Juno News - Smith goes to Washington + is Western alienation on the rise？

00:00:00.000 Donald Trump is officially the 45th and the 47th president of the United States of America.

00:00:06.280 He was sworn in in Washington, D.C. yesterday and quickly signed a number of executive orders,

00:00:12.920 including to enforce America's southern border. Notably, one of the executive orders that was

00:00:19.160 missing was one on tariffs. Canada was celebrating. We thought the tariffs were not going to be coming

00:00:24.520 into effect, but later in the day, we learned that they had simply been delayed until February 1st.

00:00:31.520 Danielle Smith was also in attendance at the inauguration, and she has been roundly criticized

00:00:36.720 by the rest of Canada to her approach for Donald Trump and the tariffs. At home in Alberta, people

00:00:42.740 seem to think that she is standing up for Alberta's interests, but the rest of Canada is saying that

00:00:47.960 Alberta lacks a Team Canada approach. Now, perhaps the biggest story in all of this is the feelings

00:00:54.300 of Western alienation that are re-emerging as this war between Alberta and the rest of Canada breaks

00:01:00.160 out. When I grew up, I learned about feelings of the West saying, we want in, but now I'm hearing

00:01:06.300 the West saying, we want out. Joining me today to discuss is Alberta podcaster, Sean Newman.

00:01:11.840 I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome to The Rachel Parker Show.

00:01:31.780 Hey, everyone. I'm your host, Rachel Parker. Welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show. Sean,

00:01:36.480 thank you so much for being here today. I know we've tried to do this a couple of times, but you are a

00:01:40.980 very busy man to get a hold of. Your podcast is probably one of the most popular in the province,

00:01:47.840 which is why I really wanted to have you on today to talk about Danielle Smith and how she's, you know, 0.85

00:01:55.060 being portrayed by the rest of Canada and also how people feel about her here in Alberta right now.

00:01:59.700 So just quickly off the hop, I want to start by asking you, what did you think of the inauguration

00:02:04.580 yesterday? What was your takeaway? Well, first off, thanks, Rachel, for inviting me on.

00:02:12.080 Life on this side, as people probably who follow me realize, it's been a busy stretch. I'm new into

00:02:19.760 politics. Once upon a time when I started this thing out, it was talking to the hockey legends of

00:02:25.400 Canada, the Don Cherries and probably stir up some emotion here, the Ron McLeans and a few different

00:02:31.060 people in that, you know, in those realms. And so to watch an inauguration day, I had never even

00:02:41.920 fathomed doing that earlier in my life. So I watched part of it. I got three young kids and I didn't

00:02:47.340 watch the entire thing. And the takeaway, you know, one is I think it actually happened. You know, I

00:02:52.600 think there was a lot of people wondering if it was going to actually, you know, things are going to

00:02:56.300 play out. I mean, the guy literally got shot in the head. So you were wondering that. The next thing I

00:03:00.820 noticed was the fact he was sitting in a stadium and they were just going insane for him signing,

00:03:06.560 you know, we're getting out of the Paris Accords. Boom. And people go nuts and on and on. And of

00:03:12.160 course, the tariff thing, that was a big explosion on Twitter. No tariffs. And then, you know, February

00:03:18.140 1st. And so that'll be interesting to watch play out. But to have Donald Trump being back as the

00:03:24.820 president and not, you know, I don't even know, was Biden even president at the end? Like, do we even

00:03:30.320 know anymore? Like at the end of the day, we didn't see him for like the last three months. So

00:03:34.100 to actually have a president down there is going to be interesting. How that impacts Canada is going

00:03:39.060 to be interesting to watch because right now we pretty much don't have a prime minister. So

00:03:42.480 that'd be my thoughts. It was really such a day of celebration and fanfare. I was able to

00:03:48.480 listen to most of the inauguration while I was doing things around the house. And the thing that I was

00:03:53.740 mostly reflecting on was how the presidential inauguration is really almost like a week long

00:03:58.300 of celebration. You know, Turning Point USA, they have their ball. There's the inauguration.

