Rachel Emanuel talks about Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's letter to her cabinet, UCP leadership candidate Leila Heer's decision not to run for the party in the next election, and the latest update on the Trudeau Liberals' liberal gun grab scheme.
00:00:00.000Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel. Let's take a look
00:00:16.460at what we're going to be talking about here today. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said
00:00:20.320she's open to pulling out of new federal programs. Failed UCP leadership candidate Leila Heer has0.88
00:00:25.460said she won't run for the party in the next general election. The Alberta NDP meanwhile
00:00:29.740want to lower the voting age and expand access to abortion across the province. And Daniel Smith
00:00:34.400has denounced the WEF. We're also going to be giving you the latest update to the Trudeau
00:00:38.440liberal gun grab scheme. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup. Up first, Alberta Premier
00:00:43.440Danielle Smith has said she's open to pulling out of new federal programs or avoiding federal
00:00:48.280consultations when they aren't in the province's best interests. The Premier published a letter on
00:00:53.040Thursdays that she had sent to her cabinet ministers outlining the strategies they must use when they're
00:00:58.200dealing with the federal government. Let's take a look at that now. In the letter, Smith said,
00:01:02.360quote, there may be cases where Alberta will seek to opt out of new federal programs if they aren't in
00:01:07.180Alberta's best interest. The new Premier said Ottawa often avoids meaningful engagement with Alberta.
00:01:12.760That has to change, she said. Ottawa must provide open, honest, and early communication with the province.
00:01:18.600Quote, if the federal government does not honour cooperative federalism through meaningful engagement,
00:01:22.580we will simply not participate in their consultations. This announcement comes after Premier Smith's speech
00:01:28.760at the United Conservative Party annual general meeting last weekend, in which she said Alberta under her
00:01:34.280leadership will not enforce federal laws or policies that interfere in Alberta's jurisdictional rights as
00:01:39.760outlined in the Constitution. Take a listen to her comments from last week Saturday.
00:01:42.740Finally, you see Ottawa problem. There can be no doubt that the current NDP Liberal Alliance is just the
00:01:49.500latest in a long line of Ottawa governments that have frustrated the legitimate aspirations of
00:01:56.740hard-working Albertans. That stops now. When Ottawa announces policies and laws that attack our economy
00:02:03.960or violate the rights of our people, or when Ottawa seeks to take control of our sovereign areas of
00:02:10.560provincial jurisdiction, our UCP government will not enforce those laws and policies in this province, period.
00:02:40.560And let me be very clear, I will never, ever apologize for standing up for the people of Alberta and the province that I serve.
00:02:59.560So, we will pass the Sovereignty Act, work that has already begun on crafting it. We worked on a
00:03:10.380earlier this week at the caucus retreat. We still have further work to do, but I've asked for it to be ready by the time I take my
00:03:16.300seat in the legislature. We will then introduce it, and we will pass it, and we will use it to push Ottawa back into its own
00:03:22.800lane every single time that they step out of line and intrude on our constitutional rights. Alberta will no longer ask
00:03:30.280permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free. UCP MLA and failed leadership candidate Lila here has said she won't run for the UCP in the next
00:03:39.380general election, which is in spring 2023. As you guys know, Lila here was the first to fall off the ballot in the party leadership0.96
00:03:45.000contest earlier this month. She had just 1.7% of party member support when she fell off. She was also a vocal critic of0.96
00:03:52.120Danielle Smith during the campaign, and was the only of the seven leadership candidates not named in Smith's cabinet.
00:03:57.860The Chestermere Strathmore MLA posted a lengthy statement on Twitter in which she said she was grateful for the opportunity, and that the
00:04:04.040United Conservative Party members have chosen a new direction, and she respects that decision. Quote,
00:04:08.580I am so unbelievably grateful for the time I have been privileged to serve all Albertans. Okay guys, time to move to your
00:04:14.160favorite topic. That's right, the Alberta NDP. The party hosted its convention last weekend in Calgary, and they passed a couple
00:04:20.500interesting resolutions. Let's take a look at them. One of the resolutions sought to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.
00:04:26.840This resolution passed. Now it's worth noting that resolutions that passed aren't necessarily binding on the party,
00:04:31.340meaning the party does not have to include them in their election platform. It's also worth noting that
00:04:35.360the federal NDP sought to lower the voting age in a motion, which failed in the House of Commons
00:04:39.220just last month. So it doesn't look like there's a lot of interest from this elsewhere across the country.
00:04:43.700They also sought to expand access to abortion across the province, and another interesting resolution
00:04:48.620focused on affordability. Let's take a look at that one. That resolution called on the United Conservative
00:04:53.380Party government to work directly with the opposition to create an all-party committee on food
00:04:58.440affordability and routine government reporting on grocery prices. Now I had the opportunity to ask
00:05:03.560Premier Smith about this resolution on Monday at a press conference just after her cabinet was sworn in.
00:05:08.380Take a listen to her response for yourself.
00:05:10.700Rachel Emanuel, True North. The NDP at their convention this weekend passed a resolution calling
00:05:15.320on the UCP government to work with the opposition on lowering grocery stocks. You obviously said at the
00:05:20.000UCP annual dreading meeting, affordability was one of your caucus's key priorities. What's your response to
00:05:24.640that NDP resolution? Well, I'd welcome Rachel Notley saying that she rejects a 300% increase in the
00:05:30.240carbon tax. That's the number one thing that she could do, because if she wants to bring affordability0.99
00:05:35.340to the fore, then she can't be adding arbitrary costs on gasoline, diesel, electricity, home heating.
