at the right time, right?
00:00:07.520 Like, are you hot going into the playoffs?
00:00:09.480 The Jays aren't that hot right now,
00:00:11.280 but they could become hot tomorrow, you know?
00:00:14.100 So it's like you've got to hit that streak.
00:00:16.640 That's why I've always appreciated hockey
00:00:18.180 because I think hockey is the most unpredictable sport
00:00:20.540 in terms of results.
00:00:21.700 Like, it's the only American sport
00:00:23.220 where a team has come down from a 3-0 deficit, you know?
00:00:27.640 Reverse sweep, yeah.
00:00:28.620 Yeah, you just don't know.
00:00:32.340 You never...
00:00:32.980 Yeah, well, you rarely see it happen still,
00:00:35.520 but I guess it's possible.
00:00:36.920 You think hockey is the most unpredictable?
00:00:39.840 I think so.
00:00:40.580 I think so compared to basketball.
00:00:41.800 Basketball has been very consistent
00:00:43.400 when it comes to certain logic
00:00:44.540 because when you play like seven times,
00:00:46.520 you really get to see what team is superior in most cases.
00:00:50.940 Yeah, but hockey series are seven games as well.
00:00:53.620 Yeah, so looking side by side,
00:00:55.480 you can kind of see many more instances of a team
00:00:58.820 with, let's say, an inferior regular season record
00:01:03.200 go over to, you know, the seeding, for example.
00:01:07.040 The seeding results have less weight than, for example, the NBA.
00:01:10.640 If you're the first seeder,
00:01:11.580 probably getting to the conference final.
00:01:13.760 In the NHL, the guarantee is much less statistically backed,
00:01:17.760 I would argue, without even looking at the numbers.
00:01:19.680 I've seen that happen in enough examples
00:01:22.420 that feel confident all throughout.
00:01:24.940 I mean, the ice is much more unpredictable
00:01:26.820 than, you know, the hard court.
00:01:29.280 It really is.
00:01:30.580 Yeah, we'll have to get a True North hockey party going
00:01:34.740 and we'll see what happens on the ice there.
00:01:35.980 We're going to have the sports reporting.
00:01:37.380 I'm sorry, but I feel like there's more stories
00:01:39.440 in sports than meets the eye.
00:01:40.720 I'm telling you...
00:01:41.340 Yeah, I'm always on the beat
00:01:43.640 looking for politically motivated sports stories
00:01:48.860 that they happen, definitely,
00:01:50.640 but obviously the hockey season's about to start again,
00:01:52.840 so we'll see what comes of that.
00:01:55.320 Yeah, it'd be great to get, like, a designated
00:01:56.520 kind of sports show that we start to put out
00:01:58.420 or something like that,
00:01:59.140 because I think we have, you know,
00:02:00.100 a lot of our audience wants to hear
00:02:01.500 about these types of things,
00:02:03.000 and, like, the only thing we're really covering is,
00:02:05.140 I guess, was, like, the, like,
00:02:06.440 trans and women's sports angle,
00:02:08.640 and so it'd be nice to dig a little deeper into that.
00:02:12.140 Yeah, like I said, I'm always open to it,
00:02:14.700 but I think the stories are too sporadic.
00:02:18.120 It's, like, hard to do it on a weekly basis,
00:02:19.900 you know, because it's, like...
00:02:21.180 That's true.
00:02:21.580 Obviously, the hockey can and stuff is a crazy story,
00:02:23.820 but it's, like, that's, like, an anomaly, right?
00:02:25.480 Not the norm.
00:02:26.700 My name's Isaac Lamer.
00:02:27.600 I'm here with my True North colleagues.
00:02:29.020 We'll lead Tam-Tam and Jeff Knight.
00:02:30.660 Let's hop into that first story right away.
00:02:32.560 So, yeah, just for our first story,
00:02:35.300 we obviously have a pretty big one
00:02:38.020 that touches close to home
00:02:40.240 for a lot of us at True North
00:02:41.480 because any older fans of the organization
00:02:45.680 and of the shows will remember, of course,
00:02:48.880 former True North journalist, Lindsay Shepard,
00:02:52.080 who is, of course, married to our managing editor,
00:02:56.040 Cosmin Gerja,
00:02:57.200 who, by the way, had no role in pitching, editing,
00:03:02.420 signing, anything to do with this article.
00:03:04.360 But the big news came out there
00:03:07.340 that Shepard was fired for telling the truth.
00:03:10.980 I mean, absolute insanity.
00:03:12.740 I don't know how else to word it.
00:03:14.120 She was fired for telling the truth in a tweet
00:03:16.320 by John Rustad there
00:03:18.560 because she tweeted on Truth and Reconciliation Day.
00:03:23.540 I'll just read the tweet.
00:03:25.980 The orange shirt and the orange flag
00:03:28.020 perpetuate untruths about Canadian history,
00:03:31.260 such as the grandest lie of all
00:03:33.460 that 215 children's graves were unearthed in Kamloops.
00:03:38.020 It is a disgrace that this fake flag
00:03:40.560 flies in front of the provincial parliament buildings,
00:03:43.600 and it is a disgrace to see the shirt of lies
00:03:46.640 framed prominently and permanently
00:03:48.840 beside the coat of arms
00:03:50.440 so that locals and tourists cannot view our insignia
00:03:53.220 without having their eyes drawn
00:03:55.360 and redirected to the orange shirt.
00:03:57.440 So this was deemed unacceptable, I guess, by Rustad.
00:04:02.940 As I know, or as I understand,
00:04:05.360 Shepard faced very minimal backlash against this.
00:04:08.640 The CBC wrote a hit piece on her, basically,
00:04:12.740 but I think it was actually authored by a chief
00:04:16.400 who was married to an NDP MLA in BC.
00:04:20.040 So, surprise, surprise.
00:04:22.160 And then two NDP MLAs in BC, I think that's it.
00:04:25.480 Two people apparently talked bad about Lindsay
00:04:29.920 saying that she should be fired,
00:04:31.340 and that's all it took for Rustad to fire her
00:04:33.260 for telling truths.
00:04:34.620 I mean, this is absolutely insane,
00:04:36.700 and it gets worse because, of course,
00:04:39.500 Lindsay said she's a mother of two children
00:04:41.060 and 32 weeks pregnant,
00:04:42.720 so she was about to go on maternity leave,
00:04:44.620 and then Rustad shows her the door.
00:04:47.720 So, yeah, if either of you guys want to answer,
00:04:50.560 I mean, what is the irony here
00:04:52.700 where we're talking about Truth and Reconciliation Day,
00:04:55.500 that's the title of this so-called holiday,
00:04:58.280 and then Shepard is fired from the BC Conservative Party
00:05:01.880 for telling the truth.
00:05:03.000 I mean, literally, it's insane to me.
00:05:06.460 I think...
00:05:06.920 Oh, sorry, go ahead, Will.
00:05:08.220 I think the lack of backlash is actually a sign
00:05:10.880 that, frankly, Rustad's move is a very poor one
00:05:15.060 in terms of a reward.
00:05:16.800 I mean, because I think, frankly,
00:05:17.980 the reason why there might be a lack of media coverage,
00:05:20.780 specifically from more liberal-oriented
00:05:22.460 or mainstream media,
00:05:24.180 would be the fact is they don't want to give credit
00:05:25.920 to Rustad for being politically correct.
00:05:28.600 I guess that's maybe the case here
00:05:30.160 because, essentially, here,
00:05:31.940 you have a very, you know, low-level...
00:05:34.140 You know, because, again,
00:05:35.120 not many people are paying attention
00:05:36.200 to what this individual was tweeting,
00:05:38.340 but, of course, there's always going to be
00:05:39.580 a few progressive exceptions
00:05:40.940 of people that will be looking for every opportunity
00:05:43.020 to snap onto a narrative
00:05:45.440 that, you know, conservatives are hateful,
00:05:47.380 and then the staffer is leading this campaign
00:05:50.940 to say this and that.
00:05:52.780 I just think it's, you know,
00:05:54.800 if the media is not covering that much,
00:05:56.180 if there's not that much talk about it,
00:05:57.920 then I guess the potential impact
00:05:59.940 of him shielding his image
00:06:02.180 to a certain audience
00:06:03.480 is just really there, you know.
00:06:05.960 He's not getting the reward.
00:06:06.820 He's not getting the, you know,
00:06:07.880 the daytime news coverage
00:06:10.300 that's kind of, you know,
00:06:11.580 showing him that he doesn't tolerate
00:06:13.540 whatever it is that he's firing Lindsay for.
00:06:16.940 So I guess this is the challenging
00:06:19.440 of the mainstream narrative in this case,
00:06:21.220 which I'm surprised that the BSC Conservative Party
00:06:23.520 is so strong on upholding to the point
00:06:26.180 of, you know, squashing internal dissent.
00:06:29.380 But off to you, Jeff.
00:06:31.000 Well, yeah, and, I mean,
00:06:31.920 it just seems like there's probably
00:06:32.960 a lot of conversations happening
00:06:34.360 behind the scenes
00:06:35.020 that we're not privy to, right?