00:04:02.860 Well, everyone's planning events in and around Washington, D.C. All the who's who of the Republican

00:04:07.520 circles are there. Do you think that in order to maybe inspire or to mimic similar feelings of

00:04:13.920 patriotism that we often don't see in Canada? I mean, should we try to implement some of those

00:04:18.580 things here in Canada? I don't know why we couldn't have a big a big gala after, you know, a new prime

00:04:23.700 minister sworn in or a ball or that type of thing. I was thinking, why don't we try to implement some

00:04:27.960 of those things here in Canada? Well, here's the thing. It wasn't the U.S. that had the giant

00:04:34.220 trucker convoy go. We got patriotism. It's sitting there. It's just, you know, it's at times needs to

00:04:41.460 be ignited. And the only thing I go is I'm like, do we need a do we need a ball up here in minus 30 or do

00:04:48.720 we need a giant bonfire and people just come out in their parkas and have some fun? You know, like

00:04:52.840 I don't know the answer. I certainly know when when something strikes a chord, Canada shows up

00:04:59.360 and the group that shows up is is quite the eclectic bunch of people, as we saw through,

00:05:06.780 you know, the last several years and shows like yours and others. You know, I like to think I play

00:05:11.600 a small part in it, um, weren't there, you know, years ago. And, uh, the rise of this type of media

00:05:18.640 is, I think, given a lot of Canadians hope because for so long we've been, you know, I didn't realize

00:05:25.100 it, but, you know, the longer you stare at it, like the CBCs and the other mainstream, uh, legacy

00:05:30.920 media types have really formed a narrative of who Canada is and what our national identity is and

00:05:36.620 what we're supposed to think and how we're supposed to think and how we're supposed to act.

00:05:40.000 And all that's falling by the wayside. And so I think it's, it's, um, giving rise to something

00:05:45.820 new and I'm, you know, I'm all for it. I'm, I'm interested to see where that heads for us.

00:05:50.220 But as for Canadian patriotism, I think, um, you know, Daniel Smith, uh, I was, I was Saskatchewan

00:05:56.380 and you, and, and you're newly to Alberta as well, relative. And, uh, so both of us are transplants

00:06:01.820 and she makes me proud to be Albertan. And I would have never said that probably five years ago.

00:06:06.560 I would have started with Canada and, um, the fact that, uh, she's stepping out and doing things 0.89

00:06:12.260 that I think on a, on a national stage need to be done and said, um, we'll see where that goes as

00:06:18.720 well. There's interesting conversations percolating on the daily. And, uh, I'm all for people talking

00:06:25.220 about what's going on in this province and this country.

00:06:27.320 So you've brought up Daniel Smith, you know, obviously there was sort of a moment yesterday

00:06:33.500 where Canadians thought, huh, maybe we aren't actually going to see those tariffs and Donald

00:06:38.660 Trump sort of just epically trolled all of Canada and all of our, you know, political leaders. Um,

00:06:44.760 and then of course, as I said, we learned later in the day that the tariffs were coming most likely,

00:06:48.860 I mean, maybe we're still being trolls, but they'll be coming on February 1st. Did you see this

00:06:53.920 delay, um, or even maybe that moment when we thought we weren't going to have tariffs? Like,

00:06:57.820 did, I know some people said we can thank Daniel Smith for this. Um, what were your thoughts? Would

00:07:02.500 you attribute that or credit that delay or even initially thinking maybe we're going to get them

00:07:06.820 all together? Did you credit any of that to Alberta's premier? I don't know who to credit it to.

00:07:13.000 Here's what I do know about Donald Trump and about Daniel Smith. They're, they're not, um,

00:07:18.360 people who say things kind of off the cuff, you know, like Daniel Smith is one smart cookie. And

00:07:25.900 I, you know, I, I went back before I started this morning, I, I went back and I listened to the first

00:07:30.960 time I ever had it on episode 157. And for your listeners, I'm closing in on 800. It was a while

00:07:36.600 back. It was in the middle of COVID. And she said a lot of different things back then that really

00:07:41.420 struck me. And one of the things that, that I wrote down this morning is she, she'd said you can

00:07:47.280 fight back and, and, and win. What you can't do is sit back and say, they need us. Now you can take

00:07:53.100 that in a lot of different realms. We were talking about COVID at the time. And certainly, uh, thoughts

00:07:57.600 like that really, uh, impacted how I looked at, uh, my role in, in trying to open up discussions during

00:08:03.460 COVID. Um, but where you sit now with, you know, like the president of the United States sitting there,

00:08:08.380 Trump is doing things. And, um, I actually listened to, uh, uh, uh, an ex space that you were a part of.