00:05:42.140She's supported her leader, Jagmeet Singh, at the federal level in increasing the carbon tax. And so,
00:05:46.520quite frankly, I don't think that any of her statements on this have any credibility until she's
00:05:51.620prepared to argue against that. You also just spoke about the need to get mandate letters completed.
00:05:56.320I'm wondering if you'll commit to making those mandate letters public. Yes, I've actually already
00:05:59.980talked to my chief of staff and my director of the premier's office that I think it's a good
00:06:06.200communication tool for the public so that the public knows what it is that we're working on. I think
00:06:10.160it's also good for the ministers to know. And why wouldn't we want to tell? We've had such great success
00:06:14.460in checking off the list of all of the things that had been identified. So, I think we should be
00:06:19.720celebrating that. So, yes, they will be public. Now, at that same conference, Premier Smith also
00:06:23.760teed off on WEF, calling the World Economic Forum distasteful. She said that she finds it distasteful
00:06:29.080when billionaires brag about having control over political leaders. This caused quite a storm
00:06:34.680online, but take a listen to her comments for yourself. Hi, Premier. I want to follow up on what
00:06:39.820Dean was just asking. I just want to ask you a very simple question. What are your views on the
00:06:44.980World Economic Forum? Well, I'm not a young global leader of tomorrow. I've never been to
00:06:53.500one of their events. And I look at Pierre Polyev saying that he doesn't intend to go to their
00:06:58.640events and doesn't intend to have his ministers involved in them either. And I take the same view.
00:07:04.120But why? You're still not explaining what your views are on the World Economic Forum. What do you
00:07:09.580find distasteful about it? I guess I find it distasteful when billionaires brag about how
00:07:15.320much control they have over political leaders, as the head of that organization has. And I think
00:07:20.580that that is offensive. The people who should be directing government are the people who vote for
00:07:25.160them. And the people who vote for me and for my colleagues are people who live in Alberta and who
00:07:29.820are affected by our decisions. And so, quite frankly, until that organization stops bragging about how much
00:07:35.580control they have over political leaders, I have no interest in being involved with them. My focus
00:07:40.080is here in Alberta solving problems for Albertans with the mandate from Albertans. Moving into the
00:07:45.340controversy of the week, national police agencies are warning MPs that policing services across Canada
00:07:51.580will suffer if police are redirected to act as confiscation agents under the Trudeau Liberals gun
00:07:56.860grab scheme. At a federal public safety committee hearing earlier this week, MPs heard from national
00:08:01.560police agencies. We're going to play a couple comments for you now. First up is the president of the
00:08:05.480National Police Federation. We have said on a number of occasions that police services in Canada,
00:08:10.520including the RCMP, are operating at minimal levels already. We're having challenges recruiting,
00:08:16.760we're having challenges retaining, we're having challenges attracting to the law enforcement
00:08:21.880profession. So as every time that we increase the mandate of police officers on the street, there has to
00:08:29.720be something that gives. And is that going to mean that we don't respond to that mental health call,
00:08:35.880the person in crisis in the middle of the street, because police officers are now tied up,
00:08:42.040going to pick up guns that are no longer legal to possess. So there is an impact. And in the end,
00:08:50.040do we leave it to, as Chief Gray said, another agency that may implement? That isn't spoken to in the
00:08:56.920legislation. It isn't spoken to within the buyback program. So it's going to fall to
00:09:04.200the cops of the street, the members of the RCMP. Without sustained resources, something has to
00:09:11.080fall off the plate. And now take a listen to the warning from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of
00:09:15.240Police. Regarding the mandatory buyback program, of course, there's been a lot of talk about this,
00:09:19.800the requirement to make assault style weapons permanently inoperable. The CACP is still awaiting
00:09:25.000the details on the implementation of such a program and the implications for and expectations of police
00:09:30.760services in Canada. Having said that, the CACP recognizes and understands concerns that have been
00:09:36.440expressed by certain provinces in the country about using Canadian police resources to go out
00:09:42.280and confiscate legally acquired firearms from Canadians. Ultimately, the buyback program,
00:09:48.040this early part of the buyback program, is essentially an administrative process. It's not a policing issue.
00:09:54.120As a result, such a program could be managed by entities other than police services, thereby
00:10:00.040allowing police resources to be focused on those who refuse to follow new law, and more importantly,
00:10:05.560on addressing border integrity, smuggling and trafficking. So in conclusion, the CACP supports
00:10:11.640improving safety for the public and for frontline police officers. Okay guys, what we're watching in the
00:10:16.280weeks to come. Premier Smith has said work has already begun on her controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act.
00:10:22.360You guys know that conversation on the Sovereignty Act dominated the UCP leadership race. Now,
00:10:26.680Premier Smith has said she's hoping the legislation will be ready by the time she takes a seat in the
00:10:30.440legislature. She's begun her process of winning the by-election in Brooks Medicine Hat. She launched
00:10:35.400her campaign earlier this week and she said that she could be in the legislature as early as November
00:10:40.28029th if her bid for that seat is successful. It's worth noting that it is a conservative safe seat.
00:10:44.520So I will of course keep you updated on that by-election as well as more news on the Alberta Sovereignty Act.
00:10:49.400Now that brings us to the Alberta politics funny moment of the week. The Alberta NDP are also
00:10:53.640running a candidate in the Brooks Medicine Hat by-election, and that candidate is claiming that
00:10:57.880Premier Smith and her team were accidentally knocking on the wrong doors while they were
00:11:02.200canvassing. They said that Premier Smith was canvassing in Cyprus Medicine Hat writing.
00:11:07.320A little awkward. Okay guys, thanks so much for tuning in. Please subscribe to True Norse YouTube
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