00:06:36.340 Because it's, like you said,
00:06:37.440 it's very confusing
00:06:38.080 as to why the BSC Conservatives
00:06:39.580 would push this.
00:06:40.500 And like Isaac said,
00:06:41.640 especially, you know,
00:06:42.560 with the name Truth and Reconciliation,
00:06:45.320 and now so much of the focus
00:06:46.600 of the day is on a falsehood
00:06:49.260 that, you know,
00:06:51.560 is basically designed
00:06:52.700 to separate the First Nations communities
00:06:54.920 with, I guess, European descent Canadians.
00:06:57.920 And I think a lot of people
00:06:58.660 are seeing that and being like,
00:07:00.380 well, what's the roadmap
00:07:01.440 to actually getting
00:07:02.180 to a place of reconciliation?
00:07:04.020 Because so much of the efforts
00:07:06.400 seem to be just in dividing us
00:07:08.140 and really being like,
00:07:09.020 well, look how horrible
00:07:09.660 we were to First Nations.
00:07:10.900 And it just doesn't seem to me
00:07:12.500 to be a path
00:07:13.220 that's going to create unity
00:07:15.040 and create, you know,
00:07:16.340 there's been a lot of great things
00:07:17.960 Canada's done with First Nations,
00:07:19.500 like, you know,
00:07:20.440 like the establishment of Nunavut,
00:07:21.620 which happened within my lifetime.
00:07:22.940 And I would love for the focus
00:07:26.940 to be on some more positive stories
00:07:28.800 like that,
00:07:29.400 the type of things
00:07:30.240 that could bring Canadians together
00:07:31.240 rather than, you know,
00:07:33.120 here we are still four years out
00:07:34.720 from the Kamloops story
00:07:37.500 and people still believe it.
00:07:38.940 People still think it's true
00:07:40.200 despite the fact that, you know,
00:07:41.580 there's been years of research
00:07:43.300 into it and millions of dollars spent
00:07:44.940 and they haven't found any bodies.
00:07:47.160 True North has put out a whole,
00:07:49.820 has published a book on this
00:07:51.020 called Grave Error
00:07:51.920 that has all the facts
00:07:52.900 laid out for people.
00:07:54.160 So, you know,
00:07:54.480 I encourage anyone
00:07:55.200 who doesn't really know
00:07:56.160 too much of the details
00:07:58.440 to check that book out
00:07:59.520 because right now
00:08:01.960 what we're seeing
00:08:02.440 is just a lot of effort
00:08:04.000 put into the feelings
00:08:06.020 around the emotional impact
00:08:07.300 around that story
00:08:08.340 that it had on people.
00:08:09.240 And so many people
00:08:09.820 did have such a strong
00:08:10.760 emotional impact to it
00:08:11.800 that now we're finding out
00:08:13.920 that it's not necessarily accurate.
00:08:15.560 It's very hard to let go
00:08:16.600 of those feelings, I think.
00:08:19.100 And it's something
00:08:19.780 we definitely need to do
00:08:20.560 as a nation.
00:08:22.000 Yeah, well,
00:08:22.760 just jumping on that, Jeff,
00:08:24.340 it is something
00:08:25.000 we're sort of doing.
00:08:27.220 Well, and this might,
00:08:28.600 this covers a few things
00:08:29.580 because we were,
00:08:30.680 Waleed was talking there
00:08:31.500 about mainstream coverage a bit.
00:08:32.900 And this may be why
00:08:34.160 it's not as prevalent
00:08:35.340 as we've seen
00:08:35.900 because a recent Leger poll
00:08:38.080 showed that only 44%
00:08:39.700 of Canadians,
00:08:40.460 so less than the majority,
00:08:41.780 want more government action
00:08:43.200 on reconciliation.
00:08:44.460 So Canadians are kind of
00:08:46.300 turning away from that.
00:08:47.960 And this was,
00:08:49.220 of course,
00:08:49.620 compared to 88%
00:08:50.680 who wanted the government
00:08:51.740 to improve on health care
00:08:52.700 and 86% who wanted the Liberals
00:08:55.080 to work on the cost of living.
00:08:56.220 So obviously,
00:08:57.160 while Canadians are
00:08:58.640 caring less about reconciliation,
00:09:01.560 they care about,
00:09:03.100 more about things
00:09:03.900 that are really affecting
00:09:04.880 their lives,
00:09:05.400 which is,
00:09:06.020 unsurprisingly,
00:09:06.680 health care
00:09:07.120 and the cost of living.
00:09:09.120 But just touching on
00:09:10.280 the book there,
00:09:11.240 Jeff,
00:09:11.440 that you mentioned,
00:09:11.940 Grave Error,
00:09:12.420 of course,
00:09:13.080 published by True North.
00:09:14.900 Recently,
00:09:15.660 the Toronto Star
00:09:16.580 published an op-ed
00:09:18.080 with various false claims
00:09:21.840 about True North.
00:09:24.220 This was an op-ed
00:09:25.560 written by Michelle Good,
00:09:27.960 who she advocated
00:09:29.900 for a federal ban
00:09:30.820 on residential school denialism
00:09:33.380 in a book that she wrote
00:09:35.000 called Five Little Indians.
00:09:37.440 And she said various things
00:09:38.920 about Grave Error
00:09:40.120 that were just not true.
00:09:41.040 Like, one thing
00:09:42.360 that would take two seconds
00:09:43.460 to disprove.
00:09:44.180 She claimed it was self-published,
00:09:46.620 which is not true, obviously.
00:09:48.560 True North helped
00:09:49.360 publish the book,
00:09:50.120 so it's not self-published.
00:09:52.740 Yeah, no,
00:09:53.420 there was a lot of things
00:09:54.840 in there that she
00:09:56.240 claimed weren't...
00:09:59.160 I mean, look,
00:10:00.100 Grave Error is essentially
00:10:01.000 a research study.
00:10:02.220 There's 800 footnotes
00:10:03.420 in the book.
00:10:03.900 It's all research-based.
00:10:05.240 It's all cited information.
00:10:07.320 It's not fictional
00:10:08.260 in any way, shape, or form.
00:10:09.680 It's essentially
00:10:10.380 a detailed research study,
00:10:11.960 in my opinion.
00:10:13.120 So to refute
00:10:15.420 the research is...
00:10:17.700 I mean,
00:10:18.640 to use a word
00:10:21.080 that the lefty
00:10:22.440 loves to use,
00:10:23.300 anti-science, really.
00:10:24.380 You're saying,
00:10:25.060 oh, yeah,
00:10:25.940 it's anti-science.
00:10:27.060 Because it's like,
00:10:27.620 oh, yeah,
00:10:27.920 I don't trust your research.
00:10:28.960 It's like,
00:10:29.480 what don't you trust
00:10:30.120 from the 800 citations
00:10:31.920 in the footnotes?
00:10:32.740 What do you mean?
00:10:33.120 It's not really trust
00:10:34.980 when we're talking
00:10:35.720 about facts here.
00:10:37.240 And, of course,
00:10:37.700 the book had
00:10:38.320 Grave Error.
00:10:39.640 It's kind of a
00:10:40.620 multi-author book
00:10:43.400 because there was
00:10:45.000 13 authors,
00:10:46.020 including retired judge,
00:10:47.300 lawyers,
00:10:47.800 journalists,
00:10:48.300 and university professors
00:10:49.700 across several disciplines.
00:10:53.000 So, yeah.
00:10:55.140 Were you guys surprised
00:10:56.640 that the Toronto Star
00:10:57.660 published an op-ed
00:10:59.280 ironically claiming
00:11:01.380 that Grave Error
00:11:02.400 was full of lies
00:11:03.700 when the op-ed itself was?
00:11:07.140 I mean, no.
00:11:07.860 It's kind of like
00:11:08.480 part of the course
00:11:09.220 for Toronto Star
00:11:09.940 at this point, right?
00:11:11.420 To, you know,
00:11:12.640 just be very hard-headed
00:11:15.060 about it.
00:11:16.960 And it's funny that,
00:11:18.060 you know,
00:11:18.280 there's no repercussions
00:11:19.200 for them to kind of
00:11:20.020 be pushing forward lies
00:11:22.440 and stuff like that.
00:11:23.120 But, you know,
00:11:23.820 they're very adamant
00:11:25.120 that, you know,
00:11:26.020 people who would suggest
00:11:28.320 that the Kamloops thing
00:11:29.500 wasn't true
00:11:30.520 face, like,
00:11:31.720 criminal prosecution
00:11:32.720 or outright firing
00:11:35.180 from their jobs
00:11:35.860 or anything like that.
00:11:36.760 And it's just,
00:11:37.160 it all seems very ironic
00:11:38.040 to me.
00:11:39.720 Yeah.
00:11:40.200 And Tom Flanagan,
00:11:41.300 who, of course,
00:11:41.920 co-edited the book,
00:11:43.320 he told us that
00:11:44.460 the author of this op-ed
00:11:45.920 didn't even reach out
00:11:47.040 to him for comments.