00:08:15.660 And one of the guys said, you know, before you, you, you harvest honey out of a honey, uh, like a

00:08:20.560 beehive, you, um, you, you blow smoke in first and then you see what, you know, comes of it and you go

00:08:26.200 in and, and I'm like, that's very smart, uh, on Trump, right? He says things you don't take

00:08:31.720 everything literally, but you, you gotta take things seriously. And so why is he doing those things?

00:08:37.360 Why did Daniel Smith on the flip side, go down to Mar-a-Lago and track down Trump? Was she

00:08:43.660 invited? Wasn't she invited? Did she go there on her own accord? Did they try and corner Trump?

00:08:48.020 You know, all these different questions. It doesn't matter. Well, I mean, it does matter, but

00:08:51.700 the, the, the outcome is she was perceived to be the, the reasonable, reasonable voice from Canada

00:08:58.260 going down, trying to broker some communication to try and like facilitate, like, listen, let's talk

00:09:03.700 about this. Our, our economies are intertwined insane. Like, you know, like, it's not like we just,

00:09:09.760 a couple of things go back and forth, like a ton of stuff goes back and forth. And obviously from

00:09:15.820 Alberta standpoint, you know, a huge part of our economy is oil and gas. Well, where does that go?

00:09:20.660 Well, thanks to Canada, it goes to the South. So there's a lot of reasons to go down there.

00:09:26.660 Is she the reason for a couple of week, um, you know, a couple of weeks of like, sit back and reflect

00:09:32.500 on is the tariffs coming or not? What's going to come of that? I, I mean, she's got to have a little 0.99

00:09:37.840 part in that. I mean, she's the only one that I know of. I mean, Rachel, maybe you know of somebody

00:09:42.680 different that went down there and, and said, Hey, maybe we could just hold off on this. Like I

00:09:47.400 know our fearless, uh, you know, intend to resign leader went down there, but I don't think, I don't

00:09:55.260 think anything came of that. Like I, does any Canadian sit here and go, Oh, Justin Trudeau had

00:09:59.540 some effect? No. The only reason Daniel Smith is getting raked over the coals is because she might've 0.99

00:10:04.700 had some effect. She might've. And I mean, Twitter or X, I guess I should keep saying one day I'll get

00:10:10.880 that right. Um, X would suggest that she had some effect, right? I mean, that's why we keep talking

00:10:16.800 about it. So I don't know. Do you know of anything else that I don't know? No, I think you've pretty

00:10:22.520 much hit the nail on the head there. And I mean, even if Justin Trudeau had gone down with the best of

00:10:27.260 intentions, he followed it up very shortly by essentially mocking the Americans for missing their

00:10:33.700 opportunity to elect the first female president. So any goodwill he might've received by, you know,

00:10:40.680 going down to Mar-a-Lago and kissing the ring, if you will. I think he quickly undid that with his

00:10:45.800 inability, inability to keep his big mouth shut and his opinions to himself shortly after that. So,

00:10:50.880 so Daniel Smith, as you said, she was at the inauguration yesterday. She sat down with CBC for

00:10:56.740 a quick interview and they sort of asked her about this team Canada approach that she's been so

00:11:03.060 resoundingly criticized for allegedly not taking part in. I want you to listen very closely to what

00:11:08.500 she has to say here. We have the clip for you guys. So take a listen to Daniel Smith here.

00:11:13.040 You know, we, we spoke to, uh, Dominic LeBlanc this morning. Um, and he, we were talking about

00:11:18.720 the, the first minister's meeting and he said, you know, we got a grade of 12 out of 13, which is like

00:11:23.680 an A plus grade, but it's, it's not perfect. Um, presumably Alberta was the grade that they didn't

00:11:29.460 quite get. And then you have Premier Ford saying that it left him with the impression that maybe

00:11:36.380 you weren't putting Canada first. You're putting Alberta first. What do you say to that?

