Juno News - Smith pushes back against the feds

00:00:00.000 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made new strides in pushing back a federal government

00:00:04.740 intent on controlling all aspects of Canadian policy with no regard to jurisdiction. This week

00:00:10.960 Premier Smith proposed new legislation which would ensure her government sign off before Trudeau

00:00:16.700 inks deals with municipalities. And in doing so, the Premier revealed that she's taking her lead

00:00:22.040 from another Canadian province. A province that has its own pension plan, controls its own

00:00:26.980 immigration, and even refers to itself as a society distinct from the rest of English Canada.

00:00:32.960 Quebec is no stranger to playing tough with the federal government. And while Quebec and Alberta

00:00:37.660 are rarely seen as allies, I think most of us here in Western Canada have some begrudging respect for

00:00:43.040 French Canadians who seem to have no problem getting what they want from Ottawa. But let's not forget,

00:00:49.000 Quebec has long utilized the threat of separation to get a fair deal from the federal government.

00:00:53.880 So sure, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is playing hardball now, but we haven't even played our

00:01:00.260 royal flesh. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:01:13.600 Okay guys, taking a look at our first story here. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is following Quebec's

00:01:20.340 lead, as she proposed new legislation this week, which would force the federal government to receive

00:01:25.780 the Alberta government sign off on deals it hopes to strike with municipalities. The proposed legislation

00:01:31.520 is titled the Provincial Priorities Act, and seeks to enforce Section 92 of the Constitution, which states

00:01:38.200 that municipalities fall under the jurisdiction of the provinces, not the federal government. Here's what

00:01:43.780 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had to say about it this week Wednesday.

00:01:46.620 Those federal dollars come with ideological strings attached, offering funding on its own terms,

00:01:52.740 bypassing the provinces, and forcing municipalities to dance to Ottawa's tune, like funding for so-called

00:01:59.280 safe supply, or electric buses that don't work. Well, what we really need is envelope funding to expand

00:02:05.820 existing provincial programs that already exist in these areas. Funding for what Alberta's priorities

00:02:12.680 are that we need. Federal interference, we don't. Ottawa should be staying in its own lane. The way we

00:02:18.340 see it, federal and provincial funding should be spent collaboratively, not at cross purposes. And it

00:02:24.840 should be spent on Alberta's priorities and not on Ottawa's, because after all, a lot of that money came

00:02:30.220 from hard-working Alberta taxpayers in the first place. The Premier also revealed that other provinces

00:02:34.960 have complained about Ottawa stepping over their jurisdiction to reach municipalities when she was

00:02:40.160 speaking with all other premiers at the Council of the Federation in Nova Scotia in November 2023.

00:02:45.340 She said it was at that meeting that the federal Quebec minister gave the other provinces a copy of

00:02:50.600 Quebec legislation, the same legislation which Premier Smith has now used to create the Provincial

00:02:54.920 Priorities Act. And while addressing the Provincial Priorities Act at the Canada Strong and Free

00:02:59.040 Networking Conference on Friday, Premier Smith also took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Take a listen.

00:03:04.660 When you see in Alberta that we are going to take a posture, more like Quebec, which is no thank you,

00:03:10.260 we don't need your policy advice on school lunch programs, on pharma care, on dental care.

00:03:16.860 That is, just give us the money and trust that we'll be able to deliver on this. That's the approach

00:03:22.780 that we're going to take. And we're going to be pretty vocal about doing so. And I hope to see some

00:03:27.240 of the other premiers do it. Also at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference, my colleague

00:03:31.400 Andrew Lawton, had the chance to ask Premier Smith why she hasn't asked the Provincial Carbon Tax.

00:03:36.860 We know that the federal carbon tax has increased once again and gas is more expensive than ever.

