Juno News - Is Gondek the most popular mayor in Canada？

00:00:00.000 The consistently lowest-rated premier in the country, and one of the few with a lower approval

00:00:05.080 rating than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, G.O.T. Gondek, has inexplicably been named

00:00:10.580 Mayor of the Year by an Ontario-based municipal magazine. Alberta is partnering with Shark Tank

00:00:16.080 star Mr. Wonderful, or Kevin O'Leary, to build the world's largest AI data center. The Alberta

00:00:22.260 government passed a trio of bills protecting parental rights, promoting fairness in sports

00:00:27.180 against transgender intrusion and preventing minors from undergoing irreversible gender 0.99

00:00:32.800 transitions. Liberal MP Randy Boissoneau is defending how he portrayed his connection to Indigenous

00:00:38.520 ancestry and throwing his former business partner under the bus. And former NDP leader Rachel

00:00:44.680 Notley has resigned her seat as MLA, creating an opening for Nenshi to finally run in. All that

00:00:50.200 and more in this week's version of the Alberta Roundup. I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your host of the

00:00:54.580 show, and let's hop in to that first story now.

00:01:07.820 So you may be scratching your head at the fact that an Ontario-based municipal magazine has named

00:01:12.680 G.O.T. Gondek Mayor of the Year, and you wouldn't be alone. The monthly magazine has been published

00:01:18.560 since 1981. I reached out to the magazine to get them to explain to me how they came to this

00:01:25.040 determination, and Executive Director of Municipal World Greg Crone told me that the publication sought

00:01:31.860 a mayor who showed leadership while moving forward on their agenda. He said, quote,

00:01:36.740 There were no runner-ups. There was no voting. We zeroed in on Mayor Gondek early and selected her by

00:01:42.940 consensus of our editorial staff. A June 2024 poll by Think HQ highlighted that Gondek only had a 26%

00:01:50.820 approval rating, contrasted, of course, with her 64% disapproval rating. The poll showed that Gondek and the

00:01:57.700 City Council's approval ratings had plummeted following Calgary's handling of the water crisis.

00:02:03.020 Think HQ president Mark Henry said the polling ratings were unprecedentedly low for Gondek and

00:02:08.520 the City Council. He said, quote,

00:02:10.580 They've managed to break their own record for low approval ratings set in December of last year,

00:02:15.640 and it seems driven primarily by negative public reactions to policies like the single-use bag bylaw

00:02:21.320 and blanket rezoning. Crone told me that the magazine intended to present no messaging and that it was up for

00:02:27.240 readers to decide what they think of the decision. He said, quote,

00:02:31.120 We did not look at polling data as it was purely an editorial decision. Gondek told CTV News that she did

00:02:37.660 not know the award existed, but that she was shocked and humbled by the decision. Gondek's predecessor and

00:02:44.320 current NDP leader Naheed Nenshi similarly won a mayoral award when he was granted the 2014 World Mayor

00:02:51.660 prize. He, too, did not fare well in his approval ratings, although he outperformed Gondek. A June

00:02:57.560 2019 poll from Think HQ highlighted that Nenshi had a 39% approval rating contrasted with 55% disapproval.

00:03:06.020 During Nenshi's tenure, the City Council had a 25% approval rating contrasted with 66% disapproval.

00:03:13.500 Polling on the City Council's approval rating during Gondek's tenure was the exact same. Gondek was

00:03:18.860 previously, of course, subject to recall legislation that did not meet the legal threshold. However,

00:03:23.880 the process revealed that the threshold was nearly impossible to meet, and Alberta Premier

00:03:28.380 Daniel Smith pledged to review it. This year was the first that Municipal World awarded the Mayor of

00:03:34.420 the Year. Now, hopping to a more provincial story, Alberta is partnering with Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary

00:03:39.900 to build what he deemed the largest AI compute data center park on Earth. Wonder Valley, perhaps a nod to

00:03:47.800 O'Leary's Mr. Wonderful nickname, will span thousands of acres in the Greenview Industrial