00:11:40.180 Well, I, I can tell you, I would never go out publicly and say we should stop selling car parts

00:11:45.000 as a way of making a point to the Americans and hurt Ontario. I'd never go out and say we should

00:11:49.680 stop selling aluminum to Americans as a way to make a point to hurt Quebec. And it hurt me that they

00:11:54.660 felt that they could, uh, make that same argument that Alberta should sacrifice our interests in,

00:11:59.380 in order to, to try to, uh, to, um, advance some kind of trade war. I take a different approach.

00:12:04.180 Let's, uh, let's stop fighting with each other. Let's maybe try to remove some of the internal

00:12:08.640 trade barriers. Maybe my fellow premiers can stop blocking pipelines when we propose them

00:12:12.900 to either the West or East coast. And maybe this should be a moment of reckoning for us as a,

00:12:17.700 as a country, that part of the reason all of us look North South is because

00:12:21.780 very for the years have made it very difficult to do business East West. So maybe that's what

00:12:27.620 we should be talking about is each other. So collectively we can sell our products to the

00:12:32.820 world, whether that's to America or whether it's off the West coast or whether it's off the East

00:12:36.340 coast. And maybe that's a far more constructive conversation to have than how do you sacrifice

00:12:40.660 one province's interests in order to be able to protect the rest. And unfortunately we don't have

00:12:44.900 to have that conversation today because we don't have tariffs and we have the ability to have both of

00:12:49.380 those conversations, a constructive conversation with each other, and then a constructive conversation

00:12:53.460 with our American friends. Okay. I want to start by asking you

00:12:56.580 what you thought of Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario's comments there. And you know,

00:13:02.340 he says that Daniel Smith is taking more of a Alberta approach rather than a team Canada approach.

00:13:07.140 And I guess the first thing that I'm wondering is, is it not the responsibility of a premier of a

00:13:13.860 province to put that province first? What do you think Sean? Well, yeah, that's what I elected her 0.98

00:13:20.580 to do. I don't know about, uh, I can't speak for you or any of your listeners. Um, but one of the

00:13:26.500 things I had to, uh, you know, sitting in this chair and, and at the start of the show, you know,

00:13:31.860 reminding listeners of, of, of mine that are probably listening to this or, or newcomers who hear me for

00:13:37.780 the first time is I was never this political nerd who grew up in this realm, right? This is something new.

00:13:42.740 So I was always Canada first hockey player, watch team Canada bleed, uh, the red and white. And,

00:13:49.060 you know, in order for us to have a strong Canada, everyone thinks, oh, we just got to do whatever,

00:13:54.500 you know, the group says, but like auto or Alberta is up as a juggernaut of a province

00:14:00.900 and our country for so long can, you know, like the, the no pipelines and on and on and on. So Doug

00:14:07.220 Ford says you gotta be team Canada. Like gotta be team Canada. Well, how, how would you help

00:14:12.260 the infrastructure of Canada then before it gets to this point where you realize you're in a trouble

00:14:17.540 with a, with a neighbor down to the south and being like, oh, we're slapping on tariffs.

00:14:22.580 This is going to get worse for Canada. It's like, well, to me, it just seems out of place. I mean,

00:14:29.060 totally in place for what we've seen in Canada over the course of the last five years.

00:14:33.860 But like, you know, so he says that, okay, fine. But your actions up to this point would say that

00:14:39.860 you've done nothing to open up conversations, dialogue, things that actually would, you know,

00:14:46.180 create a better Canada. You've been actually helping speed up the decline of Canada. And I go,

00:14:52.660 I don't care what they say. Like, I hope that I got lots of qualms with Danielle Smith. 0.99

00:14:57.380 Uh, like I've had her on the show, um, over the course of, uh, I think it's three or four years

00:15:02.500 now, you know, let's say twice a year, roughly. I think she's a wonderful leader. I think she's

00:15:07.940 an excellent speaker. And at times I think there's things you got to hold her feet to the fire,

00:15:12.660 but when she's on the national stage or on the Canadian stage, standing up for Albertans,