00:11:48.740 So, not exactly
00:11:50.300 journalism there.
00:11:52.620 And we know
00:11:53.380 that Leah Gazzin,
00:11:54.480 the NDP MLA,
00:11:55.820 she wanted to
00:11:56.800 have that bill
00:11:57.920 to criminalize
00:11:59.040 residential school denialism.
00:12:00.420 So, essentially,
00:12:02.160 who knows
00:12:03.420 what would have happened
00:12:04.000 if that bill passed
00:12:04.920 because what does
00:12:06.900 that mean?
00:12:07.380 You're telling the truth
00:12:08.480 and you go to jail
00:12:09.920 for telling the truth.
00:12:11.340 We're seeing other
00:12:12.320 similar bills
00:12:13.280 be debated
00:12:14.760 in Parliament
00:12:15.300 right now,
00:12:16.100 essentially,
00:12:16.560 about online censorship,
00:12:17.980 the Online Harms Act,
00:12:19.460 which could criminalize
00:12:22.140 people for telling
00:12:22.780 the truth.
00:12:23.220 We're seeing what's
00:12:23.800 happening in the UK.
00:12:24.860 People are going to jail
00:12:26.940 for tweets
00:12:27.980 and Facebook posts.
00:12:29.000 I mean,
00:12:29.220 it's absolute insanity.
00:12:30.240 We're just liking
00:12:31.000 the Facebook posts.
00:12:32.100 You know,
00:12:32.260 it sounds like
00:12:32.860 Leah Gazzin
00:12:33.640 and perhaps
00:12:34.280 other progressive
00:12:35.520 NDPers
00:12:36.160 that supported
00:12:36.640 that whole bill
00:12:38.540 were trying to
00:12:39.500 criminalize
00:12:40.140 what they call
00:12:41.680 genocide denial
00:12:42.720 in the case
00:12:43.360 of indigenous peoples
00:12:44.560 in Canada.
00:12:45.780 It sounds to me
00:12:46.240 that that's a path
00:12:47.800 for a book ban.
00:12:48.540 And I know
00:12:48.860 they've been screaming
00:12:49.480 about free speech
00:12:50.700 and book bans
00:12:51.240 because they want
00:12:51.920 essentially pornography,
00:12:55.820 graphic pornography
00:12:56.560 on children's books
00:12:57.820 to be in libraries
00:12:59.440 because otherwise,
00:13:00.440 if premieres
00:13:01.360 are moving
00:13:02.020 to change laws
00:13:03.540 and change regulations
00:13:04.400 to remove those books
00:13:05.340 from libraries,
00:13:06.020 well,
00:13:06.140 then they're banning books
00:13:06.920 and they're censoring.
00:13:08.240 This is the traditional
00:13:09.280 medieval censorship,
00:13:10.340 banning of books.
00:13:11.580 I guess that would be
00:13:12.580 a path to ban a book
00:13:13.660 like the ones
00:13:14.280 that True North
00:13:14.900 have produced.
00:13:15.680 So, definitely
00:13:16.580 very concerning to me
00:13:17.880 if we continue
00:13:19.320 that in that path,
00:13:20.120 whether digital
00:13:21.220 or even physical material
00:13:22.700 to be potentially
00:13:24.180 criminalized
00:13:24.640 because of its content
00:13:25.480 of argument
00:13:26.180 or content
00:13:26.800 of nature.
00:13:28.460 It's insane.
00:13:30.960 Yeah,
00:13:31.620 and we obviously
00:13:32.180 talked at length
00:13:33.080 over the last
00:13:33.860 several months,
00:13:35.220 I guess,
00:13:35.540 about the book ban
00:13:36.320 in Alberta
00:13:37.320 and the whole
00:13:38.040 controversy there.
00:13:39.280 But moving to a different
00:13:40.500 Alberta story,
00:13:42.160 this one about pipelines.
00:13:44.720 Alberta is leading the way
00:13:47.260 on getting a pipeline
00:13:49.600 to BC.
00:13:50.140 and to be fair,
00:13:53.520 it's not as simple
00:13:54.380 as you might think.
00:13:55.960 There's a lot of controversy
00:13:56.900 already around this
00:13:57.920 because essentially
00:13:59.040 Alberta is just
00:14:01.300 starting an advisory group
00:14:03.700 to get this thing
00:14:04.720 to the starting line
00:14:05.820 because they're saying
00:14:07.660 that, look,
00:14:08.880 private investors,
00:14:10.700 private companies
00:14:11.280 are not going
00:14:12.020 to put money forward
00:14:12.860 with the federal
00:14:13.620 regulatory hurdles
00:14:15.880 and burdens in place
00:14:17.040 because,
00:14:18.140 well,
00:14:18.660 take your pick
00:14:19.480 of past billions
00:14:20.780 of dollars
00:14:21.220 of loss
00:14:21.640 by private industry
00:14:22.620 because of
00:14:23.460 anti-energy laws
00:14:25.460 like Bill C-69,
00:14:26.540 Bill C-48,
00:14:27.340 the tanker ban.
00:14:28.460 The list is lengthy,
00:14:30.040 but essentially
00:14:30.600 Alberta is going
00:14:32.540 to do some consultations
00:14:35.660 on this pipeline,
00:14:36.660 kind of get all
00:14:37.160 the details,
00:14:38.020 and then pitch it
00:14:38.820 to the new
00:14:39.920 federal major
00:14:41.240 projects office.
00:14:42.220 And they're hoping
00:14:43.040 to get that application
00:14:43.860 done by spring 2026.
00:14:47.160 So Smith was,
00:14:49.000 I have to say,
00:14:49.720 I watched the press conference
00:14:51.140 in its entirety
00:14:52.080 and one of the first
00:14:53.560 things I noticed
00:14:54.020 was I was like,
00:14:54.540 Smith looks elated,
00:14:55.800 really.
00:14:56.320 She was very joyful,
00:14:58.020 which is surprising.
00:14:59.440 I don't know.
00:15:00.120 She's very more,
00:15:01.400 she's a lot more hopeful
00:15:02.360 that this project
00:15:03.300 will succeed,
00:15:04.240 I think,
00:15:04.600 just based on even
00:15:05.560 analyzing her emotions
00:15:07.860 and how she was
00:15:08.940 presenting herself
00:15:09.740 than I would be,
00:15:10.700 especially because
00:15:12.780 BC NDP Premier
00:15:14.160 David Eby,
00:15:15.160 the very same day,
00:15:16.160 was saying that
00:15:17.320 we're not going
00:15:17.860 to do this.
00:15:18.780 And to be fair,
00:15:19.740 his press conference,
00:15:20.740 which I think you
00:15:21.240 watched,
00:15:21.560 Waleed,
00:15:21.860 was filled with lies,
00:15:23.980 pretty much.
00:15:24.920 He was saying that
00:15:25.980 taxpayers are going
00:15:27.200 to pay for this,
00:15:28.000 but look,
00:15:28.980 I was in the media
00:15:29.620 briefing with the
00:15:30.260 Alberta energy officials
00:15:31.440 and watched the
00:15:32.180 press conference,
00:15:32.860 and they repeated
00:15:34.040 over and over
00:15:34.860 and over and over
00:15:35.580 again,
00:15:36.300 in no way,
00:15:36.880 shape or form
00:15:37.340 will taxpayers
00:15:37.840 be paying for this.
00:15:39.140 They're just trying
00:15:39.880 to get it
00:15:40.420 to that office.
00:15:41.800 Alberta has
00:15:42.440 announced $14 million
00:15:46.480 for the application,
00:15:47.460 so taxpayers are
00:15:48.060 paying for it in a sense,
00:15:48.920 but I mean for the
00:15:49.440 actual pipeline.
00:15:50.480 They're just trying
00:15:51.120 to essentially get it
00:15:52.000 to the major
00:15:53.720 federal office there
00:15:55.440 that does the projects,
00:15:56.740 and then
00:15:57.640 taxpayers will not
00:15:59.360 be on the hook for it
00:15:59.940 because they expect
00:16:00.620 private investors
00:16:01.300 to step in
00:16:01.980 once it gets to that stage.
00:16:03.800 And in fact,
00:16:04.360 Smith said that
00:16:05.600 she expects
00:16:06.340 this project
00:16:07.380 to be on the list,
00:16:10.440 the second wave
00:16:11.060 of projects
00:16:11.640 that Carney's
00:16:12.500 expected to announce
00:16:14.120 in November there
00:16:14.880 at the Grey Cup.
00:16:16.920 And then I'll just
00:16:17.600 give a few data points
00:16:18.700 that are interesting
00:16:19.640 because while we're
00:16:20.460 talking about pipelines,
00:16:21.360 of course,
00:16:22.580 I referenced
00:16:23.480 earlier failed projects
00:16:25.320 a few minutes ago,
00:16:27.200 and some of them
00:16:28.200 include Energy East,
00:16:29.120 Northern Gateway,
00:16:30.260 Keystone XL.
