Smith safeguards election integrity, bans tabulators
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Summary
Electronic tabulators are no longer allowed to count ballots in municipal and provincial elections in Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith is finally making good on her promise to ban them in both provincial and municipal elections in the province. She says it s time to take a good hard look in the mirror.
Transcript
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Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is finally making good on her promise to ban electronic tabulators
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in both provincial and municipal elections in the province. Predictably, the left is whining about
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how the Premier is pushing conspiracies about a stolen election started by former President
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Donald Trump during the 2021 US election. They conveniently ignore the fact that tabulators
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actually delayed results on election night for hours, as election volunteers entered in data
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produced by the tabulators late into the night, while voters waited at home for results bleary-eyed.
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But the truth is, it doesn't actually matter whether tabulators are effective or not. Even if
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they save times, which they do not, Albertans don't trust them. The left might bemoan this fact, but
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it's true, whether they like it or not. So let me spell it out clearly. Albertans, many of us, don't
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trust electronic tabulators and don't want them used in our elections. And for that simple reason,
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they must go. If you're not willing to make the small sacrifice of hand-counting ballots
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to ensure that the public trusts the results of an election which will determine policy in the province
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for years to come, then it might be time to take a good hard look in the mirror. You might see the
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only thing worse than a Liberal. A Biden Democrat might be staring you back. I'm Rachel Emanuel,
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Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day. On Alberta Roundup, she has her say.
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is finally making good on her promise to ban electronic tabulators
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or vote-counting machines in municipal and provincial elections. Bill 20 was introduced on Thursday,
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and municipal affairs minister Rick McIver says the province is making the move because some
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residents don't have full trust in the machines. McIver said, quote, I've never called their
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integrity into question, but if you talk to Albertans, you will find a number of them don't
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have faith in machines counting ballots. The 2023 provincial election was the first time tabulators
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were used at the provincial level, albeit only for advanced votes. Tabulator machines have also been
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used in by-elections and in municipal elections. Okay guys, let's talk for a minute about the
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tabulators which were used in the vote anywhere service for the advanced polls. If you voted in
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the advanced polls as I did because I was not in my home writing during the election, I was down here
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in Calgary covering the election, you would have filled out your ballot and you would have entered it
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into one of these tabulators. Then on election day, the tabulators printed off a form with the results
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for each distinct writing across the province and election volunteers had to spend hours manually
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in putting that data into a computer. That was what caused the delays. So the tabulators were not
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actually successful in speeding anything up on election day. They actually caused a significant
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delay. Furthermore, only 1.7 million Albertans voted in the last election in a province of about
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4 million people. If we can't be bothered to hand count those votes, meanwhile, think about it. We
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hand count all the votes for a federal election. That's way more people. I don't know what that says
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about us as a province. So the tabulators are not actually effective. People don't trust them.
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It is the right move for the province to get rid of them. Moving into our next story here,
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the province held a news conference on Thursday to talk about a new compensation model for nurses
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who are opening their own health clinics. When asked how this could help attract more nurses to
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Alberta, Nurse Practitioner Association of Alberta President Jennifer Mador said the new model is being
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mired across Canada. Take a listen. When the Nurse Practitioner Association did a scoping review of
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Canada, most of the funding models that exist have to flow through primary care networks or other
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government institutions. This is the first direct funding model that mirrors what our physician
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colleagues have had. It allows flexibility for our ability to have more of an entrepreneurial
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relationship and model where now these nurse practitioners can open and run their own clinics.
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So that's novel. And everybody across Canada has been mentioning this to me as something that they're
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looking to to modernize their primary care health care system including nurse practitioners. During the
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press conference, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange was also asked to address the controversy of clinics
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that are charging membership fees. You might remember that story broke a few months ago and the UCP was
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blamed for privatizing health care when of course these clinics began opening under the Alberta NDP.
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Here's what Minister LaGrange had to say about it. As far as the clinics that we are investigating
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and making sure that we can look at, we are wanting to make sure that those that are providing services
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or providing those memberships are not charging for insured services. That is very clear. That's not
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allowed and we are making sure that that does not happen. Moving into our next story here, I want to wish
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a congratulations to friend of the show Chad Cron who was elected in a Red Deer by-election on Monday.
