Juno News - January 20, 2024


Notley steps down as Alberta NDP leader


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

183.33792

Word count

2,219

Sentence count

123

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Rachel Notley has announced that she will step down as the leader of the Alberta New Democrats once a new leader is chosen. Who will replace her? Who will succeed her? And who will be the next premier of Alberta?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
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.