Juno News - Smith teases Conservative coalition

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:04.040 I hope that you guys are having a great week so far. Let's take a look at today's topics.

00:00:09.440 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is prepared to form a coalition with like-minded provinces

00:00:14.100 to fight Ottawa's energy policies. We're also going to be taking a look at Facebook.

00:00:19.540 Was Danielle Smith censored earlier this week? Meanwhile, you guys will be interested to hear

00:00:24.240 this. Rachel Notley said that she is going to take some time to consider her role as party leader.

00:00:30.720 All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.

00:00:44.420 Okay guys, up first, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she's prepared to form a coalition

00:00:49.520 with like-minded provinces to fight Ottawa's energy policies. The Trudeau government plans

00:00:55.800 to impose an emissions cap on Canada's oil and gas sector and to introduce regulations for a

00:01:01.140 net zero electricity grid by 2035. On Tuesday, after speaking at the Global Energy Show in Calgary,

00:01:08.900 Smith said, quote, I prefer collaboration as the first option. I think I have drawn the line in

00:01:14.940 the sand. I've already raised it with my provincial counterparts that if we need to develop a coalition

00:01:20.020 so that we can fight back against Ottawa, if need be, then that's what we're going to do.

00:01:24.940 Those allies include Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who told the conference that it would be

00:01:29.300 impossible for his province to move to a net zero electricity grid by 2035. About two thirds of

00:01:35.900 Saskatchewan's electricity is powered by natural gas and to a lesser extent, coal. Moe told media on

00:01:41.660 Tuesday, quote, quite simply, it isn't attainable in Saskatchewan and quite frankly, isn't attainable

00:01:47.660 in many other jurisdictions either. They, meaning Ottawa, come forward with unconsulted, ideological

00:01:53.660 and unrealistic policies time and time again. And now these policies are layering on top of one

00:01:59.860 another. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister

00:02:05.540 Dominic LeBlanc will fly to Ottawa next week to meet with the Premier. Smith said she's hopeful

00:02:11.080 they can find common ground on the issue. Moving into our next story here, Meta, the company that

00:02:16.380 runs Facebook is disputing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's claims that she was banned from her Facebook

00:02:22.700 account. On Wednesday, Smith took to Twitter to say that the social media site had banned her from

00:02:28.460 using her account. She wrote, quote, big tech and government censorship is becoming a danger to free

00:02:34.020 speech around the world. She also noted that she's premier of a province of over 4 million people.

00:02:39.740 And if they can lock her out of her account, she wondered what they could do to the rest of us.

00:02:45.660 But Meta says no restrictions were ever placed on the premier's account. In a statement to Postmedia,

00:02:51.200 a meta spokesperson said, quote, there were no restrictions placed on the premier's page. One of the page's

00:02:57.700 administrators faced restrictions, but that did not impact the underlying page's ability to post content.

00:03:03.560 Shortly after that response became public, Smith returned to Twitter to say that her Facebook

00:03:08.760 account had been reinstated. She said, quote, happy to report my page is able to post on Facebook again.

00:03:15.420 This was the error that appeared on my page. I hope this is the last time it happens. For those of you

00:03:21.520 who are listening to the audio and not watching, she included a screenshot of the message she had

00:03:26.540 received on Facebook, which said, sorry, you can't post to Facebook from this account. For security

00:03:32.320 reasons, your account has limited access to the site for a few days. The premier's office did not

00:03:38.040 respond to my request for clarification about whether in fact they had been banned from Facebook,

00:03:43.580 or it was simply the mistake of one administrator who had been locked out. For those of us who use

00:03:49.440 Facebook, we know how arbitrary it can be. Sometimes you go into your site and you have been locked out of

00:03:55.280 it for seemingly no apparent reason. I'll never forget a couple of years ago. I had posted something

00:04:00.580 on Facebook marketplace and all of a sudden Facebook had informed me that I had violated

00:04:05.020 its terms of service and that I was no longer able to use Facebook marketplace. I had absolutely

00:04:10.620 no idea what I did wrong. And I sent them a message requesting to appeal their decision. And also just to

00:04:17.320 get a little more information about what had happened. I did not receive a response and I was banned from

00:04:22.000 marketplace for about a year until I eventually sent them another appeal and they decided to let me back

00:04:27.100 on. To this day, I have no idea what I did. And I know that those experiences are very similar for

00:04:33.660 those of us who use Facebook. That being said, it could also be the case that one administrator tried

00:04:38.040 to log onto the premier's page in this case, wasn't able to do so. And they quickly were led to the

00:04:43.240 conclusion that the entire page had been blocked by Facebook. I doubt Danielle Smith herself came to that

00:04:49.500 conclusion. Obviously she has people who are running her social media accounts for her and it could 0.98

00:04:54.440 have been the mistake of one of those individuals, but let me know what you guys think in the comments

00:04:58.360 below. And I will get to some of those comments next week. Okay guys, moving into a True North

