Smith responds to guilty verdict for Coutts 3
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Summary
Your Premier, Danielle Smith, joins me to talk about COID19 vaccines, the affordability crisis, and more. Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day on Alberta Roundup, where she has her say on the happenings around the province.
Transcript
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Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
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Today, as promised, I am joined by your Premier, Danielle Smith. We are going to be talking about
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COVID-19 vaccines, the affordability crisis, and more. We'll be joined by her now.
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Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day. On Alberta Roundup, she has her say.
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Well, hello, Premier. I'm glad that we could make this happen today. Actually,
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funny story, I had Andrew Lawton on the show recently. I said to him, you keep stealing my
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interviews because I think I had asked to have one and then I went on mat leave and then he got the
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interview and then we were supposed to do this and then you did Canada Strong and Free and I was
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looking at it and I'm like, hmm, Lawton again. So I have expected him to show up and steal the show
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at the last minute. Well, we do have a special relationship because he used to sub in for me
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when I was on radio and so maybe that's part of the reason why he tries to scoop in. He was a very
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popular host on Chorus, but I'm glad to be able to talk to you today. He still is a popular host.
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I hear a lot of compliments about him, so I guess that's the shoes I'm trying to fill or my competition.
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I don't know however you'll put it. So I want to talk a little bit today about affordability,
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obviously top of everyone's mind. I know that your government has received a ton of pressure to
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cancel the provincial fuel tax. You've said, you know, we need this to build roads essentially.
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But what we do know is that your government has made a commitment to Albertans when the price of
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oil is over $90 WTI, you're going to actually just scrap that provincial tax altogether.
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And when the price of WTI is per oil is between 80 and 84, you're going to lower the tax about 9 cents
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a litre. So the price of oil has been over 80 for about 20 days now. I know that your government said
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you're going to look at that every quarter. That's not coming up for a couple of weeks. So are Albertans
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stuck paying that full price for a couple of weeks or can we get a move on that, get that tax lowered?
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I have asked my finance minister if there's a way to be more flexible. We have a tax agreement.
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I understand with our providers that we're not going to change it any more than any three months.
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So that's the difficulty is you wanted to have some certainty for for those who are at the retail
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level. And so I wanted to check with my finance minister if there'd be any flexibility on that
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because part of what we want to do is that we want to make sure that we realize the revenues before
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rebating them back because the governments have gotten themselves in trouble in the past
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in expecting the price of oil to go one place and then it doesn't and then they end up short. And
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we're very tight on our budget this year. We are only proposing that we'd have a 400 million dollar
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surplus which is part of the reason we had to bring the tax back. And I must say I think it would be
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it's unrealistic for the federal government to ask for us in Alberta to be the ones to sacrifice
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because they don't want to reduce their tax. They have a 17 cent a litre carbon tax, a 10 cent a
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litre fuel tax, they have GST which is charged as a tax on tax. So whenever you're paying,
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call it a buck 50 a litre, just know that 35 cents of that comes from the federal government. That's why
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we put so much pressure on the feds because we do need those those dollars for roads. We have,
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I just spoke to the Alberta Motor Transport Association yesterday, we have 12 percent of the population,
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seven percent of the land base, but one quarter of all of the road construction in the country
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because we have such a robust economy in so many different areas. So it is essential that we have
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the money to be able to provide for the upgrades for those roads. So you've mentioned that you know
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you're on a tight budget this year, surplus you didn't forecast too big. Obviously the price of oil
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is high right now. I think given the situation in the Middle East we can expect us to stay high. Your
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government had pegged it at about $74. We're at about $84 right now between 82 and 84
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as of Friday morning. So if that stays high, that's good news for Albertans, good news for the
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government. There will be a big surplus there. So you know, given that in mind, I know you said you
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don't want to anticipate the cost of oil being one thing and then something else happens, but I
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suspect we're looking at a pretty good surplus. Like is there no possibility you could just take a look
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at this and say this is good news for our province, let's just get rid of that provincial fuels tax or
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maybe return that money to Albertans and a one-time payment like your government has done before?