00:16:31.380 Smith said
00:16:32.120 Canada's GDP
00:16:32.920 would be $55 billion
00:16:34.700 higher every single year
00:16:36.740 if these projects
00:16:37.920 went forward.
00:16:38.660 So if the federal government
00:16:39.920 didn't get in the way
00:16:40.720 on these projects,
00:16:41.660 our GDP would be
00:16:42.360 $55 billion higher
00:16:43.900 every single year.
00:16:45.280 And then
00:16:46.420 energy officials
00:16:47.460 in the media briefing,
00:16:48.500 they said
00:16:48.940 that $11.5 billion
00:16:50.920 of capital
00:16:51.720 has moved
00:16:52.700 from Canada
00:16:53.460 to the U.S.
00:16:54.320 over the last three months.
00:16:55.480 Three months,
00:16:55.940 $11.5 billion.
00:16:56.800 It's insane
00:16:57.220 because
00:16:58.000 unsurprisingly,
00:16:59.620 U.S. President Donald Trump
00:17:01.020 is making
00:17:02.520 a positive
00:17:03.680 investment environment
00:17:04.800 where projects
00:17:05.540 can be pitched
00:17:06.320 and built
00:17:06.860 and progress
00:17:08.180 quickly,
00:17:09.280 whereas in Canada
00:17:10.260 it takes years.
00:17:11.960 But I guess
00:17:12.740 I'll start with you,
00:17:13.380 Waleed,
00:17:13.600 because you kind of
00:17:14.580 watched EB here.
00:17:15.500 Yeah,
00:17:15.780 do you think
00:17:16.540 Smith was right
00:17:18.240 to be enthusiastic,
00:17:19.860 I guess,
00:17:20.200 about this project
00:17:20.920 going forward,
00:17:21.560 or do you think
00:17:22.080 that it may not
00:17:23.440 even make it
00:17:23.940 to the starting line
00:17:24.760 as the Alberta
00:17:25.320 government wants it to?
00:17:26.520 Well,
00:17:26.800 I'll be very critical
00:17:28.080 in asking these questions
00:17:29.300 when Smith comes
00:17:30.540 to Ottawa this week,
00:17:32.000 a coming week,
00:17:32.540 actually,
00:17:33.000 he should be here.
00:17:33.680 for sure on Tuesday
00:17:34.840 and I'll be looking
00:17:35.520 at if I can catch up
00:17:37.040 with her
00:17:37.300 and ask her questions
00:17:38.120 about this,
00:17:39.260 this kind of
00:17:40.160 this triangular
00:17:40.980 dynamic of
00:17:42.320 BC, Alberta,
00:17:43.600 and Ottawa
00:17:44.080 and Ottawa
00:17:44.540 somehow being
00:17:45.400 in between.
00:17:46.600 I actually spoke
00:17:47.320 to Pierre Paliyev
00:17:48.260 and I got
00:17:49.540 a different question
00:17:50.200 out,
00:17:50.540 but before
00:17:51.080 having my question
00:17:52.460 asked,
00:17:53.180 I probably have
00:17:54.360 spoke about
00:17:54.780 this issue
00:17:55.400 on the BC,
00:17:56.540 Alberta conflict
00:17:57.300 journeys,
00:17:58.320 talking about
00:17:58.760 how Ottawa
00:17:59.160 itself should be
00:18:00.680 getting out of the way.
00:18:01.220 now,
00:18:02.020 in this case,
00:18:03.000 I think
00:18:03.440 Smith,
00:18:06.140 and I'm not sure
00:18:07.000 why,
00:18:07.800 has shown
00:18:08.320 some sort of
00:18:09.220 hopeful feeling
00:18:11.220 after a meeting
00:18:12.560 she had with Connie
00:18:13.320 at some point
00:18:13.820 in time.
00:18:14.280 I think she
00:18:14.860 had her hopes up.
00:18:16.380 I think she's trying
00:18:16.980 to, you know,
00:18:17.860 give some optimism
00:18:19.060 to her base
00:18:19.820 that something
00:18:20.400 will be moving forward
00:18:21.340 because, look,
00:18:21.960 whether it's Ottawa's
00:18:22.880 fault or her fault,
00:18:23.780 no pipeline means
00:18:24.560 no jobs,
00:18:25.380 no means,
00:18:25.980 no economic growth.
00:18:27.560 It simply
00:18:28.620 just demoralizes
00:18:29.980 Albertans further.
00:18:31.220 Essentially,
00:18:32.240 what I'm seeing
00:18:33.060 is this dynamic
00:18:33.840 of BC versus
00:18:34.660 Alberta.
00:18:35.220 I'm looking at,
00:18:36.160 you know,
00:18:36.500 Ottawa essentially
00:18:37.180 has a referee
00:18:37.720 position in this case.
00:18:39.620 Ottawa will lean
00:18:40.340 towards Alberta
00:18:40.940 because she's been
00:18:41.920 more optimistic.
00:18:43.000 I mean,
00:18:43.160 you remember
00:18:43.380 the whole first
00:18:44.280 ministers meeting
00:18:46.020 back, I think,
00:18:46.900 over the summer
00:18:47.400 in June?
00:18:48.380 You had
00:18:48.880 Eby in Tokyo
00:18:49.820 promoting, like,
00:18:52.140 BC-made chips
00:18:53.400 and snacks
00:18:54.540 in some random
00:18:55.540 grocery store
00:18:56.100 in Japan
00:18:57.420 while the first
00:18:59.120 ministers,
00:18:59.700 every other premier
00:19:00.300 was meeting
00:19:00.880 with Carney
00:19:01.780 on the roundtable
00:19:02.800 talking about everything.
00:19:03.760 So I guess
00:19:04.460 what I'm trying to say
00:19:05.060 is somehow
00:19:06.280 Smith might just
00:19:07.800 have a better
00:19:08.460 phone with Carney
00:19:09.580 than even
00:19:10.800 Eby is concerned.
00:19:12.600 And perhaps
00:19:13.320 there might be
00:19:13.780 something there,
00:19:14.260 but for now
00:19:14.680 there is no evidence
00:19:15.440 of that.
00:19:15.920 So I'm going to be
00:19:16.520 catching up
00:19:17.260 with Smith's thing.
00:19:18.380 She's a bit optimistic
00:19:19.300 about Ottawa recently,
00:19:20.360 even though the track
00:19:21.220 record has been
00:19:21.700 very bad on oil
00:19:22.900 and natural resource
00:19:23.560 investment
00:19:23.980 and exactly what
00:19:25.500 she's seen
00:19:28.280 from Carney
00:19:28.780 that leads her
00:19:29.600 to believe
00:19:29.980 that Ottawa
00:19:30.400 will have her back
00:19:31.160 when it comes
00:19:31.580 to this specific
00:19:32.240 project proposal
00:19:33.080 of the West Coast
00:19:34.100 Pipeline.
00:19:34.620 It has to go
00:19:35.200 through the NDP
00:19:36.400 province.
00:19:38.240 Yeah, and Jeff,
00:19:38.800 something I forgot
00:19:39.560 to mention
00:19:40.840 about this announcement
00:19:42.880 and this project
00:19:44.200 was Alberta
00:19:45.700 had a lot of focus
00:19:47.780 on the Indigenous
00:19:48.960 aspect of this project,
00:19:50.720 how Indigenous
00:19:51.760 will be co-owners
00:19:52.880 and they're basically
00:19:54.140 trying to partner
00:19:54.820 with them
00:19:55.140 from the start
00:19:56.020 because essentially
00:19:58.100 this pipeline
00:19:59.100 will have to run
00:19:59.660 through various
00:20:00.460 reserves.
00:20:01.940 So they basically
00:20:02.520 need the Indigenous
00:20:03.680 leaders to
00:20:04.640 approve it basically
00:20:06.160 because they could,
00:20:07.340 not just the federal
00:20:08.100 government being a hurdle,
00:20:09.460 but the Indigenous
00:20:10.460 tribes could similarly
00:20:11.540 be a hurdle.
00:20:12.200 So do you think
00:20:12.920 that that is cause
00:20:14.920 for concern, Jeff?
00:20:15.840 Because obviously
00:20:16.640 Smith, as I said,
00:20:18.060 was very enthusiastic
00:20:19.120 and some of the chiefs
00:20:20.340 have already pledged
00:20:22.440 their support
00:20:22.980 for this pipeline,
00:20:23.700 but of course
00:20:24.200 we don't know
00:20:25.080 the exact route yet,
00:20:26.960 so it's hard to say
00:20:28.720 which tribes
00:20:29.960 will be involved
00:20:31.020 and whether they'll
00:20:33.100 all have to approve it.
00:20:33.840 Do you think that's
00:20:34.360 something that's likely
00:20:35.300 in your eyes?
