Juno News - Notley steps down as Alberta NDP leader

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:03.860 I hope that you all survived last weekend's cold snap. As I am sitting here recording this,

00:00:09.080 I am just hoping that my ceiling doesn't cave in on me. I just came upstairs to record and what do

00:00:14.600 I find? But paint all over the floor. It looks like our ceiling is leaking and it is quite a

00:00:20.180 mess. So hopefully I can make it through the show. But if it does happen to start caving in on me,

00:00:24.740 at least you all know what happened. Now taking a look at what we're going to be talking about

00:00:29.000 on today's show. Rachel Notley has announced that she will step down as a leader of the Alberta NDP

00:00:34.800 and we're going to have some speculation on who might replace her. As well, Albertans, you guys

00:00:39.700 responded to Alberta's energy crisis last weekend and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has some thanks

00:00:45.760 for you all. Next, the CBC says that electric vehicles are the best to drive in frigid temperatures.

00:00:52.280 Not sure about that one. And finally, I have an exciting announcement for you all. So you're

00:00:56.480 going to want to stay tuned till the end of the show. All that and more happening now on the Alberta

00:01:00.720 Roundup.

00:01:10.940 Up first, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley has announced that she will step down as the leader

00:01:16.300 of the New Democrats once a new leader is elected. In her remarks on Tuesday, Notley reflected on her

00:01:22.960 time as Premier and as opposition leader. Take a listen.

00:01:26.200 Now, we didn't get everything right. But we governed with integrity, an ambitious agenda,

00:01:34.500 and an earnest desire to make life better for Albertans. So four years later, last spring,

00:01:41.520 we came so close to earning the right to lead Alberta again. We received the highest percentage

00:01:48.200 of the vote that the Alberta NDP ever has. We won all of Edmonton. We won the majority of seats in

00:01:54.220 Calgary. We increased our vote throughout the province, and we elected the largest official

00:01:59.360 opposition in the history of this province. An opposition that is very, very ready, by the way,

00:02:06.940 to take over the reins of government. But it wasn't enough. And that's why it's now time for me to

00:02:13.880 leave. But if there is any one accomplishment that I can leave behind me, it's that we are not

00:02:21.280 a one-party province where Albertans have no real choice about how their province is to be run.

00:02:28.260 Albertans do not ever have to feel that elections and their opinions do not matter.

00:02:33.360 It was that way when I started. It's not that way anymore.

00:02:37.160 The announcement came after poor polling for the Alberta NDP and after Notley lost two elections to

00:02:44.400 the United Conservative Party. Notley said that she isn't sure whether she will stay on as an MLA

00:02:49.500 or also step down from that. But she did say that she's not interested in joining federal politics.

00:02:55.360 In honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to share one of my favorite memories with Rachel

00:03:00.080 Notley, this one taken at an Alberta NDP press conference during the spring general election.

00:03:06.440 By this crisis.

00:03:08.540 Rachel Manuel, True Morph, Ms. Notley, how is the premier showing insensitivity

00:03:12.160 when you're here in Calgary today hosting a campaign event and she's up at Edmonton dealing

00:03:15.960 with the wildfires?

00:03:19.040 I believe that we are both continuing to work on the campaign. Indeed, we've seen both of us do that.

00:03:26.760 And so that's what we're doing.

00:03:29.640 You guys probably remember that the NDP did not like it when independent media reporters

00:03:33.700 showed up to their press conferences and had it seemed a policy of banning us from asking

00:03:38.060 questions. They would just simply never pass us the mic when it was our turn. So I just got in

00:03:42.940 the habit of yelling out the questions and it seemed to work pretty well because as you can see,

00:03:45.980 I did get an answer from her there. That was during the wildfire crisis in the summer when the NDP were

00:03:50.780 attacking. Daniel Smith were not doing enough. Well, they, of course, were continuing to campaign.