00:05:03.980 exclusive. I have been covering the story pretty closely ever since the Alberta provincial election,

00:05:09.120 but Tyler Shandro and Whitney Isik have both decided to proceed judicial recounts in their respective

00:05:15.420 ridings of Calgary, Acadia and Calgary Glenmore. We know that both those ridings were decided by less

00:05:21.600 than a hundred votes. Of course, last week I brought you guys the official recounts, which increased the

00:05:27.800 number of bouts for the NDP in both cases, but still both ridings were decided by less than 50 votes

00:05:34.560 in Calgary, Acadia. It was determined that the NDP MLA elect Diana Batten had won by 25 votes

00:05:42.080 following the recount over in Calgary, Glenmore, the NDP candidate won by 42 votes. So still pretty

00:05:48.460 close margins on both sides there. And the UCP has decided to proceed with that judicial recount

00:05:53.800 where they will argue the specifics of each ballot before a judge in hopes of turning the tides in their

00:06:01.940 favor. Now I should also note that I have been told and elections Alberta has confirmed to me

00:06:07.080 that while they did undergo official recounts in both those ridings, because they were

00:06:11.980 decided by less than a hundred votes, they still relied on the tabulators to calculate the advanced

00:06:18.640 votes in those ridings. Some conservative strategists I have spoken with have said they

00:06:23.860 would like to see each and every one of those ballots recounted by hand. The elections Alberta

00:06:29.840 said they use the tabulators to recount the advanced vote and that if a judicial recount is requested

00:06:35.100 at that time, they would proceed with recounting those ballots by hand. So I suspect that is maybe one of

00:06:41.140 the reasons why they decided to proceed with this judicial recount. I should also mention that people

00:06:46.240 working on those campaigns have a pretty good sense of what those ballots look like. I did hear some

00:06:51.660 reports that in some of the ridings, voters had actually written Rachel Notley on the ballot. You can

00:06:58.900 write in the UCP or the NDP, but it gets a little bit trickier when a voter is writing in Rachel Notley's

00:07:05.180 name because she was a candidate in an entirely another riding. So the argument could be made that

00:07:10.940 that voter was attempting to cast a ballot for a different riding altogether. So I suspect these are

00:07:16.020 some of the issues that we're going to see come up in the judicial recount. UCP spokesperson Dave Prisco

00:07:21.320 also told me, quote, in light of the close election results in Calgary, Acadia and Calgary, Glenmore,

00:07:27.640 the United Conservative Party candidates in those electoral districts have filed for judicial recounts.

00:07:32.180 This action taken with full respect for the electoral process reinforces our firm commitment

00:07:39.040 to complete transparency. It enables a thorough examination, especially of the yet to be reviewed

00:07:45.820 advanced polling ballots to ensure intention of each eligible vote is accurately accounted for.

00:07:52.040 So in his statement there, we can see him alluding to what I was referring to about the tabulators

00:07:56.300 doing the recount for the advanced polls. The party would like to see those counted by hand

00:08:02.020 and I'm told this process is going to take about a month all in all. So I'll have an update for you

00:08:06.920 guys in a few weeks. Moving into the controversy of the week here, the Supreme Court of Canada will not

00:08:12.640 hear the case of a dying unvaccinated woman who has been denied an organ transplant. We have talked

00:08:20.000 about Sheila Annette Lewis on a number of occasions on this show and I have just learned that she will not

00:08:25.980 be able to bring her case to the Supreme Court. Of course, she was denied that life-saving organ

00:08:31.680 transplant because she refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and it looks like she's nearing

00:08:37.300 the end of her legal road. In an interview with Rebel News, Lewis said the Supreme Court of Canada

00:08:43.000 owes her an answer as to why they won't hear her case. She said, quote,

00:08:47.640 this is the highest court in Canada that doesn't want to do right by the people of Canada. Lewis was

00:08:53.920 unsuccessful at both the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2022.

00:09:00.360 With both levels finding that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to COVID-19

00:09:06.180 vaccine policies of Alberta Health Services, the Alberta hospital where Lewis would have received her

00:09:12.800 transplant or her transplant doctors. Both courts also dismissed Lewis's case under the Alberta Bill

00:09:19.820 of Rights. In November, the appeal court ruled that without a transplant, it is a, quote, virtual

00:09:25.560 certainty, end quote, that Lewis will die. Lewis has now filed a negligence claim to Alberta Health

00:09:32.300 Services. Under new lawyers, she was previously using the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms.

00:09:37.100 She has now moved over to a different lawyer and she is awaiting a court date on that case.

00:09:42.800 Here's what she had to say about it in an interview with Rebel News.