00:20:37.100 Well, I mean,
00:20:37.960 I don't know
00:20:39.020 exactly what they're
00:20:41.620 talking about
00:20:41.960 behind the scenes
00:20:42.580 and stuff like that,
00:20:43.340 but it kind of ties
00:20:44.500 into what I was saying
00:20:45.040 before earlier
00:20:45.640 where I'd love to see
00:20:47.240 more focus on projects
00:20:48.740 where the Canadian
00:20:49.240 government worked
00:20:49.780 with First Nations
00:20:50.440 to achieve a positive result.
00:20:52.340 And in my opinion,
00:20:53.760 what would be
00:20:54.040 a more positive result
00:20:54.860 than making all Canadians
00:20:56.220 a little bit richer, right?
00:20:57.280 Because whatever
00:20:59.160 your opposition is
00:21:00.020 to the pipeline,
00:21:00.720 if it's like an environmental
00:21:01.520 one or something like that,
00:21:02.700 if you are richer,
00:21:04.600 if you have more wealth,
00:21:05.660 you can put that wealth
00:21:06.660 towards environmental causes.
00:21:08.020 You can put it towards
00:21:08.940 whatever you believe in
00:21:10.160 that you think
00:21:10.540 is going to strengthen
00:21:12.120 the country
00:21:12.600 and make the world
00:21:13.520 a better place
00:21:14.000 and all that kind of stuff.
00:21:15.540 And also,
00:21:16.100 I know a couple guys
00:21:17.940 up in the oil pipelines
00:21:19.260 up in like Fort McMurray
00:21:20.260 and stuff like that.
00:21:20.980 And they've shown me
00:21:22.060 the pictures of these sites
00:21:23.420 once they've laid pipelines
00:21:24.540 and stuff like that.
00:21:24.980 It's like pristine.
00:21:26.200 There's so much red tape
00:21:26.940 that they have to go through
00:21:27.680 to actually get this stuff done
00:21:28.880 that they can't leave behind
00:21:30.800 this kind of like,
00:21:31.980 you know,
00:21:32.200 what you'd imagine
00:21:33.440 based off of the way
00:21:34.980 that these things
00:21:35.420 are talked about,
00:21:35.980 like this wasteland
00:21:37.540 of like oil,
00:21:38.520 you know,
00:21:38.760 like wildlife,
00:21:40.140 you know,
00:21:40.540 struggling to get out
00:21:41.440 of pools of raw oil
00:21:43.000 and stuff like that.
00:21:43.780 No,
00:21:43.940 it's like this beautiful green
00:21:45.600 scene that's left behind
00:21:48.040 once they're done.
00:21:48.820 So,
00:21:49.520 you know,
00:21:49.760 again,
00:21:50.260 I am always in favor
00:21:52.480 of Canadians
00:21:53.180 being more rich.
00:21:54.340 I'm always in favor
00:21:55.080 of Canadians
00:21:55.640 accomplishing projects
00:21:57.520 that is going to
00:21:58.620 improve our bottom line.
00:22:00.600 And this is good
00:22:01.520 for Canadians.
00:22:02.040 This is good
00:22:02.340 for the Indigenous
00:22:03.300 First Nations.
00:22:04.240 So,
00:22:04.580 you know,
00:22:04.940 I know there have
00:22:06.020 historically been
00:22:07.040 a lot of pushback
00:22:08.800 on these types of projects,
00:22:09.760 but I certainly hope
00:22:11.400 that with Daniel Smith's
00:22:13.600 enthusiasm that
00:22:15.420 indicates that
00:22:17.760 these First Nations
00:22:18.620 groups are on board
00:22:20.660 and that this can be
00:22:22.220 looked back on
00:22:23.140 as a successful
00:22:23.960 operation between
00:22:25.100 the Canadian government
00:22:25.820 and First Nations groups
00:22:27.020 to,
00:22:27.800 like I said,
00:22:28.280 make all Canadians
00:22:28.960 wealthier.
00:22:30.340 Yeah,
00:22:30.880 at the root of the
00:22:31.820 environmental concerns,
00:22:33.720 let's say,
00:22:34.240 is a lie,
00:22:34.940 of course,
00:22:35.220 and to be fair,
00:22:37.180 at the root of many
00:22:37.940 left-wing,
00:22:39.060 even most left-wing
00:22:40.140 arguments,
00:22:40.720 are lies
00:22:41.360 because,
00:22:41.900 of course,
00:22:42.160 this oil has to
00:22:43.020 come from somewhere.
00:22:44.080 We have the cleanest
00:22:45.060 oil in the world,
00:22:45.840 so if you build
00:22:46.420 this pipeline,
00:22:47.500 you are helping
00:22:48.260 the world
00:22:48.720 on an energy
00:22:50.740 perspective.
00:22:51.960 Emissions will go down
00:22:52.860 because the alternative
00:22:53.880 is getting coal
00:22:54.680 from China.
00:22:55.620 I mean,
00:22:55.880 what are we talking
00:22:56.460 about,
00:22:56.740 right?
00:22:57.540 So,
00:22:58.140 you know,
00:22:58.640 the oil has to
00:22:59.380 come from somewhere.
00:23:01.000 The left's,
00:23:01.900 like,
00:23:01.920 whole MO
00:23:02.280 is kind of being,
00:23:03.740 you know,
00:23:04.000 having grievances
00:23:04.700 and being victims
00:23:05.520 of this or that,
00:23:06.340 right?
00:23:06.540 And so,
00:23:07.120 you know,
00:23:07.380 a lot of their careers
00:23:08.140 are tied in with it
00:23:08.820 as well.
00:23:09.160 So,
00:23:09.340 of course,
00:23:09.580 they're going to keep
00:23:10.120 kind of pushing
00:23:10.660 those types of narratives
00:23:11.560 because it literally
00:23:12.680 puts food on their place.
00:23:14.440 And that's something
00:23:15.100 that I,
00:23:15.520 you know,
00:23:16.660 I worry about
00:23:17.600 with the future
00:23:18.120 where it is,
00:23:18.840 you know,
00:23:19.040 how I was saying earlier
00:23:19.880 is there going to be
00:23:20.440 an end game
00:23:21.080 to this truth
00:23:21.900 and reconciliation?
00:23:22.420 Like,
00:23:22.760 are we actually
00:23:23.140 going to reconcile
00:23:23.860 at the end of it?
00:23:25.080 And it's hard to kind
00:23:25.620 of see it going
00:23:26.900 in that direction
00:23:27.480 when people are
00:23:28.100 literally making
00:23:28.560 their livings
00:23:29.320 based off of it
00:23:30.200 not going in that direction.
00:23:32.720 Yeah,
00:23:33.120 it makes sense.
00:23:33.760 A lot of people
00:23:34.280 would be out of work
00:23:35.940 if these issues
00:23:37.460 were resolved,
00:23:38.140 right?
00:23:38.420 So,
00:23:39.600 then you have to
00:23:40.240 keep the issues going.
00:23:41.180 Otherwise,
00:23:41.680 you literally
00:23:42.240 don't have a job
00:23:43.000 or even a career
00:23:44.580 in some senses,
00:23:46.480 especially when it comes
00:23:47.100 to environmentalism.
00:23:48.560 Yeah,
00:23:48.760 it's like how some people
00:23:49.500 say that,
00:23:50.060 you know,
00:23:50.480 they won't cure cancer
00:23:51.440 because the money's
00:23:52.180 in the treatment
00:23:52.640 rather than the cure,
00:23:53.520 right?
00:23:54.100 It's kind of the same
00:23:55.060 idea here.
00:23:55.600 speaking of jobs,
00:23:59.040 we'll move over to
00:24:00.920 the Alberta teachers.
00:24:02.980 Just,
00:24:03.960 I'll try and get through
00:24:05.880 this without getting
00:24:07.000 too angry,
00:24:07.900 but this is
00:24:08.540 absolute insanity
00:24:10.060 coming out of Alberta
00:24:11.640 because Alberta
00:24:12.700 teachers are going
00:24:13.780 to walk off the job
00:24:15.220 on October 6th
00:24:16.500 after almost 90%,
00:24:18.180 89.5% of teachers
00:24:20.500 voted against
00:24:21.560 the settlement
00:24:22.880 with Alberta
00:24:23.520 despite the government
00:24:24.920 not only giving them
00:24:26.220 everything they asked for
00:24:27.160 but more.
00:24:28.280 I mean,
00:24:28.540 this is absolutely
00:24:29.280 insanity.
00:24:30.340 I can't even
00:24:31.120 just,
00:24:32.580 I've been going
00:24:33.160 through this for a while,
00:24:33.860 but I just can't even
00:24:34.720 comprehend the level
00:24:35.700 of indoctrination
00:24:36.420 happening with the unions
00:24:37.680 to these teachers
00:24:38.620 because they all seem
00:24:39.560 to have completely
00:24:40.760 lost the plot.
00:24:42.260 just getting into
00:24:43.960 what they were offered,
00:24:46.520 I mean,
00:24:47.740 it's insane.
