In this episode, we discuss Alberta s new deal with the federal government, Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Accord, and why a referendum should be held in Alberta sometime in 2026. We also discuss the CBC's embarrassing report on equalization with other Canadian provinces.
00:00:00.000Hi, I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show. We have a fantastic episode for you folks. You're going to want to stick around. So yesterday afternoon, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith gave a absolutely stunning press conference that I believe will change the future of Canada, no matter what happens. It was that powerful. The best speech that I've ever seen Premier Smith deliver unbelievable content. And I think that this will make Canada a stronger country.
00:00:29.460And it will make Alberta stronger and more prosperous the way that it should have been from the beginning, to be perfectly frank. So we're going to get to all of that. And later in the show, we're going to talk about an embarrassing report by the CBC. All right, folks, do me a favor. Hit that like button. Help us with the YouTube algorithm. Help us be discovered by more and more Canadians. Thank you so much.
00:00:49.760Okay, so yesterday, like I said, Premier Smith announces some changes. She commits to potentially even a referendum and lays out the path for a future free Alberta. So I want to just go through this here. First, she talks about something called the Alberta Accord. This is a new arrangement, a new agreement with the with the feds with Ottawa that will, like I said, just make things fair. So let's play that clip of Premier Smith talking about the Alberta Accord.
00:01:17.760While I will in good faith work with Prime Minister Mark Carney on unwinding the mountain of destructive legislation and policies that have ravaged our provincial and national economies this past decade, until I see tangible proof of real change, Alberta will be taking steps to better protect ourselves from Ottawa.
00:01:36.580I will soon appoint a special negotiating team to represent our province in negotiations with the federal government on the following reforms requested by our province. We hope this will result in a binding agreement that Albertans can have confidence in. Call it an Alberta Accord, if you will.
00:01:53.600Okay, so the Alberta Accord includes four parts. The first one is that Alberta requires a guaranteed corridor and port access to tidewater off the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coasts, all three, and for international export of Alberta, oil, gas, critical minerals and other resources in amount supported by the free market, rather than dictated by Ottawa.
00:02:15.600Ottawa. Next. Second, it demands that the federal government must end all federal interference in the development of provincial resources by repealing the No New Pipelines Law Bill C-69, the oil tanker ban, the net zero electricity regulations, the oil and gas emissions cap, the net zero vehicle mandate, and any federal law regulation that purports to regulate industrial carbon emissions, plastics, or the commercial free speech of energy companies.
00:02:43.340Number three, that the federal government must refrain from imposing export taxes or restrictions on the export of Alberta resources without the consent of the government of Alberta.
00:02:53.380And fourth, finally, the federal government must provide to Alberta the same per capita federal transfers and equalization as is received by the other three largest provinces, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.
00:03:05.320This is absolutely right, folks. The whole idea behind equalization, even if you're someone like me who has been a critic of the program for a very, very long time,
00:03:12.900it is not a fair program. The basic idea is that the smaller provinces should have a similar standard of life as the bigger, wealthier provinces, right?
00:03:20.560So the idea is that, sure, rich provinces like Alberta can transfer some money over to Prince Edward Island so that people in PEI can have similar health care and education.
00:03:29.420You could argue that there's some rationale behind it. I don't like the idea of transferring money from taxpayers to the French country.
00:03:34.940Fine. But the idea is not so that rich resource development provinces like Alberta can subsidize communism and socialism in places like Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.
00:03:45.960That is not part of the deal. So good on Danielle Smith for saying no to that.
00:03:50.960Okay, we've got our next clip here, which is that Danielle Smith, Premier Danielle Smith, announced that she will chair something called the Alberta Next panel, made up of judicial, economic, and academic leaders to explore Alberta's future in Canada.
00:04:07.300While these negotiations with Ottawa are ongoing, our government will appoint, and I will chair, the Alberta Next panel.
00:04:13.620This panel will be composed of some of our best and brightest judicial, academic, and economic minds to join with me in a series of in-person and online town halls to discuss Alberta's future in Canada, and specifically, what next steps we can take as a province to better protect Alberta from any current or future hostile policies of the federal government.
00:04:35.020After the work of the panel is finished, it is likely we will place some of the more popular ideas discussed with the panel to a provincial referendum so that all Albertans can vote on them sometime in 2026.
00:04:47.960So the idea is that they are going to come up with best ideas for the future of Alberta and have a referendum in 2026 about whether the Albertans, people of the province of Alberta, want to follow different directions.
00:04:59.520She specifically said that the idea of this referendum was not to have a vote for separation.
00:05:06.140However, if there is a citizens' initiative and a petition that meets the threshold of the Citizens' Initiative Act, that she will respect the democratic will of the people, and there will include a referendum for separation on that ballot.
00:05:21.220To be clear from the outset, our government will not be putting a vote on separation from Canada on the referendum ballot.
00:05:27.920However, if there is a successful citizen-led referendum petition that is able to gather the requisite number of signatures requesting such a question to be put on a referendum, our government will respect the democratic process and include that question on the 2026 provincial referendum ballot as well.
00:07:18.600I mean, the difference with Smith this time, though, is she's definitely inserted a big or else at the end of it.
00:07:24.380She's saying, you know, these are the demands.
00:07:25.760We kind of already know what they are.
00:07:27.120We've been over this ground for decades.
00:07:28.960But she's going to reestablish it with this Alberta Accord and then add some teeth to it, potentially, with giving the ability to hold an independence referendum
00:07:39.900or enshrining the conclusions, at least of the other things aside for independence, in a referendum to show Albertans really, really do support these means for provincial autonomy through a referenda.
00:07:51.820And it's going to make it difficult for the government to ignore.
00:07:55.840She must know that the prime minister is not going to see to those.
00:07:59.820So they're not going to get rid of their legislation that blocks resource development in the West.
00:08:04.980They're not going to take on Quebec and allow a utility corridor with a pipeline to go through it.
00:08:10.280So I guess it kind of puts the ball in Kearney's court.
00:08:12.800It'll be interesting to see how we react.
00:08:14.340OK, so, Corey, I totally agree that there are irreconcilable differences, it seems, between the federal liberal government and the United Conservative government in Alberta.
00:08:25.320I'm wondering, though, like the timeline of a referendum or at least a vote that could include a separatist referendum in 2026.