00:15:16.900 I'm all for it. We have a strong leader. She is a wonderful in this ring, right? She walks on and,

00:15:23.700 and, you know, the first thing is, well, where is the, the, the first ministers meeting on trying to,

00:15:29.140 I don't know, get energy east and, and, and import, you know, if we're going to have all

00:15:33.540 these equalization payments and try and make Canada better, why aren't we doing things to

00:15:38.820 make Canada better? Why is the only time we talk about team Canada when Donald Trump becomes leader

00:15:44.420 and talk about tariffs, right? Like there's a whole conversation that gets lost with when Doug Ford

00:15:50.180 makes those comments. And it's, it's almost ridiculous in my eyes. I don't know. Maybe I'm,

00:15:55.300 I'm missing something. Maybe I'm, I'm forgetting about different conversations, you know, over the

00:16:00.500 course of, uh, if you go back past five years, you know, I, I would say I'm, I'm, I'm learning.

00:16:06.260 Um, but in the last bit, I'm like, no, you need a premier to stand up for the province. If you don't,

00:16:12.820 you know, um, then what do we have? We're shipping out everything. We're just gonna cut,

00:16:17.220 you know, we're gonna take all the losses like, and then that's gonna impact Canada. Like, look

00:16:21.700 at the equalization payments, folks. There's any more team Canada. Like our industry is helping

00:16:29.140 the rest of the country as is Saskatchewan, as is others. I'm not sitting here. It's just Alberta.

00:16:34.580 Like there's lots of things that all Canadians do. And I also got to point it out. I've been across

00:16:38.980 Canada. There's wonderful people across this nation that I got a ton of time for when it comes to

00:16:43.860 politics, this is a game that is pretty dark and dirty. And so the fact Daniel Smith is voicing

00:16:50.340 her concern, the fact she's going to Mar-a-Lago and opening up conversation. Like, I don't know.

00:16:56.500 I had a job in sales before this. Do I think she walked in and Donald Trump rolled out the red 0.94

00:17:01.540 carpet and it was this big thing and oh man, I'm so happy to be here. I don't know. Probably not.

00:17:07.060 But like she went, she's in the room. She's trying to have conversations. She's trying to meet people.

00:17:11.780 When I look at her Twitter feed, just go look over the last like five days. People are like,

00:17:15.860 she needs to be here. I'm like, I think she needs to be having some talks with some leaders of

00:17:22.180 different states, different places that are going to help Alberta. That's what you do in sales. And

00:17:27.780 she's our biggest salesman that we have. And at times she's got to voice her concern with people

00:17:34.180 in Canada because they just want what we have. They're not looking out for Alberta's best concerns.

00:17:39.940 So that last, what you just said there, they just want what we have. They're not really looking out

00:17:45.700 for Alberta's best interests. I think that that is a sentiment that I've heard. Honestly, since I moved

00:17:52.180 to Alberta, as you mentioned, you know, we're relative newcomers to the province coming up on

00:17:55.940 three years for me. And ever since I've moved here, I've been so interested in the topic of Western

00:18:01.300 separation. And we certainly have our fair share of diehard separatists in this province who just think

00:18:07.220 that Alberta leaving and becoming its own nation is going to be the best thing for,

00:18:12.420 for Alberta. And we're seeing that sentiment really ramp up in light of what the rest of the country

00:18:19.380 has been saying about Daniel Smith, what the rest of the country has been saying about Alberta

00:18:23.220 and, you know, how they've even threatened to, to shut off the taps of the energy flowing to the

00:18:28.020 states, which, as you mentioned, that's really where we said.

00:18:30.500 It doesn't make any sense. Go ahead. Oh, no, sorry to cut you out. It doesn't make any sense.

00:18:35.140 And actually, Daniel Smith talked about that, right? Let's shut the taps off to, to the states.