00:24:49.760 So yeah,
00:24:50.160 of course,
00:24:50.560 the Alberta government
00:24:51.200 offered to hire
00:24:52.060 3,000 new teachers,
00:24:53.980 1,500 new educational
00:24:55.280 assistants,
00:24:55.960 a 12% wage increase
00:24:57.340 over four years,
00:24:58.220 but it's actually
00:24:58.900 a 17% wage increase
00:25:01.340 for more than 95%
00:25:02.860 of the teachers.
00:25:04.660 And the CTF,
00:25:06.220 they've done a really
00:25:07.040 good job
00:25:07.620 breaking it down.
00:25:09.780 They had a Facebook
00:25:10.540 post there and it kind
00:25:12.020 of broke it down.
00:25:13.340 I mean,
00:25:13.500 look,
00:25:14.220 I'm going off memory
00:25:16.200 because I don't have
00:25:16.600 the post in front of me,
00:25:17.260 but a first year teacher
00:25:18.140 is making like 70 grand.
00:25:19.660 Then less than 10 years,
00:25:20.780 it was,
00:25:21.120 you're up to like 110 grand.
00:25:23.320 The top scale teacher
00:25:24.860 is making like 115 grand
00:25:26.460 a year.
00:25:27.200 This is healthcare,
00:25:28.820 defined pension,
00:25:30.500 benefits,
00:25:31.780 summer's off.
00:25:32.760 I mean,
00:25:33.020 the list goes on.
00:25:34.000 It's hardly
00:25:34.700 that they're struggling here.
00:25:36.320 And the premier
00:25:37.700 and the officials
00:25:39.060 at the Alberta government
00:25:39.820 were saying,
00:25:40.540 this raise
00:25:41.100 would have made them
00:25:41.720 the highest paid teacher
00:25:42.800 in Western Canada,
00:25:43.780 saying,
00:25:44.160 of course,
00:25:44.520 that it's higher
00:25:45.040 than even in BC
00:25:45.980 where the cost of living
00:25:48.100 is like five times higher.
00:25:49.500 So you're getting paid more.
00:25:51.340 And I don't,
00:25:53.060 I don't really,
00:25:53.660 I just,
00:25:55.200 it's hard.
00:25:55.880 Yeah.
00:25:56.380 Have you guys been paying
00:25:57.660 attention to the teacher strike?
00:25:59.680 Waleed,
00:25:59.880 I know you want to move
00:26:01.320 to Alberta.
00:26:01.880 Have you been looking
00:26:03.280 at that news at all?
00:26:04.660 Well,
00:26:04.820 I know viewers always
00:26:06.120 see the flag behind my head,
00:26:07.080 but it's typically
00:26:07.800 more of a symbolic gesture
00:26:08.980 from a distance.
00:26:10.620 I'm not really looking
00:26:11.300 at moving Alberta
00:26:11.900 in the immediate future
00:26:12.980 because honestly,
00:26:13.820 it's such a big move
00:26:14.860 and,
00:26:15.040 you know,
00:26:15.860 to the hour difference
00:26:16.540 time zone.
00:26:17.160 I think Eastern Time
00:26:17.860 is what rules the world.
00:26:19.360 And obviously,
00:26:20.320 Ontario still has,
00:26:21.400 you know,
00:26:22.420 something interesting about it.
00:26:23.700 But I will say
00:26:24.920 on the terms
00:26:25.520 of the teacher strikes,
00:26:27.280 I find teacher unions
00:26:28.220 to be some of the most
00:26:29.360 hostile to the public
00:26:32.760 interest unions
00:26:34.760 that we have out there
00:26:35.680 because they really are
00:26:36.640 just leveraging the fact
00:26:37.780 that they're providing
00:26:39.440 some form of daycare
00:26:40.480 for children
00:26:41.360 and they're providing
00:26:42.140 some sort of education
00:26:43.200 that's something
00:26:43.800 that our society
00:26:44.500 values very much.
00:26:45.960 I don't think
00:26:46.360 there's ever been
00:26:46.820 this argument
00:26:47.300 of defunding education
00:26:48.500 at effectively any level
00:26:49.760 for at least
00:26:51.200 mainstream society.
00:26:52.080 people really buy
00:26:53.320 into the fact
00:26:53.840 they want to have
00:26:54.360 their kids in schools
00:26:55.700 and public schools
00:26:56.480 for the most part.
00:26:58.320 And I just find
00:26:58.900 the fact that,
00:26:59.660 you know,
00:27:00.700 the students keep asking
00:27:01.680 for more and more money,
00:27:02.780 more and more salary
00:27:03.580 while leaving our kids
00:27:05.120 behind day after day
00:27:06.340 because I'm assuming
00:27:06.980 the strike will,
00:27:07.780 you know,
00:27:08.080 essentially cease operations.
00:27:09.560 I remember in our school
00:27:10.280 as well,
00:27:11.320 when I was growing up
00:27:11.900 in Ontario,
00:27:12.500 that, you know,
00:27:13.200 that meant we lost
00:27:14.380 some of our sports seasons
00:27:15.500 because teachers
00:27:16.080 were complaining about
00:27:16.960 how they were spending
00:27:17.540 an extra hour or two
00:27:18.580 after school
00:27:19.680 without paying
00:27:20.620 to coach that sport
00:27:22.720 or whatever.
00:27:23.520 So, I mean,
00:27:23.900 I guess the spirit
00:27:24.740 of volunteerism
00:27:25.460 is kind of gone
00:27:26.820 out of the window
00:27:27.440 there as well.
00:27:28.220 But I find
00:27:29.640 that teacher unions
00:27:30.480 are really just weaponizing
00:27:32.080 the vulnerable situation
00:27:34.260 that parents have
00:27:35.200 where they just need
00:27:36.500 child care
00:27:37.040 for the eight to two
00:27:38.980 or eight to three
00:27:39.860 and a little bit before,
00:27:41.960 a little bit after.
00:27:42.980 And then, of course,
00:27:43.740 hopefully a half-decent education.
00:27:46.560 I don't know,
00:27:46.940 maybe the school,
00:27:47.700 maybe they should just
00:27:48.280 contract the drag queens
00:27:49.360 to cover up a bit more
00:27:50.400 because, I mean,
00:27:51.760 that's already a big element
00:27:53.720 of education these days.
00:27:54.940 You just can't get rid
00:27:55.780 of the drag queens
00:27:56.660 story hour scenes
00:27:57.540 anywhere,
00:27:58.340 let alone even
00:27:59.260 in the most conservative
00:28:00.000 province of Alberta.
00:28:01.800 So, it's quite interesting,
00:28:03.160 frankly.
00:28:03.620 But I hope that they can get
00:28:05.420 a resolution to the table
00:28:06.840 and hopefully,
00:28:07.960 let's just say,
00:28:08.860 for the future outlook,
00:28:10.160 we can have a system
00:28:11.500 where the unions
00:28:12.720 have a little bit less power
00:28:13.880 over the public
00:28:14.900 because it's a little bit
00:28:16.160 too much.
00:28:17.340 Yeah, Jeff,
00:28:17.800 obviously hard to deny
00:28:20.360 that the unions
00:28:20.940 don't really care
00:28:21.600 about what happens
00:28:22.200 to kids at this point.
00:28:24.400 They're pretty much
00:28:25.380 just being selfish.
00:28:26.460 But the Alberta government
00:28:27.780 does and, in fact,
00:28:29.600 will provide $150
00:28:30.720 per week to students
00:28:32.740 with, sorry,
00:28:34.720 to parents of students
00:28:35.820 with that being students
00:28:38.180 aged 12 or less
00:28:39.460 that go to public,
00:28:41.020 separate,
00:28:41.340 or Francophone schools
00:28:42.300 and are affected
00:28:43.060 by the strike.
00:28:43.800 And then they also,
00:28:46.160 the Alberta government,
00:28:47.460 they released a parent toolkit
00:28:50.120 in both French and English.
00:28:52.140 So, it's basically
00:28:52.880 just online learning
00:28:53.900 because it will go
00:28:54.820 through the curriculum
00:28:55.600 for them.
00:28:56.380 So, what do you think
00:28:58.260 of the package
00:28:59.080 that the Alberta government
00:29:00.400 is giving here?
00:29:01.440 Is it enough?
00:29:02.660 And, I mean,
00:29:04.520 unsurprisingly,
00:29:05.400 the teachers in the union
00:29:06.260 aren't doing this.
00:29:07.440 The government
00:29:08.000 is literally stepping in
00:29:09.260 to teach kids here.
00:29:11.200 So, yeah,
00:29:11.720 what do you think?
00:29:13.420 I mean,
00:29:13.960 I've got pretty
00:29:14.540 complicated feelings
00:29:15.500 about the teachers union
00:29:16.400 and their relationship
00:29:17.120 with students in general.
00:29:18.860 Like, it seems like
00:29:20.100 over the last few years
00:29:21.380 there's this weird
00:29:21.980 culture of secrecy
00:29:23.060 between parents
00:29:24.000 and teachers.