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Well I think we want to make sure that we stay true to the the program so that people always know,
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because the prices might be high now, but who knows in a couple of months they could be low
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again. And we want people to understand that yes, when we get surplus revenues, we believe a portion
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of that has to come back to Albertans and lower taxes. So that's why we created the program the way
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we did. I remember from the reason I offered as a caution, I just remember that there was a projection
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back when I was doing commentary that because oil prices spiked above $100, the government thought
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they were going to get a $17 billion surplus. And then they spent $6 billion of it, prices tanked
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and they ended up with a shortfall that year. So we know that the volatility that we have because
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of the unrest in the Middle East, there's still, you know, cross our fingers, but it still it looks
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finally pretty good that the Trans Mountain pipeline is going to come on stream. That was supposed to be
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on stream earlier. We know that coastal gas link is another option when LNG starts exporting,
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cross your fingers, that comes on at the end of this year or early next year. And those will all
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make a difference. But one of the things that we have told Albertans is that when we do generate
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surpluses, half of it will go to pay down debt, which reduces our finance charges. And then the other
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half will be able to be delivered in one-time program spending rebates or investment in capital
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projects or savings. And so that's the direction that we're going to go. We want to make sure that our
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number one goal is to run the balanced budget and be prudent. Changing directions a little bit,
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I want to talk about Alberta Health Services. Obviously your government's doing a lot of work
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on dismantling that, changing things around. Just the other week they came out and they announced
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that they are still recommending the COVID-19 booster every three months beginning at six
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months old for babies six months old. A lot of people took issue with that. Is that a policy that
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you yourself agree with? I think that we're trying to get a correction with the Western Standard
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because we think that it was mischaracterized. So I'll tell you what I have observed. What I have
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observed since it is a choice for people to take the vaccine or not, 16.6 percent of Albertans have
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chosen to take the vaccine. So I think people are making their own decision about what is best for them,
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whether or not they need it, whether or not they're in consultation with their doctors. And we want
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to preserve that. That being said, I believe it's over the age of 65, 60% are getting that booster.
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And so we want to make sure that in respecting choice, that we're respecting the choice of everyone.
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There are some families that have made a decision that they want to have their children vaccinated,
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and many who have chosen not to. And so we're making it available. The recommendation really is
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though for those who are immunocompromised at any age and those over the age of 65, and I think
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Indigenous communities as well, because there's a comorbidity factor with diabetes in particular,
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and some of the other health risks. But it remains a choice and one that we hope that people make
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in conjunction with their doctor. So not recommending six-month-old babies get the mRNA vaccine?
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The recommendation was for those who are immunocompromised, those over the age of 65,
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and I believe First Nations communities. I'm sure a lot of people will be happy to hear that.
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Taking a look at the COOTS three, I know you said this is separate from my branch of government,
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the judicial branch is separate, and you don't want to make too many comments on that. I'm going to
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respect that. However, just one question on it. The jury made their decision. It was a guilty verdict
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on Tuesday night. We obviously are expecting the sentencing, could be up to 10 years in prison for
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those three men. That'll come this summer. They did make their decision rather quickly. Were you surprised
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by that? They made it about a couple hours. What I would say is that the legislation that we have in
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place for Critical Infrastructure Act, it doesn't matter what your ideology is or what your cause is,
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or what your political perspective is. You simply cannot block critical infrastructure. So I don't
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support Extinction Rebellion gluing themselves to the bridges. I don't support days of action that
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shut down our railway lines, and I don't support inconveniencing neighbours and farmers and those
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who want to get goods transported by shutting down borders and highways. And I think that this is a
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caution. There's a way to be able to make your point known. There's a way to be able to advocate,
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but you can't block critical infrastructure. At the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference,
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you asked about your parental rights policy, which probably extends into a lot of different things.
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And you said that you're not going to be banning biological men or trans women from women's jails
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and shelters because you didn't see a reason to. There's been numerous cases of women being assaulted,
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sexually assaulted at women's jails, not in Alberta, outside of the province. Are you saying,
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I don't see a reason to because it hasn't happened here in Alberta yet?
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I think it's a jurisdiction issue. I mean, I think you know that I will defend our jurisdiction
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in every matter that we can, but I also recognize the federal government has jurisdiction too. So
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federal penitentiaries is where inmates are serving two years plus a day and longer. And so I think that's
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where we've seen some of the problems that you're identifying. If somebody faces a lifetime in prison,
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then I think there's reason to be concerned about the transfer of inmates. In Alberta, we only have control
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over inmates who are in for two years less a day. And so that's why I said I just haven't heard of problems.