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Cron ran on a platform of keeping taxes low and spurring growth. Cron told the Red Deer advocate
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that he wasn't sure until the end what the results would be but that he is quote,
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really pleased to win a place at the table. He also said quote, our team worked hard to push
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the vision of what Red Deer could become and we kept pushing. Cron is also the constituency assistant
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for Red Deer South MLA Jason Steffen. On election night, he was door knocking until 6 30 pm encouraging
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residents to go to the polls and discussing the need for building more homes and bringing more
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business to the city. Certainly a well-deserved victory. I'm excited to see what you do at City
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Council Chad. Moving into our next story here, Environment Minister Stephen Guibo has implemented
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a federal plastics registry to keep track of production and waste of plastics phased in over
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the next few years. At a global conference on plastic waste in Ottawa, Guibo said quote,
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What we're aiming to do with this registry is to ensure that there's more transparency in Canada
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on the production and use of plastics. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith had a choice response when
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she was asked about this new policy. Take a look. Well, let me take a drink from my plastic bottle
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before I answer the question on whether I think plastics are toxic. The federal court has determined
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that the approach that the federal government is taking is an overreach, not only the broad
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description of how they describe plastics, but also interfering in our area of constitution. So
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we have already announced that we will be taking the action forward at a higher level. It had been
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led by various members of the petrochemical industry. And so we'll continue to argue the constitutional
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cases. Finally, moving into the controversy of the week, Calgary Mayor Jody Gondek says the prospect
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of never owning a home and being a renter forever is actually liberating. Take a listen.
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I see a segment of the population reject this idea of owning a home and they're moving towards rental
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because it gives them more freedom. They can travel to different places. They can try out different
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communities. Their job may take them from place to place. And so people have become much more liberated
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around what housing looks like and what the tenure of housing looks like. Despite claiming that being a
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renter forever is a liberating experience, Gondek herself actually owns two homes, one in Panorama
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Hills and one downtown in East Village. And while we're on a topic of never owning a home, Calgary's
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pitch for citywide rezoning is causing an uproar across the municipality. Here's one concerned homeowner
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and friend of the show, Brad LaFarge, speaking against the policy at a city council meeting on Thursday.
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Contrary to the Mayor Gondek's claim of liberation, not everyone wants to be a renter for life.
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Those words are straight from the World Economic Forum. You will own nothing and be happy.
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Who are you really working for here? The city's diversity and neighborhood charm are what make it truly
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special. We all take pride in calling this place home. However, as neighborhoods lose their unique
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character, the sense of inclusion and belonging cherished by homeowners will be removed.
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In closing, I'd like to specifically address the eight of you in front of me who voted against
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holding a plebiscite. In the words of an Alberta hero, when did you become afraid of your citizens?
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Although I urge you to vote no, I understand those of you who have already made up your minds prior to
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the start of this public hearing are unlikely to change your stance. Consequently, we the voters
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will have to express our response at the ballot box come October 2025. Moving into what we're watching
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in the weeks to come, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has appointed a quote, contrarian end quote doctor
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who expressed concerns about officials exaggerating the damage COVID-19 had on hospitals
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to lead a review of data collected from the pandemic. The Globe and Mail exclusively reported this week
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that Smith selected Dr. Gary Davidson because she wanted to hear from a wide variety of viewpoints,
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including those who had previously been shouted down in the public sphere. Davidson was appointed to
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the position a year ago. And before that, he was the former chief of emergency medicine at the Red
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Deer Regional Hospital Center. The task force was created in 2022. However, their work has not yet been
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made public. Davidson became a controversial figure in 2021 during the fourth wave of the pandemic,
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when he claimed that hospital admission numbers had been manipulated and exaggerated to justify
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severe public health restrictions. His claims were refuted by Alberta Health Services, the province's
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health authority. If you ask me, it sounds like Dr. Gary Davidson is the perfect person to be leading
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this review because he will be asking the questions that many of us have been asking since the pandemic
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started. And I am certainly eager to see what the review produces. Okay, guys, finally taking a look
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at our weekly comment roundup. I'm sure you all watched my interview with Alberta Premier Daniel
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Smith that aired last Saturday. Some of you were disappointed in the Premier's response, especially
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regarding the Coutts trio. User Magnesa Theos says, quote, very disappointed in Danielle on the Coutts issue.
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Very disappointed. User at iStream says, quote, I normally like Danielle, but as far as the Coutts
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three, I think she is a total cop out and misses the whole point of the freedom convoy and the
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government overreach and the many Albertans who stood behind it. And finally, Canadian Starman,
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who I think is a regular, I've definitely read your comments before, said, quote,
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a big thanks to Rachel for asking a question regarding the Coutts three to Danielle Smith,
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which is an issue she's been trying to ignore. Her response was pathetic and she should be ashamed of
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her response on this very critical issue in Alberta. I don't know how a politician can sleep
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at night knowing that political hostages are rotting in a cold prison cell for the past two
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years. For those of you who haven't seen it in the week, I interviewed Alex Van Herc. He is actually
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one of the Coutts three who is facing sentencing of up to 10 years in prison. He said that sentencing
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will come in September, but do go back and watch that episode. He also responds to Alberta Premier
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Danielle Smith's comments. Okay, everyone, that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for
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tuning in. As always, please like this video and subscribe to True North. You can also head over
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to donate.tnc.news to support our work. I hope that you guys have a great weekend. I'll see you next week.