00:03:55.680 Now that Notley has announced that she will resign when a new leader is selected, the question is,

00:03:59.500 of course, who is going to replace her? According to the Canadian press caucus members,

00:04:05.260 Rocky Pancelli, David Shepard, Sarah Hoffman, and Kathleen Gainley are rumored to be considering

00:04:10.780 a leadership bid. Last week, Gainley made a video, which many interpreted to be a leadership race

00:04:16.580 self-promotional video in which she said, quote, average families here in Alberta should have access

00:04:21.820 to the basics. The independent media outlet, The Counter Signal also said that Janice Irwin is interested

00:04:27.020 in a contest, describing the far left politician as, quote, an MLA with close ties to the Antifa

00:04:33.240 movement. They also reported that Shannon Phillips of Lethbridge is also seen as a possible leadership

00:04:38.600 contender. The question of the week for all of you is who do you think will replace Rachel Notley and

00:04:43.980 how far left is the NDP going to go? Of course, there was a time when Rachel Notley herself was seen as

00:04:50.220 a moderate. I would personally disagree with that, but I'm wondering if now is the party's opportunity to

00:04:55.320 elect a real moderate or if what is more likely someone like Janice Irwin is going to take the 1.00

00:05:01.480 party very far to the left. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Moving into our next

00:05:06.200 story here, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is thanking Albertans for their quick response to last weekend's

00:05:11.380 cold snap when Albertans reduced their energy uses to avoid rolling blackouts throughout the province.

00:05:17.900 Last weekend, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued an alert warning residents that the extreme

00:05:23.860 cold resulted in high power demand and placed the province's grid at high risk of rotating power

00:05:29.600 outages. The Alberta Electric System Operator declared a grid alert due to extreme cold and

00:05:35.160 several power facility outages at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The emergency alert sent to Albertans mobile devices

00:05:40.740 throughout the province asked Albertans to limit their electricity use to essential needs only.

00:05:45.580 And Albertans responded. Premier Smith later posted on X,

00:05:48.820 when the Alberta Electric System Operator issued a call for energy conservation, Albertans answered.

00:05:54.880 The swift and impactful actions led to a remarkable 200 megawatt reduction in demand,

00:06:00.120 averting the need for rotating power outages. Thank you, Alberta, and thank you to our energy

00:06:04.960 workers for keeping our families warm and dry. The energy crisis was abated by help from Saskatchewan,

00:06:10.880 with Premier Scott Moe announcing last weekend that SaskPower provided 153 megawatts of electricity

00:06:17.240 to Alberta on Saturday night, as the warnings were issued, to assist us throughout the shortage.

00:06:23.060 Moe wrote on X, quote, that power will be coming from natural gas and coal-fired plants,

00:06:28.380 the ones the Trudeau government is telling us to shut down, which we won't. Alberta Premier Daniel

00:06:33.340 Smith has warned that federal regulations could result in power outages during instances of extreme cold.

00:06:40.740 But those regulations haven't yet been enacted. So what exactly went wrong last weekend?

00:06:45.860 Well, it has to do with something we talk about so much on this show, the high numbers of

00:06:50.720 interprovincial immigration. There are so many people moving to Alberta from other parts of the

00:06:55.080 country. And of course, we need to be able to provide energy for all those people. During instances

00:06:59.900 of extreme cold, such as we saw last weekend, there are more people across the province demanding use

00:07:05.000 of energy. And while energy operators are interested in looking for ways to increase their baseload power,

00:07:10.280 such as building another power plant, they're afraid that by doing so they will fall into conflict

00:07:15.600 with Ottawa's regulation for a net zero power grid by 2035. In fact, energy operators are afraid that

00:07:23.200 someone could end up in jail if they come into conflict with this 2035 regulation that Ottawa is

00:07:28.560 still hanging over their head. So while that target is more than a decade off, it's already impacting how

00:07:33.760 energy providers are operating now. And it's only going to get worse as people from the rest of the country

00:07:39.120 continue to move here for the Alberta advantage. Moving into the controversy of the week, as Albertans

00:07:44.500 reduce their energy consumption to respond to the cold snap we saw last weekend, the CBC is touting

00:07:50.600 electric vehicles as the best vehicle for frigid temperatures. You just can't make this stuff up.

00:07:56.520 Despite warnings, the CBC published an article last weekend titled,

00:08:00.180 Electric Cars, The Best Vehicle in Frigid Temperatures, Sask Advocates Say. EVs have a track record of

00:08:06.360 unreliability in colder temperatures. Even the CBC's cited experts said that the range of electric

00:08:12.380 vehicles go from 500 kilometers to 300 kilometers on cold winter days. That's a 40% decrease in range.