00:03:52.580 Gateway in Greenview, Alberta, near Grand Prairie. O'Leary said that the 7,000 acres of land allow

00:03:58.500 technology and nature to unite to power global innovation in a post to X. The partnership will

00:04:03.720 work to build an off-grid natural gas and geothermal power infrastructure. The project is set to roll out

00:04:09.840 in phases, according to a press release from O'Leary Ventures. The first phase of the power solution

00:04:15.200 will generate 1.4 gigawatts of power and cost around $2 billion USD, and subsequent rollouts

00:04:22.740 will generate 1 gigawatts of power annually. O'Leary said in an interview that power constraints

00:04:28.060 in the United States made American sites less desirable. He said, irrespective of the state,

00:04:34.320 they were handcuffing him on getting the power generation for data centers. Virginia, which O'Leary

00:04:39.700 said hosts 45% of the data centers in the United States, recently passed a law banning the use of

00:04:46.100 backup generators for data centers. He said that data centers need to be active 99.99% of the time,

00:04:53.240 which means a downtime of only 14 seconds per month. O'Leary said, quote, I don't care what state you go

00:04:58.960 to. You go to the power authority there and say, I need this. I just want 100 megawatts. Can't do it.

00:05:03.920 We have no power in America right now. Smith said the $70 billion project will be, quote,

00:05:09.060 the largest investment in Alberta's history and the largest investment of its kind in the world.

00:05:14.340 With Alberta's low taxes, free market, abundant natural gas, and skilled labor force,

00:05:19.620 we're positioned to be a world leader in AI data centers. Smith added that over the last 20 years,

00:05:25.100 Alberta has only invested $1 billion to grow its technology industry, which obviously pales in

00:05:30.320 comparison to the $70 billion investment. However, Alberta said it attracted the project through its

00:05:36.360 business climate rather than through corporate welfare. A government spokesperson told me,

00:05:41.740 quote, while our government isn't directly contributing to these infrastructure projects,

00:05:46.240 we are doing our best to share our story with potential investors on how this province is the

00:05:50.580 destination of choice for this type of infrastructure in North America. Alberta Minister

00:05:55.560 of Technology Nate Glubish said he believes Alberta could attract $100 billion or more of investment

00:06:01.220 over the next five years across half a dozen AI data center projects. O'Leary said the site will

00:06:06.680 generate 7.5 gigawatts of low-cost power over the next five to ten years. He said, quote,

00:06:13.160 given existing permits, proximity to stranded sources of natural gas, pipeline infrastructure,

00:06:18.200 water, and a fiber optic network within just a few kilometers of the Greenview Industrial Gateway,

00:06:23.520 we will be in the ground and up and running sooner than any scale project of its kind.

00:06:28.220 The $70 billion investment includes funding for infrastructure, power, data centers,

00:06:33.640 and ancillary structures. Sticking with the Alberta government, for our next story,

00:06:38.240 the Legislative Assembly of Alberta has passed a trio of bills to strengthen the rights of parents,

00:06:43.540 promote fairness in sports against transgender athletes, and prevent minors from undergoing 1.00

00:06:48.400 gender transitions that they may live to regret. Bill 26, the Health Statute Amendment Act, 1.00

00:06:53.920 Bill 27, the Education Amendment Act, and Bill 29, the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act,

00:06:59.540 each pass their third reading and will come into effect following royal proclamation expected on

00:07:04.260 September 1st, 2025. The three bills were among the 13 bills the Alberta government plans to

00:07:10.020 introduce in this legislative session. The remaining bills focus on personal autonomy,

00:07:14.820 property rights, and legal firearm ownership. Bill 27 requires parents' consent for children aged 15

00:07:21.400 and under to change their name, gender, and pronouns at school. 16 and 17-year-olds will not

00:07:26.540 need parental consent, but their parents will be notified of any such changes. Parents currently can

00:07:32.380 opt their children out of the sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum. The legislative

00:07:36.940 changes will require parents to opt them in. Former NDP leader Rachel Notley claimed that the