00:09:45.740 Well, it's my life. What do they want me to do? To sit back here in this place in my home and just

00:09:54.200 die? Is that what they want me to do? Of course they do. They want me to go away. They want me to

00:10:00.440 stop. They want me to shut up. That was the purpose of the gay border. Why? You tell me. 1.00

00:10:06.800 Nobody is saying. Nobody is saying. And no high official is even saying anything about it. The media will not

00:10:15.040 contact me. The media will not cover my story. Like MSN, like CTV, CBC, Edmonton, CTV. Nobody. Nobody will

00:10:24.740 touch this story. Why? Are they that scared because of what's going on? Why are people denied

00:10:35.300 life-saving surgeries? Not just me, but all over Canada, there's people being denied life-saving

00:10:41.640 surgeries. Okay, guys, moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come. Does Alberta NDP

00:10:47.020 leader Rachel Notley have plans to resign? In a press conference earlier this week, Rachel Notley said

00:10:52.380 she will take some time to consider her role as party leader. On May 29, the Alberta NDP secured

00:10:58.980 38 seats to Danielle Smith's UCP's 49 seats. That marks the second time Rachel Notley failed to form

00:11:07.440 government since losing government to Jason Kenney's UCP in 2019 after just one term in office.

00:11:16.460 Notley said she will consider a range of factors that will take too long to outline. She also said

00:11:22.060 she doesn't know when she will have an answer. I do think it's interesting how little information

00:11:27.320 Rachel Notley had on this process. I would be curious as to what some of the things that she's

00:11:31.960 going to be looking at, for example, as to whether she should stay on. But that leads me to my question

00:11:37.140 of the week. Will Rachel Notley resign? Comment on the video below and let me know what you think.

00:11:43.320 Is she holding on for another four years or is she going to step aside and let someone else 0.99

00:11:48.980 have their shot? Okay guys, and now it's time for my weekly comment roundup. Stay tuned to see if I

00:11:55.900 included your comments in this week's show. User Crimson Dragon said, I like Danielle, but I hope she

00:12:01.780 will also reign in the out of control activism in the 2SLGBTQIA plus community. I have nothing against 1.00

00:12:10.620 a person's gender, but the violence and child grooming is a line you just do not cross and they crossed it.

00:12:16.720 They need to be held responsible. Also, just establish a trans sport league so they can stop competing 1.00

00:12:22.540 against biological women. That is not fair, nor is it a good competitive environment. I couldn't agree 1.00

00:12:28.980 with you more. I cannot stand when I see a biological woman lose out on a medal that they have worked so

00:12:35.760 hard for to a biological man. We know that bodies are just different and that it is not a fair competitive

00:12:42.100 environment whatsoever. I also hope to see some action taken on this and I think that we are seeing

00:12:48.100 a lot of frustration rise across North America with the gender ideology that is being so pushed in

00:12:55.060 schools right now. User Harold Lipschitz says, thank you Rachel for your unbiased views. There are two

00:13:02.240 sides of the story to the Roe housing rejection. Homeowners bought in the areas that they live in for

00:13:07.860 specific reasons. One of them being the R1 zoning. Build a row housing in the new areas of construction

00:13:14.200 so that they know exactly what they're getting when they buy. Not changing the rules later and

00:13:19.380 devaluing the property values of those who paid the price in the first place. The part-time resident

00:13:24.940 MPs who have weighed in on this have absolutely no clue or staking what would happen if this had gone

00:13:30.100 through. And no, it's not nimbyism. On the other note, yes, these mysterious wildfires need to be

00:13:35.880 investigated by reliable sources. Those are my thoughts. So that was in response to my question

00:13:41.380 last week about affordable housing. Calgary City Council voted down a proposal to basically get

00:13:47.180 more affordable housing built in the city because many councillors were uncomfortable with the fact

00:13:52.040 that it would change zoning within their regions and they said their communities would never agree to

00:13:57.660 it. Then we had another comment on the other side with user Bill Cox saying townhouses and such are

00:14:03.580 better looking than tents for homeless. And finally, one other perspective from Tom Core. I'm not going

00:14:08.660 to read his whole comment here, but he said basically if immigration was stopped, there would be plenty 0.89

00:14:13.120 of affordable housing, but instead they want to tell those starting out that tearing down all the older

00:14:19.100 rentals and starter houses and replacing them with tiny and expensive new units while simultaneously

00:14:23.960 bringing in half a million people a year that will compete for their living spaces and jobs will

00:14:28.180 somehow make things better. Pierre has some good policies, but this is definitely not one of them.

00:14:33.360 Young people aren't stupid, but if they're never told the truth, they'll have a hard time figuring

00:14:37.000 it out by themselves, just like anyone else. There you guys have it. There's so many different 0.99

00:14:41.120 perspectives on the housing issue, just as I knew there would be. I thought that the comment at the

00:14:45.940 end about sustainable immigration levels is a conversation we need to have more often. It's also worth

00:14:52.600 considering in light of our healthcare crisis, can we provide family doctors for all of the people

00:14:57.560 coming in? Hint, we cannot. Okay guys, that's all I have time for today. Thank you so much for tuning

00:15:03.540 in. As always, if you're able, please consider supporting our work over at donate.tnc.news.

00:15:09.860 Have a great weekend and God bless.

Juno News - June 17, 2023

Smith teases Conservative coalition

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