00:18:40.340 But since we don't have pipelines that go across Canada, one of them goes through the states and

00:18:46.260 back up to the north, right? And you're like, are these people that dumb? Yes, they're that dumb,

00:18:50.500 folks. They're that dumb. So, um, I don't know, Alberta separatists, you know, I, I got friends

00:18:56.580 that are, you know, I, I think I'm, I'm a person who's just open to conversation. What I appreciate

00:19:02.980 about Danielle is that she's open to having conversations, right? I mean, you can love or

00:19:08.900 hate her, her tour folks that she did of Alberta for, if you have a national audience, which I assume

00:19:14.180 you do, Rachel, you don't know, maybe they don't know that she went around the province talking to

00:19:18.340 people and she got tons of flack from a ton of people. But one of the things I admire about it

00:19:23.860 is she still went to the next one and the one after that and the one after that and got asked some

00:19:28.820 absolute hardball questions. And to me, that's, that's what I, you know, I, I have an idea of a

00:19:36.260 perfect leader. Does it exist? I don't know. Right. I mean, but like, she's open to having conversations.

00:19:41.140 She's open to discussing things at times. I wish she moved a little faster, but at times I wish the

00:19:47.940 Alberta population moved a bit faster. I wish Canada moved a bit faster. Like how many more

00:19:51.780 years can we possibly have a Justin Trudeau? And yet here we are, we're, we're going on,

00:19:56.820 you know, finishing off year nine, I guess. And, um, you know, and, and we still gotta wait for an

00:20:02.740 election. It's I could rant about this all night long. Yes. To your point that, um, that tour that

00:20:09.220 she did, that was in the summer ahead of her leadership review. And you're certainly correct.

00:20:13.220 She did get a number of very difficult questions at those events. Just, you know, I want to get your

00:20:18.980 sense though. Do you, you know, in your conversations with people, whether that be on your show, whether

00:20:23.780 that be just with people in the province, do you feel like those sentiments of Western alienation are

00:20:29.940 growing under the current environment and the tension that we have with the rest of Canada right now?

00:20:35.620 Huh? That's an interesting question. So if you take me and you who have these conversations all the time,

00:20:42.340 I would say yes. But if I take just the general public and I have my conversations with my kids

00:20:48.740 at the hockey rink, or, you know, I'm at the hockey rink with different parents. I would say it's, it's,

00:20:53.780 it's not as much as, um, one would think. I think a lot of people are expecting Pierre Polyev to win the

00:21:00.260 next election and they assume that equates to working well with Daniel Smith. And they're, I would say,

00:21:07.060 excited about that. What's interesting about where we sit right now is we don't have, you know,

00:21:12.420 we don't know when the election is, so things can get way worse before they get better. And Daniel

00:21:18.420 Smith steps out and makes, you know, would it have been easier to just went to a first minister's

00:21:24.340 meeting and, and I don't know, she's, she's making a calculated decision of like, we could be months,

00:21:33.140 months away. Well, we already are months away. It could be, but it could be upwards of

00:21:37.700 like nine months, almost another year of limbo with, you know, I don't know, paint the worst

00:21:44.420 case scenario. Carney gets in and convinces the NDP somehow not to go along with a vote of non-confidence.

00:21:52.260 And now you got Carney in for, you know, a time. Can that happen? I think so. So like.

00:22:00.900 To your point about the worst thing, I mean, voters are fickle. We know that whoever the next

00:22:05.940 liberal leader is, whether that's Christopher or Mark Carney, they've both already said that they

00:22:10.820 want to get rid of the carbon tax. The conservatives have really been leading up to painting the next

00:22:15.700 federal election as a carbon tax election. It doesn't look like that is going to be the election

00:22:21.060 question just because it seems like the liberal leader will backtrack on that, at least for the

00:22:25.540 election campaign. And, you know, voters, voters are fickle. Voters change their mind very quickly

00:22:30.580 and easily, sometimes over small things. So the, this election is seeming like it's actually not

00:22:35.940 the shoe in for the federal conservatives that we thought it was because of this change in liberal

00:22:40.660 leadership because of the backtrack on the carbon tax. I'm curious on that with, with you and, and

00:22:45.620 because I was having this discussion, uh, the other day, I look at the, and maybe I'm wrong on

00:22:51.060 this and I'd be very curious. Your thoughts is you're, you're a lady who's, uh, you know, 0.97

00:22:55.940 has a finger on the pulse as much as anyone in my circles. I see people now in fairness,

00:23:02.740 it's Alberta. I'm not sitting in Toronto, but even the people that are, we're never a giant

00:23:07.140 Pierre Polyev fan or what have you, the conversations I'm having, I feel like people are tired of liberal.