00:07:41.880 legislative changes breach the Charter and other fundamental human rights. She said,

00:07:46.260 Today I watched as the legislature sunk to its lowest point ever. Trans rights are human rights

00:07:52.300 and the UCP cares nothing for either. Minister of Education Demetrios Nikolaides said he challenged

00:07:58.660 the opposition to provide evidence and facts to support their claims against introducing the

00:08:03.440 legislation. He said, quote, They weren't able to do that. All they've been able to do and all they

00:08:08.900 continue to do is fearmonger, project misinformation, and offer conjecture. He said the changes will allow

00:08:15.400 parents to have the final decision regarding their child's education. Nikolaides said, quote,

00:08:20.380 The NDP continues with fear and conjecture that moving to an opt-in is going to result in a

00:08:25.900 significantly more amount of people and children not receiving sex education. There's no evidence

00:08:31.020 to suggest or support that. In fact, the opposite is true. You guys may remember we previously discussed

00:08:37.260 on the show when Executive Director of Parents for Choice in Education, John Hilton O'Brien,

00:08:42.080 previously criticized the Edmonton Public School Board's motion opposing Smith for implementing

00:08:47.240 parental rights policies. He said, quote, What they're claiming is that a child's right to privacy

00:08:52.760 is against the parents and that they, as bureaucrats, could exercise that right. But in fact, the right of

00:08:58.820 privacy is a claim against the state and for the parents to exercise, not the bureaucrats. They're

00:09:04.500 flipping the very idea of human rights completely on its head. Now we're going to cover a quick story on

00:09:09.760 this show's favorite personality, Randy Boissoneau. I know what you guys are thinking. This guy

00:09:15.040 again? Look, Liberal MP Randy Boissoneau is defending his portrayal of his connection to

00:09:20.080 Indigenous ancestry while condemning his former business partner. In a post to X, Boissoneau stood

00:09:25.700 by his description of himself as, quote, non-status adopted Cree, arguing that it implies no Indigenous

00:09:31.900 status for himself but honors the Indigenous family that raised him. The Liberal MP said he arrived

00:09:37.300 at the term after working with an Indigenous researcher, although the researcher said in

00:09:42.680 a National Post interview that he did not advise the use of the term. Conservative MP Garnet

00:09:47.580 Genouis called out Boissoneau in Parliament. Here's a bit of them arguing.

00:09:52.020 In an interview with the National Post, Professor Cowie denied your version of events. The National

00:09:58.060 Post quotes him as saying, I would not say that I gave him the term that he was non-status adopted

00:10:06.220 Cree. Did Professor Cowie tell the truth to the National Post and do you now want to correct your

00:10:11.540 opening statement? My opening statement was very clear, Mr. Genouis. I said that I chose the term

00:10:18.420 non-status adopted Cree after having a conversation with Mr. Cowie. That conversation was almost three years ago.

00:10:24.320 So now it's clearer than it was. So you sat down with Professor Cowie and he gave you some advice.

00:10:31.760 You ignored that advice and came up with this term independently on your own. And then you came back

00:10:37.900 to committee and said, well, in the context of conversation, I came up with this term.

00:10:44.280 That's, I mean, frankly, that's what we've come to expect from you, Mr. Boissoneau. But I think it's

00:10:50.620 now further revelation of what we have come to expect. The Conservative MP pressed Boissoneau further,

00:10:57.660 asking him why an Instagram post from the Liberal Party from 2016 claiming that he is Indigenous has

00:11:03.200 not been taken down. Boissoneau said he doesn't know why that post is still up, but that he worked,

00:11:09.240 quote, very quickly to remove himself from a list of Indigenous candidates in the 2019 election.