00:03:41.460 Premier Smith has been facing some criticism for not cancelling the Provincial Tax. Here's what she

00:03:46.200 had to say about it. So I would say that I cannot sacrifice our need to gain revenue, to build roads,

00:03:52.940 to make room for them to continue with the punitive tax that does nothing. Because a couple of things

00:03:58.780 I'd say. The argument that they make that it will encourage people to change behavior,

00:04:04.380 they completely undermine because Stephen Guibault admitted that the carbon tax isn't going to have

00:04:08.320 an effect until 2060. Which means we're all paying punitive taxes until then. And there really just

00:04:14.000 aren't options. I talked to any of the automakers and the auto dealers. If you wanted to go out

00:04:20.700 and switch to an electric vehicle tomorrow to avoid the tax, you couldn't. Because there aren't

00:04:26.200 enough of them being produced and the infrastructure isn't in your home to do it. And the infrastructure

00:04:29.940 isn't there for public charging station to do it. Hydrogen vehicles as well. We have a hundred of them

00:04:35.580 in Alberta. We've got a 5,000 car challenge. But if you wanted to go out and buy a hydrogen zero

00:04:40.320 emissions vehicle, you couldn't because they're not producing enough of them. If you wanted in my

00:04:45.300 province where I think 90% of the homes are heated with natural gas, you simply couldn't switch to a

00:04:51.400 heat pump because they don't work in minus 35. And you can't get insurance if you do without having

00:04:56.140 a backup of some other type of heating. So all it is that if there isn't a reasonable way to switch

00:05:03.960 to an equal or lower cost option, then all it is is a punitive tax on consumers. That's the reason

00:05:09.800 why they're different. Okay, guys, moving into our next story here. A few weeks ago, I took aim at the

00:05:14.840 Canadian Junos and I was right to do so. There's very few Canadian musicians that we can actually be proud

00:05:20.580 of or want to listen to nowadays. They're all jumping over each other in their efforts to be

00:05:25.200 more woke than the person that came before them because they're not actually talented. They're

00:05:28.940 just using their politics to try to get some attention. Well, I have some good news for all

00:05:33.560 of you who are hoping to find some Canadian content that you actually like and that you're actually

00:05:37.540 ideologically aligned with. My cousin Daniel Roy has released three new tracks. You can find them

00:05:43.020 on YouTube or Spotify under Daniel Roy. He actually left Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. He lived in

00:05:49.040 Ontario like me and he simply couldn't stomach the pandemic policies anymore. So we left to

00:05:54.100 Austin, Texas in search of some freedom. We're going to play a clip of his music for you now.

00:05:58.860 I suggest you all go give his three new tracks a listen and a subscribe and a follow on YouTube and

00:06:28.380 Spotify. As I mentioned, it is hard to find Canadian content that we like and that we can be proud of.

00:06:33.360 And when there are people who are talented and who are aligned with our views, I think it's important

00:06:39.100 that we support them. So I recommend you go give those songs a listen and let me know what you think

00:06:42.960 about them in the comments below. Okay, everyone moving into the controversy of the week.

00:06:47.440 A UCP MLA is telling Alberta NDP MLA Marlon Schmidt to seek anger management treatment after a verbal

00:06:55.800 altercation between the two resulted in the legislative assembly security service to

00:07:00.780 intervene. UCP MLA Jackie Lovely was in the members lounge on Monday following a speech on a private

00:07:06.800 members bill on urban parks when a verbal altercation occurred between her and Schmidt. That altercation

00:07:13.560 became the subject of a lengthy point of privilege in the chamber on Tuesday. Here's government house

00:07:19.720 leader Joseph Scow speaking to that effect. When she told the member that and I quote, you are scaring me. He

00:07:26.760 outright mocked her in an aggressive and intimidating manner. He mocked her, Mr. Speaker. As she tried to leave,

00:07:36.700 the member from Edmonton Goldbar followed her, sought her out to continue this onslaught of harassment. In fact, a

00:07:45.720 member from the legislative assembly security service had to intervene and tell the opposition member

00:07:52.120 to quote, take a walk. After Scow was finished speaking, Schmidt rose in the chamber to offer his

00:07:58.960 quote, own version, end quote, of the events. He said that Lovely instigated the dispute by continuing

00:08:05.820 the conversation outside the chamber. He also said he wasn't following the female UCP MLA, but was

00:08:11.820 nearly headed in the same direction as her. He also offered his apology. House Speaker Nathan Cooper

00:08:17.820 called Schmidt's actions inappropriate, but said the matter was now settled because the NDP MLA had

00:08:23.920 offered his apology. Moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come, Alberta has applied for

00:08:28.400 intervener status in the Parents' Bill of Rights case currently before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.