00:23:14.820 There's just too many things. And I, and I don't know if there's any possible way Carney

00:23:19.700 or Freeland could get in and, uh, change the Canadian public. I know voters are fickle. I get

00:23:27.620 it. If this was year three of Trudeau or he'd resigned a year ago, maybe, but it's almost at a

00:23:34.420 point now where like, is Trump going to put tariffs on? Probably. So things are going to get worse

00:23:42.580 and Carney or Freeland could come in. And even if they could convince the NDP to hold off,

00:23:48.660 I just think people are done with it. Now, could I be wrong folks? Absolutely. But from my eyes

00:23:55.780 and my ears and the conversations I've been having, it would suggest people are ready for change.

00:24:02.900 All the election results and the polls to this point suggest they're ready for change. And I don't see

00:24:08.980 Carney coming in and being able to do what people think he can do. Am I, but am I wrong on that,

00:24:14.100 Rachel? Because you just said something that maybe goes against what I think.

00:24:18.420 I can't really pretend to understand the liberal mind or even like a middle ground voter mind. I'm,

00:24:26.100 I'm quite firmly in the camp of the conservatives at this point. I don't think that Christy Freeland

00:24:30.980 has a very good chance of forming a government given that she was really Justin Trudeau's right hand

00:24:36.980 man. Um, and I think it'll be very hard to separate herself from his policies. That being said,

00:24:43.140 you know, Mark Carney is doing his best to portray himself as an outsider. And while he might have been an

00:24:47.220 advisor, that's a harder connection to make because people haven't seen him in government

00:24:51.860 with Justin Trudeau over the last nine years. And so he might actually have a real chance at,

00:24:57.540 you know, painting himself as an outsider to the liberal government. So I think he has a better

00:25:02.980 chance than Christy Freeland. Um, and there's always a chance. There's always a chance. Nothing

00:25:07.380 is ever guaranteed in politics. Things can change so quickly. You know, we saw that in the last election

00:25:12.100 campaign, I guess, 2021 with Aaron O'Toole and Justin Trudeau, Aaron O'Toole was winning till

00:25:17.620 about Labor Day. And then the momentum really just shifts. So campaigns are really important.

00:25:22.340 Heck, we even saw that in the 2023 Alberta provincial election campaign, that was a really

00:25:26.820 close election. And I know a lot of people on the ground who were feeling really, really insecure,

00:25:32.580 unsure that the UCP was going to win. And, you know, I saw a momentum shift after the debate

00:25:37.540 night between Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith when, um, Rachel Notley really appeared very

00:25:42.500 rattled that night and door knockers that I spoke to said in Calgary, one in every three house they

00:25:47.940 stopped at had the debate on. So campaigns really do matter. And I don't think anything's ever in the

00:25:53.620 books. I don't think we should ever take anything for granted. You have to work hard and you have to

00:25:57.860 speak every single day. You have to door knock. Um, you have to really, you know, change voters minds

00:26:03.460 every single day, wake up with a desire to change their minds when you're running a campaign. So

00:26:07.780 I don't think that we can take the next federal election for granted. But what I'm wondering is

00:26:11.700 if, you know, we were to see another global government, what would happen with those

00:26:15.460 people who are saying right now, the conservatives are going to get in and things will be better.

00:26:19.460 What would they be saying then? So if I may, O'Toole was a tool. And I think

00:26:25.380 even conservatives had a real hard time putting a vote to him. So, um, although it's apples to apples,

00:26:34.420 relatively, Pierre is a different leader than O'Toole. And, um, I see Pierre as being,

00:26:40.580 I don't know, very calculated and he's, you know, whether it's, whether he was always the guy who

00:26:45.620 speaks to the media the way he is or not, whether he's just imitating Trump or not,

00:26:49.700 it's, it's happening right in front of our eyes. So, uh, the Trudeau O'Toole election,

00:26:55.780 very different because O'Toole was not a great leader. I don't, by any stretch of the imagination,

00:27:01.300 you go listen to that guy talk and you're just like, oh, this is what we got. This is what we got.