00:29:25.260 As for whether
00:29:25.920 the money is enough
00:29:27.260 or not,
00:29:27.700 I mean,
00:29:28.400 I think the real issue
00:29:29.420 for parents
00:29:30.340 is going to be
00:29:31.100 daycare
00:29:32.280 for having,
00:29:34.260 you know,
00:29:34.520 now they have to
00:29:35.140 take care of these kids
00:29:35.940 who can't be left
00:29:36.500 at home alone
00:29:37.180 and a lot of parents
00:29:38.240 aren't able to be
00:29:38.940 home all day.
00:29:40.660 So, you know,
00:29:41.760 I don't think
00:29:42.400 $150 a week
00:29:43.300 does cover daycare.
00:29:44.180 From what I've heard,
00:29:44.740 daycare expenses
00:29:45.320 are quite high.
00:29:46.960 And so I think
00:29:47.600 this is going to create
00:29:48.460 a financial issue
00:29:49.220 for a lot of parents
00:29:49.880 for sure.
00:29:51.680 Yeah,
00:29:52.100 and just getting
00:29:52.560 into a few more things,
00:29:54.620 you touched on one of them,
00:29:55.720 but the premier did say
00:29:57.320 that the province
00:29:58.460 is spending
00:29:59.460 $8.6 billion
00:30:00.680 in new school construction
00:30:02.900 to build 130 new schools,
00:30:04.780 which would add
00:30:05.320 200,000 spaces
00:30:06.580 for students
00:30:07.240 by 2030.
00:30:07.960 because,
00:30:09.780 look,
00:30:10.100 the issue here
00:30:10.700 is obvious.
00:30:11.380 There's way too many
00:30:12.460 people immigrating
00:30:14.240 to Alberta.
00:30:15.420 Smith said
00:30:15.940 that over the last
00:30:17.000 three years,
00:30:17.560 80,000 new students.
00:30:19.020 So this is the problem.
00:30:19.820 The teachers are complaining
00:30:21.000 that their classes
00:30:22.080 are too big.
00:30:22.900 Well,
00:30:23.100 it's like,
00:30:23.480 what do you think
00:30:24.200 caused that?
00:30:25.320 It's not from
00:30:26.220 Albertans having children.
00:30:28.080 We've seen the birth rates.
00:30:29.240 It definitely is not that.
00:30:30.880 It's because
00:30:31.440 people are immigrating here,
00:30:32.780 not just from
00:30:33.440 other countries
00:30:35.520 and continents,
00:30:36.260 but from Canada
00:30:37.680 because Alberta
00:30:38.740 has led the country
00:30:40.160 in interprovincial migration
00:30:41.420 time and again
00:30:42.340 because our cost of living
00:30:43.640 is so low
00:30:44.420 and you can actually
00:30:45.160 make money here
00:30:45.920 that you can live with.
00:30:50.960 And then,
00:30:51.320 I don't know if I said this,
00:30:52.220 but again,
00:30:53.120 the two agreements
00:30:57.800 that the unions denied,
00:31:00.000 like,
00:31:00.200 they were literally accepted
00:31:01.560 among the Alberta
00:31:02.760 Teachers Association
00:31:03.640 and the TEBA.
00:31:04.580 I mean,
00:31:05.020 I don't understand this at all.
00:31:06.720 They got everything
00:31:07.500 they asked for
00:31:08.140 and then the teachers
00:31:08.780 voted against it.
00:31:09.740 So like I said,
00:31:10.520 the indoctrination going on,
00:31:11.660 I can't imagine
00:31:12.940 what it is.
00:31:13.840 But look,
00:31:15.060 some of the teachers
00:31:15.640 are really close
00:31:16.400 to figuring out
00:31:17.000 what the real problem is
00:31:17.840 because they're talking
00:31:18.360 about how big,
00:31:19.120 how overflowed
00:31:20.180 their classrooms are
00:31:20.920 and it's like,
00:31:21.340 hmm,
00:31:21.860 I don't think it's funding
00:31:23.280 that's the issue here.
00:31:24.600 I think it's the fact
00:31:25.320 that 100,000 kids
00:31:26.440 came in three years.
00:31:28.400 That's what Smith said.
00:31:29.480 Look,
00:31:30.360 you can't build new schools
00:31:31.840 out of thin air.
00:31:32.620 They don't just appear
00:31:33.360 out of nowhere.
00:31:33.900 Even when you're investing
00:31:35.580 billions into them,
00:31:36.460 which the province is,
00:31:37.840 it takes time
00:31:38.780 to build schools.
00:31:40.180 Obviously,
00:31:41.080 you can't just
00:31:41.700 3D print a school.
00:31:44.400 That's what we need, eh?
00:31:45.340 If you could 3D print schools,
00:31:46.840 we wouldn't have this problem,
00:31:47.860 eh, guys?
00:31:48.220 There's such a focus
00:31:50.560 on how we need
00:31:51.220 so much more immigration
00:31:52.020 to, like,
00:31:52.840 replace our dwindling population,
00:31:54.780 I guess,
00:31:55.040 as it ages,
00:31:56.020 but no focus on
00:31:57.160 if we actually have
00:31:58.260 the facilities able
00:31:59.060 to support
00:31:59.640 this many people coming in,
00:32:01.280 which we clearly don't.
00:32:03.200 So,
00:32:03.540 it's kind of a mess
00:32:04.840 in more areas
00:32:05.680 than just the school system,
00:32:07.120 that's for sure.
00:32:07.660 Yeah,
00:32:07.880 no,
00:32:08.080 we always focus on that
00:32:09.120 with healthcare,
00:32:09.920 but then we forget about,
00:32:11.180 oh,
00:32:11.300 the schools are overflowing,
00:32:12.500 too.
00:32:12.860 Well,
00:32:13.460 surprise,
00:32:13.880 surprise,
00:32:14.280 especially when we have
00:32:15.420 some families
00:32:16.920 coming in here
00:32:17.840 where they don't have,
00:32:19.780 they're from countries
00:32:20.440 without birth rates
00:32:21.260 of 1.2
00:32:22.160 or whatever ours is,
00:32:23.240 and they have actually
00:32:24.120 eight kids,
00:32:24.740 and it's like,
00:32:25.260 oh,
00:32:25.560 where do you think
00:32:26.300 school, right?
00:32:29.120 Absolutely.
00:32:30.500 I think it was back
00:32:31.460 in my class
00:32:32.060 when I was in the,
00:32:33.820 well,
00:32:34.060 frankly,
00:32:34.420 from the 6th
00:32:35.040 to the 8th grade,
00:32:35.900 so my end of my
00:32:36.800 elementary school career
00:32:37.960 was when we had
00:32:38.820 about five students,
00:32:40.720 and this was back
00:32:41.360 in the,
00:32:42.700 you know,
00:32:42.980 this was after
00:32:43.680 the war
00:32:44.600 in Afghanistan,
00:32:46.120 so this was
00:32:47.040 around the time
00:32:47.600 when we were receiving
00:32:48.080 a lot of Afghan refugees
00:32:49.120 in Canada.
00:32:50.440 Five kids came up
00:32:51.840 in,
00:32:52.520 like,
00:32:52.760 just into my class
00:32:53.980 from 24 the previous year
00:32:56.200 to about almost 30,
00:32:57.920 adding two exchange students
00:32:59.520 from Colombia as well,
00:33:00.900 so it's a very interesting
00:33:02.200 situation
00:33:02.620 where we see
00:33:03.700 the population growth,
00:33:05.100 even in areas
00:33:06.200 where there haven't been
00:33:07.100 that massive population growth.
00:33:09.120 I mean,
00:33:09.240 I feel like there's been
00:33:09.960 probably be
00:33:10.460 greater rates of mass migration
00:33:12.000 in Canada's
00:33:12.900 other major cities
00:33:13.720 and urban areas
00:33:14.440 besides just the east
00:33:15.440 end of Ottawa
00:33:16.000 where I was at the time,
00:33:17.160 but when you're seeing
00:33:18.440 classrooms get to the size
00:33:19.760 30,
00:33:20.200 31,
00:33:20.640 32 kids,
00:33:22.200 you know,
00:33:22.420 with the same amount
00:33:22.900 of teachers,
00:33:23.340 same amount of resources,
00:33:24.160 same amount of textbooks,
00:33:25.080 and you're having to share
00:33:25.860 more and more
00:33:26.600 across the table,
00:33:27.980 we also had a lot of,
00:33:29.000 I think we had a total
00:33:29.820 of about 14 or 15 portables,
00:33:33.260 portable classrooms
00:33:34.160 on the outdoors
00:33:34.820 because we had displaced
00:33:35.980 some of the younger kids,
00:33:37.160 3,
00:33:38.640 4,
00:33:39.100 5th,
00:33:39.600 6th grade,
00:33:40.480 and put them in portables
00:33:41.760 so that we had more
00:33:43.040 classroom space
00:33:43.880 because of that increase
00:33:45.420 of size as well.
00:33:46.420 So,
00:33:47.020 you know,
00:33:47.500 I mean,
00:33:48.300 I wasn't personally
00:33:49.340 that much against portables.