00:08:34.280 Saskatchewan parental rights legislation requires that parents be notified when children under the age of

00:08:39.200 16 choose to go by a different pronoun at school. The provincial government invoked the notwithstanding

00:08:44.820 clause in response to legal challenges from LGBTQ advocacy organizations, which contested the law's

00:08:51.880 compatibility with charter rights. The University of Regina Pride Center for Sexuality and Gender

00:08:56.400 Diversity filed an action against the government of Saskatchewan in August 2023. The Minister of Justice

00:09:01.620 here in Alberta and in Saskatchewan filed a joint statement saying quote, Saskatchewan and Alberta agree

00:09:07.400 that the key figures in children's lives are their parents and our provinces are both committed to

00:09:12.580 supporting families and children so that they can work through unique needs together. Notifying parents

00:09:17.740 and requiring their consent before a child's name or pronouns can be changed in schools and before

00:09:22.420 classroom discussions about gender identity and other sensitive subjects occur ensures that the parent

00:09:27.360 child relationship is respected and paramount. Of course, there's nothing controversial about that. It just

00:09:33.180 goes to show how far our society has fallen that we even have to be having these conversations and of

00:09:38.900 course Alberta is choosing to apply for intervener status before they table their own parental rights

00:09:43.760 legislation which is expected this fall. I'm sure we can expect to see some challenges of that when it

00:09:48.380 comes. Okay everyone, moving into our weekly comment roundup. Last week we talked about Calgary Mayor

00:09:54.920 Jodi Gondek. She of course succeeded in passing that recall but she was booed at a Calgary Flames game

00:10:01.000 a little while ago and I asked you all what you thought of that. Many of you said that a politician

00:10:04.900 should not be shown respect until they show respect to the people. Let's take a look at some of your

00:10:09.200 comments. User at Granny B says, why should we show respect for politicians who have absolutely no

00:10:15.000 respect for citizens? Respect is earned. Like I said, I saw many such comments to that effect and user

00:10:20.980 Enigma Fidelity said, wait, wait, wait. Are you saying booing is impolite? Okay, so anybody who thinks she 1.00

00:10:28.220 shouldn't be booed needs to learn what democracy means. We the people will voice our opinion. We

00:10:33.700 will be heard. If you have a problem with the voos, did you have a problem with the convoy? I think I

00:10:37.800 get one of these comments at least every week where I present two different sides of the coin and ask

00:10:41.980 you all what you think and someone says, you think this? No, I never said I think this. I simply

00:10:46.980 presented two different sides and asked you all what you thought. I personally don't care that Jodi

00:10:51.280 Gondek was booed at a Calgary Flames game. I think that she is anti-Canadian. This is someone who is

00:10:55.820 continually raising taxes during a period when many people are struggling to afford basic necessities.

00:11:01.960 Maybe she should look at cutting some of her own government spending. But even worse than that,

00:11:05.680 this is someone who actually tried to cancel Canada Day celebrations. So I hold no love for

00:11:10.860 Jodi Gondek in my heart. I don't think she's doing a good job. I think she should resign. And I think

00:11:14.780 that's fairly obvious to people who watch my show consistently. Okay, everyone, that's all we have

00:11:18.700 time for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please don't forget to subscribe to True

00:11:23.460 North so you don't miss any of our content and like this video. If you are feeling so inclined to,

00:11:29.380 you can support our work over at donate.tnc.news. I will see you all on Wednesday. Have a great weekend.

00:11:34.800 God bless.

Juno News - April 13, 2024

Smith pushes back against the feds

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