00:08:19.840 And True North has reported that temperatures below negative 6.7 degrees Celsius can cut an electric

00:08:25.700 vehicle battery capacity by up to 41%. We've also reported that electric vehicles have 79% more problems

00:08:33.120 than gas vehicles, even in warm weather. Still, the CBC reported on two electric car enthusiasts

00:08:39.200 who said they love driving their vehicles in the winter. Tyler Cross, who sits on the board for the

00:08:44.960 Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle Association and founded the Tesla Owners Club of Saskatchewan, told the CBC,

00:08:51.040 quote, it heats up faster than any gas car I've ever had. It's more reliable. He also said, quote,

00:08:58.020 you know, there's no starting of the car. It's always just kind of on, right? It's like a phone,

00:09:04.000 basically, or a computer on wheels. Matthew Poynter, a founder of the Saskatchewan Electric Vehicle

00:09:10.100 Association, who also drives a Tesla Model 3, says he finds his EV to be a much better driving experience

00:09:16.640 in the winter than a gas car. He told the CBC, quote, I believe that an electric is the best

00:09:22.440 vehicle in these temperatures just because it's a simpler car. It's taking care of itself even if I'm

00:09:27.880 not thinking about it. I can leave my vehicle unplugged overnight to negative 40, fire up the

00:09:33.100 app on my phone, pre-eat the car, heated steering wheel, heated seats. Basically, I hop in the car,

00:09:38.880 everything is defrosted, toasty warm, and away I go. Both sources acknowledge that EVs likely won't work

00:09:45.100 for all drivers in the province, especially those who have to drive long distances. Still,

00:09:50.140 the article led to disbelief from pundits and politicians across the province. Alberta Energy

00:09:54.860 Minister Brian Jean asked if the article was a parody. Rebel News founder Ezra Levant roasted the

00:10:00.440 state broadcaster on X, writing, quote, no one believes this. No one even says this, not even the

00:10:06.820 electric car companies themselves, only the desperate Trudeau regime and the government journalists at the

00:10:12.460 CBC state broadcaster. Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come, Alberta Health

00:10:17.080 Services says a number of factors contributed to a temporary pause in the kidney pair donation program.

00:10:23.480 Alberta Health Services cited a lack of operating room capacity, a shortage of anesthesiologists at

00:10:28.780 the University of Alberta Hospital, along with a backlog of local and national pairs waiting on

00:10:34.360 Edmonton's list. A spokesperson stressed that the change will only affect the Northern Alberta

00:10:39.100 transplant program, not the Southern Alberta program in Calgary. They also said that Alberta

00:10:43.940 Health Services continues to provide other organ and tissue donation and transplant services.

00:10:49.260 Sean Delaney has had two transplants and has even spent time on dialysis. He told Global News,

00:10:55.200 the news that patients will have to wait longer is tough to take. He said, quote,

00:10:59.720 it can be very emotionally draining. It's a bit of a roller coaster to be waiting and wondering,

00:11:04.120 do I have a donor? Do I not have a donor? Speaking about his friends on the list, Delaney said, quote,

00:11:09.620 it's going to be tough for them to know that they're on hold for six months because this kidney paired

00:11:14.180 program only runs three times a year. It's tough on the donor as well because they have to put their

00:11:19.660 life career on hold. Okay guys, and before you sign off, I have my exciting announcement, which I

00:11:25.300 promised you at the beginning of the show. Beginning in February, we are going to be moving the show up to

00:11:30.340 twice a week. I'm going to be doing an interview style show midweek on Wednesdays and then on

00:11:35.680 Saturday, we will keep to this show the regular format, which is really just a breakdown of the

00:11:40.400 news of the week for those of you who want to catch up super quickly. So I am super pumped to

00:11:44.680 be bringing you that beginning in February. That's all I have time for today. Thank you so much for

00:11:48.580 tuning in. As always, if you're able to support our work, you can do that over at donate.tnc.news.

00:11:53.900 And hey, I made it through the show without my ceiling caving in, so that's great. But I guess I

00:11:58.240 have to take care of that this weekend, which isn't very fun. I hope you all have better plans

00:12:02.540 than me planned for the weekend. I'll see you guys next week and God bless.

Juno News - January 20, 2024

Notley steps down as Alberta NDP leader

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