00:33:51.240 I kind of think it was
00:33:51.860 a pretty good idea
00:33:53.000 in terms of expanding
00:33:53.880 the school without having
00:33:54.600 to build a new one,
00:33:55.400 but with 14,
00:33:57.040 15 different portables,
00:33:58.440 it kind of becomes
00:33:59.840 a bit of an absurd scene
00:34:00.960 where a lot of what was
00:34:02.200 formerly outdoor yard space
00:34:04.000 for us to play
00:34:04.860 and get active
00:34:05.460 and play tag
00:34:06.280 now became a bunch
00:34:07.480 of these,
00:34:08.120 you know,
00:34:08.600 buildings propped
00:34:09.320 onto the ground
00:34:09.840 and,
00:34:10.640 you know,
00:34:10.900 the whole school
00:34:12.580 becomes,
00:34:13.400 you know,
00:34:14.000 a mess
00:34:15.020 when that many kids,
00:34:17.220 you know,
00:34:17.480 it's not meant
00:34:18.580 to be a university.
00:34:19.840 It's meant to be
00:34:20.380 a elementary school
00:34:21.120 to serve its local community
00:34:22.600 and not meant
00:34:23.260 to serve the globe,
00:34:24.680 unfortunately,
00:34:25.580 although,
00:34:26.180 of course,
00:34:26.480 immigration is a big part
00:34:27.900 of our legacy.
00:34:28.620 I just think we've gone
00:34:30.180 beyond the means
00:34:31.700 of what we can afford.
00:34:34.620 Well beyond.
00:34:36.020 And yeah,
00:34:36.660 I mean,
00:34:37.260 look,
00:34:37.660 we'll see how long
00:34:38.180 this strike lasts for.
00:34:39.700 I'm generally in favor
00:34:41.120 of privatizing everything.
00:34:42.520 It's not so simple
00:34:44.040 with schools,
00:34:45.540 especially elementary schools
00:34:47.200 and stuff.
00:34:47.860 It's a topic
00:34:49.400 we could probably talk
00:34:50.300 for hours alone on.
00:34:52.800 But instead of doing that,
00:34:54.460 I think it's best
00:34:55.540 to just wrap up the show
00:34:56.640 and remember,
00:34:57.420 everything you heard today
00:34:58.220 was off the record.
00:34:59.040 I was there
00:35:04.020 yesterday morning
00:35:04.800 on the hill
00:35:05.420 on the outside.
00:35:06.420 I got in
00:35:07.280 past deployment security
00:35:08.340 when they stopped me
00:35:09.600 for a few minutes
00:35:10.200 and then former colleague
00:35:11.480 MP,
00:35:12.760 Andrew Lawton,
00:35:13.320 helped me up
00:35:13.780 to the stairs
00:35:14.860 so I can get past
00:35:15.660 that blockade
00:35:16.880 of the potential
00:35:18.740 censorship,
00:35:19.320 frankly.
00:35:19.780 But anyhow,
00:35:20.680 not to be petty about it
00:35:21.720 because all the guys
00:35:22.480 were pretty nice
00:35:23.620 with me
00:35:23.880 and as per usual,
00:35:27.260 I asked a question
00:35:28.480 at the PRS press conference
00:35:30.280 that was on originally,
00:35:32.520 crime.
00:35:33.600 The question I asked
00:35:34.660 was his stance
00:35:35.720 on the canola China
00:35:38.660 EV tariff situation.
00:35:40.360 Now,
00:35:40.520 I've heard that he's
00:35:41.900 vouched for support
00:35:43.440 to support the government
00:35:45.080 to support the farmers,
00:35:46.580 help them brace
00:35:47.420 the period of time
00:35:48.200 that they have to deal
00:35:48.880 with these China tariffs
00:35:49.720 and in fact,
00:35:50.500 that we will try not
00:35:51.020 not going to be purchasing
00:35:51.760 nearly as much canola.
00:35:53.620 You know,
00:35:54.160 you see big losses
00:35:54.960 in their very key industry
00:35:56.180 and that industry
00:35:57.600 is primarily key
00:35:58.420 in the West.
00:35:59.640 So you're talking
00:36:00.300 about Saskatchewan,
00:36:01.140 Alberta,
00:36:01.880 even Manitoba
00:36:02.600 and British Columbia
00:36:03.300 and so of course
00:36:04.540 those premiers
00:36:05.020 were advocating
00:36:05.620 and Premier Scott Moe
00:36:07.220 actually over the course
00:36:08.480 of the summer
00:36:08.920 was talking about,
00:36:10.100 you know,
00:36:10.780 urging the government
00:36:11.500 to drop those EV tariffs
00:36:13.180 because,
00:36:14.040 well,
00:36:14.240 in his view at the time,
00:36:15.400 well,
00:36:15.920 you know,
00:36:16.120 if we're going all
00:36:16.760 on this EV game
00:36:18.100 and we're tariffing
00:36:19.180 these EVs
00:36:20.060 that could possibly serve
00:36:21.140 at the marketplace
00:36:21.860 while also
00:36:23.240 causing some strain
00:36:25.400 with our relationship
00:36:26.160 with Beijing
00:36:26.660 to the point
00:36:27.280 where we wouldn't
00:36:27.880 be able to be
00:36:29.220 selling our canola,
00:36:30.360 well,
00:36:30.560 then it seems
00:36:31.280 like an easy trade-off.
00:36:32.260 Now,
00:36:32.760 since September,
00:36:34.100 I think mid last month,
00:36:35.900 he changed his posture
00:36:37.660 on that scenario.
00:36:39.220 He kind of explained
00:36:40.120 how it was a bit
00:36:40.900 more complicated
00:36:41.580 than what he previously thought.
00:36:43.400 so I guess
00:36:44.500 he's adjusted his tone.
00:36:46.080 Smith as well
00:36:46.820 previously
00:36:47.220 held the same view
00:36:47.960 as Moe
00:36:48.480 where she felt
00:36:49.980 that those tariffs
00:36:51.060 should be dropped
00:36:52.020 on Chinese EVs
00:36:53.100 allowing China
00:36:54.040 to flood the market
00:36:54.640 with cheap EVs
00:36:55.900 like BYD
00:36:56.720 and their models.
00:36:58.440 Very cheap devices,
00:36:59.680 by the way,
00:37:00.040 of course,
00:37:00.420 because they have
00:37:01.020 a completely unfair
00:37:01.780 practice of business.
00:37:03.600 And I guess
00:37:04.880 I wanted to know
00:37:05.560 what Polly Offsense
00:37:06.300 was on the,
00:37:07.580 first of all,
00:37:08.380 the EV tariffs themselves,
00:37:10.140 but then hear about
00:37:11.460 what he had to say
00:37:12.120 on trade
00:37:12.520 and he told me
00:37:14.080 that he wouldn't want
00:37:15.020 to drop the EV tariffs
00:37:17.040 that he would look
00:37:17.840 for alternative means
00:37:18.860 to support the canola farmers
00:37:20.340 but he just went on
00:37:21.340 on this rampage
00:37:22.120 on Cardi's trade record
00:37:23.700 where he just said
00:37:25.440 that Cardi should
00:37:26.200 lock himself
00:37:26.840 in a room somewhere
00:37:27.940 in Ottawa
00:37:28.620 and not leave
00:37:29.860 and not travel
00:37:30.380 not because he has
00:37:31.180 an issue with the travel
00:37:31.940 but because he has
00:37:32.820 an issue with the result.
00:37:33.700 Every time he gets
00:37:34.540 on a plane,
00:37:35.860 he went to London
00:37:36.760 or the UK twice
00:37:38.260 and the marketplace
00:37:40.600 is still blockaded
00:37:42.480 from Canadian meat production.
00:37:44.560 He went to Europe
00:37:45.620 and he got all these
00:37:46.700 MOIs,
00:37:50.280 no real deal,
00:37:51.800 no real legally binding deal.
00:37:54.740 So wherever he travels,
00:37:56.060 it seems that his results
00:37:57.240 according to Polly Off
00:37:58.400 are lackluster at best.
00:38:00.360 So I guess Polly Off's message
00:38:02.000 is to ground the plane,
00:38:03.800 stay at home
00:38:04.420 and better nothing
00:38:06.400 than what he's been giving
00:38:07.620 thus far.
00:38:09.080 Yeah, every time
00:38:09.900 he travels too,
00:38:10.660 he gives hundreds of millions
00:38:11.760 to some foreign agency
00:38:13.500 or government.
00:38:15.400 That's where we're at
00:38:16.440 in Canada.
00:38:17.700 No prime minister,
00:38:18.960 literally if we had
00:38:19.660 no prime minister,
00:38:20.640 we'd be better off
00:38:21.500 than with the one
00:38:22.580 we do have,
00:38:23.540 which every time
00:38:24.400 he leaves the office
00:38:25.200 basically puts us
00:38:26.720 in a worse position
00:38:27.520 than we were in,
00:38:28.340 which is essentially
00:38:28.860 what Polly Off
00:38:29.320 was saying there.