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I haven't heard of prisoner transfers happening in provincial penitentiaries for such a short period
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of time. I'll continue to monitor it, but I do think that that really is a federal issue to be dealt with.
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And that's part of the reason why I just haven't observed that we have that problem here.
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And what about in women's shelters specifically?
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Again, it's one of those issues where I would just have to monitor and see if there's a problem. What
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I think is the issue people have, it's a matter of modesty. I think in a woman's space, whether it's
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a locker room or a bathroom, you just simply don't want people who haven't had surgery on the bottom
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walking into those spaces exposed. That's what I think it comes down to. Most women's bathrooms are
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a single stall. And so I don't think anybody really knows what's going on behind the bathroom door.
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And in locker rooms, all I would say is that there should be an attitude of modesty. When it comes to
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shelters in particular, again, I just haven't seen, I tend to identify where the problem areas are and
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then try to look for solutions. And I just haven't seen anything that rises to a level that thinks that
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the federal government or the provincial government needs to step in.
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On electronic tabulators, I've asked you about this a couple times. I know that you're planning to
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introduce legislation that would ban tabulators. Would that apply to municipal government elections
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as well? And if so, is the hope that the legislation will be in place before next year's municipal
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elections? Yes and yes. Great. And then just my last question for you here, you know, the last topic,
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looking a little bit at CSIS Canada's spy agency, they've been warning about foreign interference in
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the federal government. Now the CSIS director is saying that China interfered in the last two federal
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elections, didn't actually change the outcome, but did interfere. And we know that they've been warning
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about interference in Alberta because we're a very attractive place. We've got a lot of money here,
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a lot of investment resources and ethnic communities. Your government is aware of this.
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What specific actions are you taking to ensure that this doesn't crop up in our elections?
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Well, we did have a briefing from CSIS because I wanted all of my ministers to be aware of what the
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concerns might be and how they might be approached and be compromised and to get some understanding of
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how when somebody is behaving in an unusual way, as well as knowing where to report that. And so
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we're creating a little bit of situational awareness among our cabinet ministers. We'll be having the
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same CSIS briefing to our caucus as well. The unfortunate thing is that CSIS doesn't have a
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mandate to be able to tell us if there's a problem. Their mandate is that they can only tell the government
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that they report to, which is the federal government, which I think is why it's so disappointing that when
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I guess you have to sort of look at who do you believe because they said that they raised the alarm
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many times, but the the politicians are saying they didn't know about it. If that's the only way
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that CSIS is able to get the information out, I think I think democracy is at risk. And so what I
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would like to see is that the legislation should change so that we're another order of government that
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is acknowledged by our constitution. If we have a threat to our democracy in this province, CSIS should
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be able to tell us so that we can take measures to protect. And so I'm a bit disappointed that the
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most that they can do is just speak to us at a very high level about information that is not classified.
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Because I think that by telling us that we're a target that says that we should be concerned. And I
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don't have any more detail than that, just simply because we were not able to be briefed on it.
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And when we talk about that fear of foreign interference, then are you aware is this something
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that's just an issue at the provincial level? Or could this also take place when we talk about
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municipal elections? It's a good question. I think because I imagine that we're a bit of a target
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because we are an energy producing jurisdiction. We've got I'm in the process of doing a reserve review,
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because it hasn't been updated since 2001. And a new technology has allowed for us to be able to
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recover more natural gas, more oil and more more bitumen. So we'll be we'll be having that that
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released very soon, which might make us a little bit more of a target because those those numbers,
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I think, are going to surprise a lot of people. But I think that's probably why Alberta in particular
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might be a target of a bad actors. There's lots of bad actors in the in the world. And so we just have
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to be extra vigilant to make sure that our that that our MLAs are mindful of when they get approached,
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and also mindful that if there's they see something suspicious to report it. But
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I'm really hopeful that we won't see that happen at the municipal level. I think the provincial level,
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we just have to do a little bit more work. Premier, thank you so much. My pleasure.
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All right, everyone. Thanks so much for tuning in. As always, I will be back on Wednesday with an
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interview. Please don't forget to subscribe to True North and to like this video. And if you feel so
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