00:11:15.120 Former Attorney General and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was also on the list of Indigenous

00:11:21.520 Liberal Caucus members from 2016. She previously called Boissoneau's claims, quote,

00:11:26.260 shameful and extremely destructive. She said, quote,

00:11:30.900 a prime minister committed to true reconciliation would have removed Randy and the other Randy from

00:11:37.160 cabinet long ago. Instead, we get to watch white people play Ancestry Wheel of Fortune. 0.92

00:11:44.020 Boissoneau also claimed in his letter that he did not attempt to leverage his family's history for

00:11:48.160 personal or political gain and that he never identified as Indigenous on any application.

00:11:52.960 He added that none of his businesses ever benefited from such claims. He shifted the blame to his

00:11:58.980 business partner, Steven Anderson. Boissoneau said, quote,

00:12:01.860 Mr. Anderson has used my name without my consent to further the business's interests.

00:12:07.140 I believe he has conducted himself unethically and may have misled many people.

00:12:11.540 I take my obligations as a public official seriously. I did not operate any business while serving the

00:12:16.740 public. Anderson, of course, was the one who previously revealed that the elusive other Randy

00:12:21.600 did not exist. Boissoneau reiterated that he left Global Health Imports in 2021. Despite resigning from

00:12:27.880 the company in 2021, after regaining his seat, Boissoneau remained a 50% shareholder until June

00:12:33.660 2024. The federal government suspended contracts with the company following an investigation by the

00:12:38.940 Edmonton Police Service. The company rented a mailbox in 2020, which was later revealed to be

00:12:44.380 shared with a company registered under Francesca LeBlanc. A Toronto-bound charter plane was found to have

00:12:50.380 200 kilograms of cocaine in April 2022 by authorities in the Dominican Republic while

00:12:56.320 LeBlanc was aboard. Federal funding designed to boost the indigenous economy requires companies to

00:13:01.180 be at least 51% owned by individuals with indigenous heritage. So for Global Health Imports to qualify,

00:13:07.320 of course, both Boissoneau and Anderson would need to be indigenous. Anderson wrote, quote,

00:13:12.180 Global Health is a wholly owned indigenous and LGBTQ company in a bid for Global Health Imports

00:13:18.920 Corporation to supply face masks in June 2020. Boissoneau said that Global Health Imports received

00:13:24.860 no funds from federal contracts before his election in 2021. Despite stepping down to clear the allegations

00:13:30.980 against him, Boissoneau said he remains focused on doing the job he was elected to do. Canadians,

00:13:36.280 however, don't appear to be buying what Boissoneau is selling, considering his ex-post had over five times as

00:13:41.920 many comments when I initially wrote the article, primarily containing comments of users calling

00:13:46.780 him out. It's now closer to a 7 to 1 ratio. Hopping into our last story here, former Alberta NDP leader

00:13:53.740 Rachel Notley officially resigned as an MLA on Thursday. Now I know what you're thinking, Notley hadn't

00:13:59.340 resigned yet? Notley announced her resignation with, quote, mixed feelings almost a year after officially

00:14:04.760 stepping down as Alberta NDP leader in January 2024. She became an NDP member in 2007 and served as the

00:14:12.480 party's leader since 2015, leading the province's premier between 2015 and 2019. Notley's victory in

00:14:19.520 2015 ended 44 years of rule in Alberta by the Conservatives. She subsequently lost the 2019 and

00:14:25.740 2023 provincial elections before resigning as NDP leader. One of Notley's first legislative moves was

00:14:32.280 to introduce a carbon tax while simultaneously pledging to eliminate burning coal by 2030.

00:14:37.600 The carbon tax was set at $20 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions as of January 1st, 2017, and rose

00:14:44.940 to $30 per ton the following year, resulting in the largest tax hike in the province's history.

00:14:50.420 Notley was also responsible for raising Alberta's minimum wage to $15 an hour, which increased

00:14:55.520 incrementally from $10.20 an hour in 2015 to $15 an hour in 2018 and is, of course, not increased

00:15:03.080 since. Notley's reign carried on her family's legacy. Her father, Grant Notley, also a former NDP leader,

00:15:09.280 died in a plane crash in 1984. She wrote in a post to X, quote,

00:15:13.380 It has been an indescribable honour to represent the people of my neighbourhood and community for almost

00:15:18.560 17 years. Notley confirmed that her resignation will be effective as of December 30th, 2024.