00:27:07.060 And so that you fast forward on the federal side. I agree. Nothing is a slam dunk.

00:27:13.620 People need to show up. People need to stay engaged. I agree with what Pierre said on the

00:27:17.700 Peterson interview. He's like, listen, once I'm in, assuming he gets in, I still need you to be

00:27:22.820 engaged. Otherwise, you know, things may not go the way you want them to. Okay. That's on that.

00:27:28.660 On the Daniel Smith election with the NDP, Alberta is as raucous as it gets when it comes

00:27:34.820 to politics in Canada, my humble opinion. And when you have a government trying to run back in

00:27:41.620 and half of that, and then maybe I'm off my numbers were a part of the mandates and every

00:27:46.420 COVID insanity. You can imagine how torn Albertans were on voting it. And that's where

00:27:53.220 it got so close. And once again, my humble opinion on the conversations is

00:27:58.660 people wanted Danielle in to go scorched earth day one. She had to run a campaign. She had to get 1.00

00:28:05.780 back in and Rachel Notley ran on. I was just the leader. Look what they did. They, you know,

00:28:10.180 and blah, blah, blah. And so it was close. I'll give you that. But it's, I mean, as conservatives,

00:28:16.980 we got to look at it and go, well, can you imagine being locked down by your MLA and then

00:28:23.780 having to vote him back in a lot of people didn't want to do that. And Albertans have

00:28:28.580 shown you in 2015, when they don't like what's going on, they voted in the NDP as a big F you

00:28:34.740 to conservatives and what would happen then. So that's what I would say to those. It's not a

00:28:40.820 foregone conclusion by any stretch. And to all your listeners, myself, you have to stay engaged.

00:28:45.460 You have to stay involved in this. I think people are, you know, on our side, we're creating

00:28:51.460 a live stream night for the federal election when it's finally announced. And we hope Rachel,

00:28:57.780 you'll stop on for a few minutes and, and we plan on having something Canadians will never forget.

00:29:03.220 I think this election will be all of that and more. I think the lead up to it is going to be that.

00:29:08.100 And I'm very excited for it. Now, what was your final question that I did not answer? Because you had

00:29:13.460 one at the end. Okay. You've got 30 seconds to answer and then we got to leave it there for

00:29:18.420 today. But if the liberals were to form another government, what would happen with the feelings

00:29:24.020 of Western alienation grow? Ask a podcaster, do it in 30 seconds. Um, well, I mean, yes,

00:29:30.820 right. Uh, there's people who think the best thing that can happen for Alberta is Kearney getting voted

00:29:36.580 in or Freeland, whoever, it doesn't matter. And them forming the next government. Why?

00:29:40.740 Because this doesn't die down. It grows. If Pierre Poliev gets in Alberta separation,

00:29:46.820 does it grow or die? The simple answer is it dies or, or it gets less than for a time

00:29:51.780 because people will naturally go back to sleep. We got Pierre Poliev in. We got Donald Trump in.

00:29:56.180 They're going to do everything right. Well, that's not how government works. We got Daniel Smith in.

00:30:00.500 Does she do everything right? Um, no, but she's, she's done a lot of great things in her short time.

00:30:07.220 And I hope she continues to do that. And that's probably where I'd leave it. And I appreciate

00:30:11.460 you having me on. And I hope that was 30 seconds. That was Sean Newman. I suggest you recommend you,

00:30:18.580 you check out his podcast. You can find it on, I'm assuming Spotify, Apple, YouTube,

00:30:23.620 try to get those. All right. Rumble Facebook, YouTube on a good day when they decide not to

00:30:28.660 remove me. Perfect. Thank you so much, Sean. Great to hear from you. All right, everyone,

00:30:33.380 that's all we have time for today. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. What

00:30:37.780 are your thoughts on Western alienation? Do they seem stronger now than they've been

00:30:42.580 in recent history? And what would happen if we saw another liberal government?

00:30:47.140 Hope that you guys have a great day. I'll be back tomorrow with more content. God bless.

Juno News - January 21, 2025

Smith goes to Washington + is Western alienation on the rise？

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