00:15:25.600 She said, quote,

00:15:26.420 I was excited and proud to see our membership swelt over 80,000 members as four worthy contestants

00:15:31.760 sought their votes in June of this year. In December 2023, the Alberta NDP had 16,224 members.

00:15:38.420 During the leadership race, which Nahid Nenshi won, the number allegedly grew to 85,144.

00:15:44.300 However, the Alberta NDP was cited by Elections Alberta for inflating its membership numbers.

00:15:50.040 Nenshi won the Alberta NDP leadership contest on the first ballot with 86% of the vote.

00:15:55.280 In her resignation announcement, Notley expressed clear support for her successor. She said, quote,

00:16:00.540 Nahid Nenshi's selection represents a tremendous opportunity for all Albertans seeking practical

00:16:05.600 solutions to the affordability crisis, along with a genuine commitment to fixing our healthcare

00:16:10.620 so that all Albertans can get the support they need no matter where they live or how much they earn.

00:16:16.100 Notley's departure may provide an opening for Nenshi to seek a seat in the legislature.

00:16:21.440 Despite winning the leadership race in June, Nenshi is not an elected MLA. No MLAs have vacated their

00:16:28.040 seats to allow him to run, and he opted not to run in the Lethbridge West by-election currently underway.

00:16:34.280 Premier Danielle Smith commented on whether Nenshi will choose to run at an unrelated Thursday press

00:16:39.200 conference. She said, quote, He chose not to run in the most recent by-election that we're having

00:16:43.700 on December 18th. I waited as long as I could to see if somebody would step down for him so that we

00:16:49.080 could hold the two of them together. No one did. An Alberta minister recently called out Nenshi for

00:16:54.920 celebrating his, quote, first legislative session. Minister of Transportation Devin Dreschen wrote,

00:17:01.020 quote, Nenshi never served one day in the legislature because he refuses to run in an election to become

00:17:08.780 an MLA. Alright, so that wraps up our stories for this week, but we'll hop into the comment roundup

00:17:13.520 here. Unsurprisingly, almost all of the comments last week were in regard to the principal cancelling

00:17:18.300 the Christmas concert for it not being inclusive enough. At MitchellWillie7208 said that, quote,

00:17:24.840 96% of Canadians celebrate Christmas. Honestly, Mitchell, I'd guess it's closer to 100%. Pretty much

00:17:32.040 everyone celebrates Christmas. Deeming it non-inclusive is obscene and, frankly, not even

00:17:38.020 close to true. At BigSid301 said, quote, Christmas is the most inclusive belief system that exists.

00:17:44.800 Canada has a Christian heritage. DEI means exclusion to Canadians. Yeah, that follows up with the last 1.00

00:17:51.040 thing I said. I mean, I don't think you could name a more inclusive holiday than Christmas. And speaking

00:17:55.560 on the Christian or Catholic heritage of Canada, of course that's true. All of the morals and values we hold

00:18:00.480 sacred stem from biblical teachings. To erase that history would be to erase the values we deem most

00:18:07.120 important and the very lessons that teach us the difference between right and wrong. At GemJams7534

00:18:13.600 was one of the commenters who chose to speak about something besides the school story. They said, quote,

00:18:20.720 crosswalks are for safety, nothing else, period. That's true. The sole purpose of a crosswalk is for

00:18:26.300 pedestrian and driver safety. They are not for political causes. And many such things that are

00:18:31.460 completely unrelated to politics should not be thrown into that world. So that wraps up our

00:18:36.460 comment roundup and this week's show. Once again, my name is Isaac Lamoureux, your host of the Alberta

00:18:41.300 Roundup. Have a great weekend. Thank you and God bless. May Alberta prosper strong and free and Merry Christmas.

00:18:56.300 Thank you and God bless.

Juno News - December 14, 2024

Is Gondek the most popular mayor in Canada？

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